1967: Are PINK FLOYD too LOUD? | The Look Of The Week | Classic BBC Music | BBC Archive

Esteemed musicologist and critic Hans Keller introduces a new band - The Pink Floyd (so new they hadn't yet dropped the 'The') - who are very much not to his liking, due to their "continuous repetition" which leads to them being "a bit boring" - but what really seems to grate on Mr Keller is the band's sheer volume, which he believes to be excessive.
Syd Barrett and Roger Waters sit down with Keller to explain themselves.
This clip is from The Look Of The Week, originally broadcast 14 May, 1967.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - kzbin.info?...

[@hernancoronel]

This is probably the first good quality footage I have seen of Syd Barrett. Thank you for posting!

[@jagdeepkaul1261]

It still amazes me how beautifully articulate Syd is in this video. Don't forget, these are middle-working class educated boys from Cambridge/London, they weren't rich by any means however they weren't exactly living in poverty either. This is literally the only piece of footage of a fully alert non-tripping Syd talking in full and complete sentences that exists. It's a shame we didn't see more footage of Syd like this.

[@phrtao]

2 frightfully polite and well mannered young men. Hard to see what the fuss was about

[@thecaveofthedead]

He's not wrong about anything. It's about the cultural tastes of his musical development. It _was_ a regression to childhood in some ways - and people were well up for that. A key belief in the era is that adults had f****d everything up with wars, atomic bombs, and industrial pollution. Barrett's songs especially invoked childhood. There's that idea of the Apollonian vs. Dionysian divide - or head vs. heart. And rock music was about feral, wild experiences - very Dionysian (like that Piper at the gates of dawn) - while string quartets were very Apollonian - beauty through sophistication.

[@darrendm8037]

I came to laugh at the old farts, but stayed for the Nietzschian analysis. Bravo.

[@Smurfman256]

"A key belief in the era is that adults had f****d everything up with wars, atomic bombs, and industrial pollution." That... explains a lot, actually.

[@requiem165]

They are so respectful towards an interviewer who’s intent was clearly to mock them

[@daviddorrian5349]

I thought he very respectively said his opinion but also accepted he could be wrong and or other people would have a differing opinion.

[@darkforest3333]

no, the interviewer allowed them to ramble on at large, rare nowadays

[@bobbrown8155]

BBC was super powerful in those days. They couldn’t afford to get BBC upset at them. Also, young Europeans were very well raised in those days. Even rebellious British pop stars were very respectful young men and women (the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Genesis, …). Those were the days…

[@perge_music]

Love this clip, always makes me wonder how modern acts would respond to being interviewed this way

[@thesunreport]

It's amazing to see the interviewer and Roger have a little cultural exchange about why it is so loud, and what that has to do with string quartets. Syd then has a good stab at the facts by saying they have to play large halls and need the volume. I think the actual answer lays in the presence of a full drum-kit, that is being hit hard, with sticks, and everything else has to keep up with that volume perhaps., at which point Syd's 'large hall theory' comes into play, which is not the natural environment of the string quartet. It is also interesting to note that the intervieweer considers their music to be regressive or uncultured somehow, when music with lyrics is perhaps far more informationally capable when compared to the 'music only' format of the string quartet. This is a great piece of video. 🙂

[@letsgocamping88]

The irony is that Pink Floyd are probably one of the most dynamically sounding rock bands out there.

[@timmcgrath676]

Maybe the pink Floyd did play the music very quiet Group danger of sound The pink Floyd did play with the sound

[@petemarr824]

The famous clip that the huge Floyd fans have seen countless times.. I always fine that Hans is very patronising and well done to the guys for keeping so calm.

[@robbieclark7828]

“Do you feel aggressive toward your audiences?” Roger: No “There’s no shock treatment intended?” Syd: No I guess nothing ever goes the way you think it will...

[@xdef1ne]

Wow so good to see this footage in hd quality, please dig for more early Floyd in the archives!!

[@elacross3898]

He starts with i don’t want to bias you before you hear it.. but then he does exactly that.

[@keithdonald6583]

Roger was very tolerant when he was younger

[@r.rubezahl432]

Maybe Syd was just a good influence on him?

