The word “unbelievable” would be certainly used by millions of Pink Floyd fans around the world to describe the legendary singer and guitarist David Gilmour. He first joined the band in 1967 to be a kind of backup for Syd Barrett but eventually became his replacement, since the group decided to fire Syd due to his declining mental state.
Gilmour was a fundamental part of the band’s sound that showed it’s peak on albums released from “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973) until “The Wall” (1979). Over the decades, Gilmour always praised artists who influenced him and once mentioned one that in his opinion is unbelievable.
The musician that David Gilmour called unbelievable
Although David Gilmour’s music was always more Progressive and bluesy sometimes, he was inspired by many other music genres like Funk and Folk. So he is a big fan of the legendary American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bob Dylan. In an interview with The Guardian back in 2006, he said that he was really happy when the musician started to play the electric guitar and called him unbelievable.
“To me, I was never one of the people who thought Dylan was a monster for going electric. I liked the change. But I must say the power of the young Dylan as the acoustic-playing protest singer- which he’s always denied. But sorry Bob, you were a protest singer. Just to get his guitar and play to a crowd of people and it’s like an arrow. His words come out and the music. People underestimate his actual musical abilities. And the melodies and the words just shoot out like an arrow. I think he was unbelievable. And is,” David Gilmour said.
Gilmour’s love for Bob Dylan started when he got the musician’s debut album on his 16th birthday. He recalled that great memory in an interview with BBC Two back in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “I got Bob Dylan’s first record for my 16th birthday. They (his parents) sent me from Greenwich Village (New York). Before that they sent me the Peter Seeger’s guitar tutor record, which is my only actual instruction (To play guitar). (It) was with Peter Seeger’s guitar tutor record,” David Gilmour said.
Gilmour already revealed that one of his favorite Bob Dylan songs is “Ballad in Plain D” from “Another Side of Bob Dylan” released in 1964.
Bob Dylan likes Pink Floyd
Bob Dylan is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time but he still likes to listen to many different kinds of music and recently even revealed in his book “The Philosophy of Modern Song” that he listens to Dio and Duff McKagan. As revealed by Gilmour in an interview with Record Collector magazine back in 2003, Dylan likes Pink Floyd and said he loved the song “The Dogs”. Of course, he was referring to the famous track “Dogs” of the album “Animals” (1977).
“The second time we met was around the time of ‘The Delicate Sound Of Thunder’. He said (adopts perfect Dylan accent) hey, I love your record, The Dogs, man. I was so thrilled. Not many Pink Floyd fans like this track. But Bob does. So it was OK with me.”