I am not so sure about all the chart numbers on the Syd Barrett page, it was intended to show the commercial focus of Syd's career as opposed to his stauchly anti-commerical opinions in real life and was mean't to draw attention to the huge collection of numbers on some musicians pages e.g. on Wikipedia or Billboard, which smacks of a certain air of Art for Money's sake. Some of what I consider the good hints, like comparisons to Phil Collins, the use of the word mainstream, the apparent caving to disco and then what seems to be AOR... these really fill in a lot of what is implied by the numbers in terms of the pressures an artist living through the 70s and 80s faced. When an album didn't do well, it usually is noted to have tanked or not done well. Compare to the Pink Floyd page, where there are less numbers and it is perhaps more readable. Roger Waters wrote in the song "Get Back to Radio:" "I am a man, I will not be a number" I believe. This is rather important.
A second comment: while Syd falling out of the band inspired and conditioned a lot of what happened to Pink Floyd specifically, and greatly accelerated songwriting by Waters... a wider commentary can be seen on the so-called 27 club and other dropouts of the 60s.... The surviors are, perhaps, not as celebrated... Grace Slick charted with "We Build This City" in the 1980s, Eric Clapton went through phases of AOR and adult contemporary before settling down to laidback blues. Bob Dylan experienced a severe decline in the 1970s (with some successes here and there) and more or less through the 1990s, until he came to be more respected late in life (realize, that in the mid to late 60s, his albums were often quite hard and grungy for the time, elaborate, well selling and influential). Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc, were all in the same industry and wrote hits. The living artists I mentioned would have certainly been idolized if they had dissapeared in the late 60s, as much if not perhaps more than those who did. I can't help but feel, for all the talent someone like Hendrix (who was extremely ambitious in his future plans for the early 70s, including the possibility of joining the radical Progressive Rock Group Emerson, Lake and Palmer [under another name of course]), would eventually switch to syntheziers and in the end old man "rock and roll roots" music later in his career. This gives some background
Third comment: I think that David Gilmour would have found success with his band Joker's Wild if Pink Floyd still had Syd by 1971 or 72. Joker's Wild was made up of very good musicians who largely stuck in the busines in real life, including saxophonist Dick Parry (a lot of solos on Floyd albums). It is almost certain that Gilmour would have success as a studio guitarist if not a member of a band in the late 70s and 80s in almost any history concievable. He was easy to work with and laid down great solos for Supertramp, Berlin, Paul McCartney, The Dream Academy, Bryan Ferry, Pete Townshend, etc. He already was known as a good guitar player by the late 60s. He initially wasn't interested in Pink Floyd's music very much and found their playing amateurish and directionless after Syd's meltdown compared to Joker's Wild. The main point, however, is that the Floyd had already charted two singles and was well known as a successful pop group, whereas Jokers' Wild had not developed much of a style and had only released some limited singles at that time (1968). Yearbuilt1938 (talk) 15:07, February 14, 2015 (UTC)