[@legobros2020]

Ur the one tolerant of child killing id assume

[@ClandestineRecords]

Nice to see this in HD :)

[@davidhuggins16]

@BBC Archive Fascinating clip, and great to see in full here. I wondered if you might be able to post any more footage from The Look of the Week; I’m curious if any of the series’ coverage of the first Brighton Festival was kept. Would’ve been broadcast around April 1967. Some papers in the Delia Derbyshire archive indicate that the Look of the Week’s filmed report included her music (which accompanied a kinetic art installation at the event). Pink Floyd also played during the festival too.

[@nickhirst999]

"So new they hadn't yet dropped the 'The'"? They were still on occasion using "The Pink Floyd" up to 1970 on the label of Atom Heart Mother and Gilmour himself refers to "The Pink Floyd" in the Pompeii interviews in 1972

[@Peatman]

"Have you encountered any hostility?" - You mean like in the last 4 minutes?

[@Mr25thfret]

What is it called when you insult someone to their face and still appear amicable?

[@JohnSmith-wq5oi]

Passive-aggressive

[@Mr25thfret]

@@JohnSmith-wq5oi I wonder if this interviewer got a chance to interview AC/DC? LOL!

[@easterislandhead9579]

I’d like to see him do early Hawkwind…. “Do you think your music seems aggressive to the audience? Nick turner “yes, we dose them all with loads of acid - lock the doors, stack our amps up like Stonehenge, hit them with a complete barrage of sonic attacks” Interviewer : ded

[@alexmircica1186]

Roger's look at 2.18

[@sabinewei3041]

😂😂😂

[@silverdragon710]

I wish this was 70 hours long

[@sabinewei3041]

❤❤❤❤💖💖💖💖

[@colin449]

Excellent. The two key members of the real Pink Floyd.

[@averagegoslingenthusiast2033]

You wouldn’t even know of Floyd if it weren’t for Gilmour

[@sabinewei3041]

❤❤❤🥺👌 Syd And Roger 👌💕

[@colin449]

I knew Gilbore as a follow on from buying all their releases from the beginning - the real Pink Floyd with Syd. @@averagegoslingenthusiast2033

[@Hypnopomp]

@@averagegoslingenthusiast2033 😂

[@stevenmcdermott6565]

Rip sid

[@ibisqo]

babies...they're so cute here💛💛💛

[@charlesloukas1946]

Private Eye used to call him Hans Killer

[@BraveLittlePixel]

I love the intro of the like "I don't want to prejudice your opinion" and then he just goes on to slam them in 4 following points, like damn how am I not meant to think about those things hahahah

[@chickenlips2010]

He says he doesn't want to prejudice anyone and then says they're boring, and he doesn't like them 😂

[@ElSmusso]

He’s right of course… from his classics; tradition. I love String Quartets & I’m a Pink Floyd fan. Sad about Roger & the infighting. Sad about Syd, one of the most creative souls of the 20th century.

[@Warp75]

Ditto EIS ☝🏻

[@VI-rt7sh]

Thank heavens for this rare filmed interview with Syd before his decline. The Pink Floyd were quite an avant garde choice of guest, and I'm extremely grateful that someone booked them. Mr Kellner gets mocked by many viewers, but he was an extremely well respected and well versed man. In many ways, he was right about The Pink Floyd. In comparison with Stravinsky for instance, their music was rather basic and repetitive. The music within the context of the light shows, the visual media and drug culture were part of a whole, and this had a massive cultural impact. From fifty plus years later, this is clear to see. Mocking Mr Kellner is rather cheap.

[@tikaedits]

here on my daily watch

[@naylorbroughton1159]

In defense of Hans Keller, to have Pink Floyd on this program in 1967............a still growing in popularity group.........still in their early days, he must have seen something in them to bring them on and to ask "hard questions" and make his own personal opinions known. I think it was well done, and we all know the story.....they became and are noted as one of the greatest groups ever. Thank you so much for posting. I love their accents btw, mild mannered but even at this time convinced that what they were doing was indeed art

[@charlesloukas1946]

They all took acid together after the interview

[@sabinewei3041]

Where did you get that ?

