Everything Under the Sun: The Complete Guide to Pink Floyd

The definitive guide to the band offering song-by-song analysis, full chronology and gig guide, full bootleg guide, and exclusive interviews with surviving members

Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965, signed with EMI in 1967, and recorded their first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, which was released to immediate acclaim in the same year. Since then, the band has released 15 studio albums and sold over 250 million records. Their eighth album, Dark Side of the Moon, is the highest-selling British album in the world (and fourth overall), at over 40 million copies. Their last album, The Endless River (2014), has sold over ten million copies, and founder members Roger Waters and Nick Mason still (separately) tour the world. Indeed, they hardly need an introduction: their profile remains very high, with millions of fans around the world.

Everything Under the Sun will be a high-level, fully sourced and footnoted analysis of the music of Pink Floyd (akin to Revolution in the Head by Ian Macdonald about The Beatles), and the first serious survey of the group’s work and achievements. As such, it will also be a cultural history of the UK, seen through the prism of the band.

While there is a plethora of books about Pink Floyd and by Pink Floyd former members, none are truly comprehensive or do what this book seeks to do. Some give bald introductions to the songs with analysis, others give stories and anecdotes, and potted histories. But Everything Under the Sun will be the definitive book. In addition to a song-by-song analysis, it will include exclusive band interviews, a full chronology and gig guide, and a full bootleg guide. It will be the go-to book for any Pink Floyd fan.

Mike Cormack, originally from Aberdeenshire, has a 12-year media career, mostly focusing on China, where he first arrived in 2007. He is the books editor for thechinaproject.com, the leading website in the English language about China, and is an occasional book reviewer for The Spectator, Times Literary Supplement and South China Morning Post amongst others.

He is a life-long, second-generation fan of Pink Floyd, brought up by family members who were (and remain) huge fans. Music is his main passion, and he likes everything from death metal to disco to jazz to Abba.