Jimmy Page’s opinion on Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett

Before being a member of The Yardbirds and forming Led Zeppelin, the guitarist and producer Jimmy Page was for years one of the most respected session guitarists of England. He had the chance to play in the studio with many incredible artists from many different music genres. So he had the chance to see the evolution of British music up-close and see many new kinds of music appearing.

One of those new kinds of music was Progressive Rock, which had Pink Floyd as one of the bands that paved the way to the evolution of that new music genre. Over the decades Jimmy Page talked a few times about the band and their late guitarist and singer Syd Barrett.

What is Jimmy Page’s opinion on Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett

Although the kind of music Pink Floyd was making in the early days of their career was nothing like what Page was doing, the Led Zeppelin guitarist loved the band and Syd Barrett. In an interview with Phil Alexander in 2017 said that he wished he had the opportunity to have seen Floyd playing live back then.

“I bloody well wished I had! (Seen them playing). To us (In the Yardbirds) there was far more to it than just being stoned and playing one chord. I definitely listened to them and in the day, I saw some of the footage that we’ve all seen now.”

“Syd Barrett was absolutely unbelievable in terms of what he was doing. He took a step sideways and channeled all this amazing stuff. Their version of psychedelia was very, very cool. But there was stuff that was labeled psychedelia. And not wishing to name names – that was absolutely crap. But what they (Floyd) were doing was seriously experimental and it meant a lot,” Jimmy Page said.

Jimmy Page once compared Barrett with Jimi Hendrix

Jimmy Page really admired the Pink Floyd co-founder and even compared him to Jimi Hendrix for his futuristic vision. He said that in the book Light & Shade: Conversations With Jimmy Page.

“Syd Barrett’s writing with the early Pink Floyd was inspirational. Nothing sounded like Barrett before Pink Floyd’s first album. There were so many ideas and so many positive statements. You can really feel the genius there, and it was tragic that he fell apart. Both he and Jimi Hendrix had a futuristic vision in a sense.”

Syd Barrett helped to form Pink Floyd in 1965 and due to his declining mental state after years of drug abuse and a possible undiagnosed schizophrenia, the band decided to invite David Gilmour to join the band. He was supposed to be the one who would back up Syd in case he had erratic behavior when playing live, not singing or not playing guitar parts properly. However, Syd’s condition got worse and he was eventually fired from the band.

Barrett passed away in 2006 at the age of 60, a victim of pancreatic cancer. He was the one who gave Pink Floyd their name and for many fans is one of the architects of Progressive Rock music.