[@Valientlink]

3:34, that look. He was definitely beginning his descent down the rabbit hole, but mostly still very functional and himself. Too bad his flatmates had to dose him so much...

[@tho2295]

Paradoxically without his decline we would never have got the Pink Floyd we all love and know, with all the great albums that followed…

[@Valientlink]

@@tho2295 I don't like post Syd Floyd personally, a lot of people don't, but I guess most do. They're alright but Piper is their best album by far to me and probably my all time favorite album. Madcap laughs is next in order.

[@tho2295]

@@Valientlink How one can "not like" anything that came after Piper....hmm you seem to have a very "restricted" taste then. To me Piper and Madcap are lightyears apart, the latter very badly produced and with mediocre musicianship, where you often have the feeling Syd came into the studio just randomly trying something with his acoustic guitar. You clearly notice his mental decline in these recordings, none of the "compositions" came anywhere close to what he did with the Floyd while he was still sane. That's just my opinion but I guess I'm not alone as only the die hard Syd (and to a lesser extent Floyd) fans were interested in his solo material. I'm personally glad he left (though sadly for the price of losing his sanity) - he kept his important role in Pink Floyd without being there anymore, being a huge source of inspiration for them especially during the "golden years"...

[@Valientlink]

@@tho2295 Hmm I don''t know, I guess it's possible that people have differing opinions? You didn't have to write a damn paragraph like jeez lol

[@pressureworks]

Syd....the wonders he did create and could have created.

[@halfabeet]

He was always creating, he just wasn't interested in being a pop star and reverted back to this first love, art

[@pressureworks]

@@halfabeet thank you captain obviosum

[@halfabeet]

@@pressureworks you're welcome colonel wankrag

[@pressureworks]

@@halfabeet you're welcome, welcome, Major Funk Bird.

[@sabinewei3041]

❤🥺💔

[@DrakusRecords]

Syd Barrett agreed with this Hans Keller, especially after he quit the music business. He often complained that rock music was too loud and pretty much exclusivley listened to classical. I wonder this Keller interview influenced him.

[@MrBownze]

Q: Why so loud? A: Because it's rock music.

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

So this would have been just after the games for May concerts that Sydney wrote See Emily Play for? He seems to be in good shape here. Maybe a bit tired looking, but definitely lucid and clearheaded. Seemingly a few months later he was a gibbering wreck, if you believe what people say about him. I think he was as much a victim of exhaustion and his own meteoric success as anything chemical. Nice to see footage of him talking about his music.

[@icebox9093]

Pity Hans Keller did not live to see Pink Floyd still rocks 55 years later...

[@johnhenderson131]

I think it would make him numb, but comfortable!

[@JustAGigolo1985]

He did live until late 1985 so he did get the see them all the way up to the transition into the Gilmour-Era and out of the Waters-Era

[@satevo462]

That was the most depressed and dead inside host I have EVER seen LOL

[@r.rubezahl432]

No.

[@daveg1431]

no sarcasm, it's genuinely funny, sort of a meeting between aliens

[@walterevans2118]

At least Roger and Syd weren’t trying to do GROUCHO MARX 😂

[@Happyal-qt3xs]

This is Brilliant footage!!! hahahaha!

[@bolshevikproductions]

THE HANS KELLER 😂😂😂

[@dereksawle]

'i don't want to prejudice you, but ....'. From the days when people thought there was only only type of music...theirs!

[@PTEC]

Me when an album is remastered

[@DrakusRecords]

I wonder what he thought of the later better produced stuff of the mid 70s ie DSOTM, WYWH The Wall... Probably the same.

[@ellarson1]

I don’t want to prejudice you but… this is what you should think.

[@rishpanjeet7479]

Poor Syd

[@anaanita_]

2:17 KDJJAJA

[@yoserbmon6827]

That keller guy was a sad little man

[@Porkcylinder]

Pink Floyd boring 😮 love them or hate them If there’s one thing they’re not it’s boring

[@welshlad6427]

They will never make it IMO

[@trenesdeboliviahd751]

Hans Keller’s dislike makes more this video amusing

Jesus, no ballrooms, no dancin, please just fshin'

[@rabit818]

The Pink Floyd... I don’t want to prejudice you. Obsessed with loud. Terribly lol

[@walterevans2118]

‘I don’t want to prejudice you’ (but let’s have a go ANYWAY) …lol😂….When Roger and Syd had gone to sit down for the interview they should have said to Mr.Keller Superior - ‘DO WE KNEEL DOWN FOR THIS’ ??..lol

[@TheZepp1988]

Hans kellers first comment pre interview "we have ways of making you talk" 😂.

