Pink Floyd are

Pink Floyd had moderate mainstream success and were one of the most popular bands in the London underground music scene in the late 1960s as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett. However, Barrett's erratic behaviour eventually forced his colleagues to replace him with guitarist and singer David Gilmour. After Barrett's departure, singer and bass player Roger Waters gradually became the dominant and driving force in the group by the late-1970s, until his eventual departure from the group in 1985. The band had always been popular in England, though they did not achieve true worldwide success until the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), and Animals (1977), and the rock opera The Wall (1979).

In 1985, Waters declared Pink Floyd "a spent force", but the remaining members, led by Gilmour, continued recording and touring under the name Pink Floyd. Waters sued them for the name and eventually they reached a settlement out of court, under which Gilmour, Mason and Wright would continue as Pink Floyd. They again enjoyed worldwide success with A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994). Waters performed with the band for the first time in 24 years on 2 July 2005 at the London Live 8 concert.

Origins

In 1965, Pink Floyd evolved from an earlier rock band formed in 1964, which was at various times called Sigma 6, the Megadeaths (or Meggadeaths), The Tea Set (or The T-Set), The Architectural Abdabs, The Abdabs, and The Screaming Abdabs. As The Tea Set, their personnel consisted of guitarists Rado "Bob" Klose and Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason, and keyboardist and wind instrument player Richard Wright. After a brief stint with a lead vocalist named Chris Dennis, blues and folk guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett joined the band, with Waters moving to bass and Wright to full time keyboards.

When The Tea Set found themselves on the same bill as another band with the same name, Barrett came up with the alternative name The Pink Floyd Sound, after two blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, two names he'd seen on the notes of a Blind Boy Fuller album. For a time after this they oscillated between The Tea Set and The Pink Floyd Sound, with the latter name eventually winning out. The Sound was dropped fairly quickly, but the definite article was still used regularly until 1970. The group's UK releases during the Syd Barrett era credited them as The Pink Floyd as did their first two U.S. singles. 1969's More and Ummagumma albums credit the band as Pink Floyd, produced by The Pink Floyd, while 1970's Atom Heart Mother credits the band as The Pink Floyd, produced by Pink Floyd. David Gilmour is known to have referred to the group as The Pink Floyd as late as 1984.