illusionofjoy | Richard Wright, keyboardist for Pink Floyd dead at 65

From Pitchfork:

Pink Floyd founding member Richard "Rick" Wright passed away today (September 15) "after a short struggle with cancer," according to a statement posted on David Gilmour's website. He was 65.

Wright served in early incarnations of the band and was a part of Pink Floyd when the outfit first emerged under that moniker in 1965. He primarily worked as a keyboardist, though he also contributed vocals and has numerous songwriting credits on a number of Pink Floyd's records, including Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here.

Wright continued with the band through the 1980s and into the 90s, and he penned songs and even sang a lead vocal on the final Pink Floyd studio album, 1994's The Division Bell. He was also on hand when Pink Floyd reunited to play Live 8 in 2005, and he performed live with David Gilmour in recent years.

The last time anyone would see the classic Pink Floyd lineup play together (Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason) was during their performance at 2005's Live 8.

It is an inevitability that as time passes, musicians whom influenced me (particularly in bands that have been around for decades longer than I've been alive) will pass on. This acknowledgement of the natural progression of the world makes the events no less sobering, however. When Syd Barrett died, it was sad, but Barrett had been dead to the world of music for ages; one does not hear "See Emily Play" on classic rock radio. By comparison, the Pink Floyd albums to which Rick Wright contributed - the 1970s classics from Dark Side of the Moon (1973) through The Wall (1979) are played in perpetuity. Barrett may have been dead long before he actually died, but Wright and the rest of Pink Floyd were still very much alive (albeit, perhaps frozen in time by the corporate monoliths which control the airwaves).

Pink Floyd were a huge influence on me musically. While everyone else was listening to Marilyn Manson during my high school years, I rejected that (eventually discovering bands like The Cure and Joy Division instead) for something I felt was far deeper and meaningful - music I connected to. Pink Floyd are one of the few classic rock bands with a keyboardist and furthermore, one who played interesting music on his instrument. There were always the ubiquitous atmospherics - especially in their earlier works - but the creativity of the keyboard lines could never be in any doubt. This is one of many reasons Dark Side of the Moon is a classic album: the interplay, from the twisted little staccatos to the hypnotic extended chords, with all of the other instruments...songs constructed to be more than the sum of their parts. Music as art, not just mere product.

During my teenage years, Pink Floyd was inspiring while they also allowed me to wallow in my adolescent misery. And you know what? They are still an awesome band even now as I've grown older and traded in much of my youthful angst for humorously glib cynicism.