[@iandodds693]

Harry Enfield missed an opportunity here.

[@ctcurry1777]

50 year old man commenting on music who's demographic is 16 to 30 year olds.

[@MrBownze]

Pretty sure PF's demographic is people just like you (and I, I'm 51). They're older than we are dude!

[@ctcurry1777]

@@MrBownze 16 to 30 year olds at the time. I wasn't even born.

[@thecaveofthedead]

Good thing that all ended in the '60s, eh?

[@frankmarsh1159]

Music shouldn't really have age demographics. My grandfather was born in the late 1800s before recorded music even existed. He heard it all from the beginning and was still listening to current music including the Beatles well into his late seventies and eighties. You either get something or you don't.

[@williamthatcherkane446]

@@MrBownze well their early work was quiet youthful not until later albums without Syd were they truly appreciated by all ages . With the lyrics of darkside being able to relate to someone older then younger really

[@SweetPeaSweetPete]

“They are a bit boring.” Boring? You’re a stiff. 😂

[@mhenry4248]

Watching Syd Barrett here, just imagining that in a mere couple of years he would literally burn his beautiful brains out with drugs. Very sad

[@kpap1581]

This was the time when death metal wasn't invented. That was loud

[@belconetto]

Hilarious interviewer

[@johnhenderson131]

I don't think the interviewer much approves of Pink Floyd, who knows they might be successful, even grow old and retire with a fan base. Wait 'til he hears Rap!

[@peterney2402]

Ali g does not like loud music.

[@abyssmanur3965]

Someone play this old dude some Clowncore, give him something to really hate.

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

syd barrett looks like a cross between roger waters and noel fielding but pretty

[@ronojoysen1548]

A comedian, I think.

[@MrMann0123]

I don't want to prejudice you but they are boring, loud and not music.

[@tojoinbobdylan]

😹

[@broadwayking]

god hans keller was so wrong

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

he looks my uncle but my uncle is a much better man

[@BlueSky...]

Hans Keller was a tool.

[@nickvegas2459]

Frankly why was this old guy allowed to interview people that he has no idea about??? It like letting a caveman loose in a fine dining establishment and asking him for his opinion.

[@RP-mm9ie]

Only got good after 72

[@rodog9465]

The first and second album is incredible and they had great moments

[@walterevans2118]

As in Dark Side of the Moon ?

[@keithdonald6583]

Pure snobbery on old Hans part .It is his fault that he doesn't appreciate them

[@walterevans2118]

If he had lived to see Classical Orchestras playing with Metallica he probably would have committed suicide….lol

[@GriefTourist]

Well Pow R Toch is crap but anyone who dislkes Astronomy Domine is not worth taking seriously.

[@anonymusum]

You can tell that Floyd didn´t grow up with a string quartet. Otherwise they would have made more interesting music.

[@cluecumber]

strange how here we are 55 years later and there are still people as snobbish and out-of-touch as that old BBC guy

[@anonymusum]

@@cluecumber Has nothing to do with being snobbish. The BBC guy was not familiar with pop/rock at all whereas I am. Compared to contemporaries like ELP, Yes, Zappa, Weather Report, Return To Forever etc. Floyd was kinda primitive and lacked any musical education. In this regard he was right, as you can learn a lot by reading a score of a string quartet.

[@cluecumber]

@@anonymusum complexity is not the end-all be-all of music, a musical education doesn't automatically mean you will make interesting music that people will like. most bands arguably start off as 'primitive' then learn as they go along. time has long passed since when pop music was judged by its proximity to classical music.

[@anonymusum]

@@cluecumber You don´t have a clue of what I´m talking about ....... hahaha

[@cluecumber]

hahaha ...... good one

[@MrDickBills]

Pink Floyd handling Borats first attempt at talking bollocks to get a reaction really well.