Everyone knows who Pink Floyd is. This doesn't need any kind of introduction, if anyone has ever listened to music; they know who Floyd is and what they are famous for. Tracks like “Another Brick in the Wall, pt. 3", "Comfortably Numb" and "Money", just to name a few. It's no secret that their two biggest albums, “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall” are two of the best-selling records of all time. But what many people don't know is that before this famous one there was another Pink Floyd and, I would say, better. The more people heard about the original Pink Floyd, I'm sure the casual listener would agree music doesn't care much about what goes on behind the closed doors of a band, the only thing most people care about is the quality of the music they make. These people would agree to the fact that, while when David Gilmour sang for the band during their “glory years” and helped give the band great chemistry and a true leader that the rest of the band stood behind, the music that the band originally made when Syd Barrett was their lead singer was so much far superior to Gilmour's work, that whatever problems the band had with Barrett as frontman paled in comparison to the sound they produced. Each of these guys played with the band that included Nick Mason on drums, bassist Roger Waters and pianist/keyboardist and occasional singer Richard Wright, but Barrett and Gilmour themselves were anything but alike. The main differences between the two musicians are their musical influences, their guitar and lyrical style and their personalities. The first thing that makes Barrett and Gilmour such different people is their upbringings and influences. They actually had a lot of similarities as youngsters, both living in Cam... middle of paper... and eventually caused an irreparable chasm between the band. Few people blame Gilmour for this disagreement, as it wasn't really in his personality to jeopardize friendships for the sake of personal gain. That said, while the band may have had more commercial and personal success with Gilmour at the helm, that doesn't mean they were as good as they were with Barrett. Because they weren't. In an era of great talents like McCartney, Bowie, Townshend, Page and Keith Richards, Barrett is right up there with them in terms of musicianship. The reason he's not as well known is that he only recorded one album with Pink Floyd, before they went mainstream. He truly is one of the most underrated musicians of all time. The fact that one man can influence so many people with the techniques he popularized is a remarkable feat, which deserves more recognition..