History Music / TheDarkSideOfTheMoon

* {{Feelies}}: Most vinyl copies of the album come with two posters and a set of two sticker sheets. The Immersion edition from 2011 has even more trinkets, including postcards, marbles, replica letters, tickets, and tour programs, coasters, a Roy Lichtenstein-style art print based on the album cover, and a scarf.

# "Time" (7:05)[[note]]Contains "Time" and "Breathe (Reprise)"[[/note]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: The final line of "Time":

** {{Subverted|Trope}} with the more upbeat "Money" [[LyricalDissonance due to its lyrics]], albeit placed right after the rather sad "The Great Gig in the Sky".
** The instrumental "Any Colour You Like," after the weightiness of the anti-war "Us and Them" and before the final coda of "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse."

* DarkReprise: "Breathe (Reprise)", which comes in just after "Time". Compared to the relaxed, airy "Breathe", the reprise feels more tired and worn-out, which fits the lyrics.

** "Time" and "Breathe (Reprise)". "Breathe (Reprise)" is short enough compared to "Time" that it is always issued with that song, and is officially considered the coda of "Time" on Website/{{Wikipedia}}. Even the original vinyl only mentioned "Breathe (Reprise)" [[https://img.discogs.com/tlYo1Z6yvg7j6OKJcSlYY54F-pE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1873013-1471100862-7344.jpeg.jpg on the lyric sheet]] and not in the tracklist.

** Roger "The Hat" Manifold (who appears in "Us and Them" and says "live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me. [[LaughingMad HAHAHAHAHAHAHA]]" in "On the Run");

* MushroomSamba: "Any Colour You Like".

-->''Forward he cried from the rear''\\
''And the front rank died''\\
''And the general sat, and the lines on the map''\\
''Moved from side to side''

* OneWomanWail: "The Great Gig in the Sky" features one long female wail over organ and pedal steel guitar. Clare Torry couldn't quite summon the right emotions for her wordless vocalizations on "Great Gig in the Sky" until she struck on the idea that, rather than doing vocals, she should treat her voice as if it were another instrument.

** Some of the quotes that appear and reappear on the album feature people's answers to the questions "When was the last time you were violent?" and "Were you in the right?". Everyone quoted seems to firmly believe he or she was in the right except for Henry [=McCullough=], who states that "I don't know; I was really drunk at the time."

* UncommonTime: "Money" is in 7/4, save for the guitar solo, which is in 4/4 because David Gilmour kept getting thrown off by the weirder time signature of the rest of the song.

''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is Music/PinkFloyd's eighth studio album, released on 1 March 1973 through Creator/HarvestRecords. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and at the time of writing, it's only surpassed by Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}'', Music/{{ACDC}}'s ''Music/BackInBlack'', and Music/MeatLoaf's ''Music/BatOutOfHell'' in sales. The album was Pink Floyd's BreakthroughHit and made them a mainstream name around the world.

''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is Music/PinkFloyd's eighth studio album, released on 1 March 1973. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and at the time of writing, it's only surpassed by Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}'', Music/{{ACDC}}'s ''Music/BackInBlack'', and Music/MeatLoaf's ''Music/BatOutOfHell'' in sales. The album was Pink Floyd's BreakthroughHit, and made them a mainstream name.

* [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Pretty Fly For a White Gal]]: Despite how black she may sound on "The Great Gig in the Sky", Clare Torry, is, in fact, white.

** For the 30th Anniversary in 2003, the image was decidedly less minimalist: It was [[https://img.discogs.com/Fejek5wwgHqZDfXxO6dI0J5k2uQ=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1619236-1429315319-7027.jpeg.jpg a photograph of a stained glass window]] that replicated the album cover, shot at night with trees visible outside, and a small smattering of light from the camera setup.

!! Tracklist:

[[AC: Side One]]

[[AC: Side Two]]

!! '''''Troping away, the moments that make up a dull day''''':

-->''And if [[YourHeadASplode your head explodes]] with dark forebodings too, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon''
-->''[...]''
-->''And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: All of the sound motifs [[note]] The ticking clock in "Time", the cash register in "Money", the laughing in "Brain Damage", the helicopter in "On the Run", the screaming in "The Great Gig in the Sky"; and the heartbeat that later appears at the beginning of "Time", throughout "On the Run", and at the ending of "Eclipse" [[/note]] appear in "Speak to Me" (the very first track) before being featured individually in later songs.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: Keyboard player Richard Wright asked for something "smarter, neater – more classy".[[note]] He also went on record saying that he wanted something "simple and bold. And dramatic".[[/note]] The end result is a stark image of a prism refracting a beam of light into a six-stripe rainbow against a black backdrop, all rendered in stark colors with as little detail as possible. The rainbow continued through the inner part of the gatefold, where the green line zigzagged in mimicry of the heartbeat heard throughout the album; the back cover featured another prism returning the beam of light to its origin point on the front cover.

** "Speak to Me" and "Breathe", inseparable enough that they are sometimes issued as one track on certain CD pressings [[note]] "On the Run", the track immediately following those two, is sometimes included with the mix [[/note]].

* TakeThat: When "Brain Damage" was performed during the ''Pulse'' concert, the circular screen showed images of 20th-century world leaders (e.g. UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, UsefulNotes/HenryKissinger, UsefulNotes/EdwardHeath, UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, UsefulNotes/BillClinton...).

* David Gilmour - lead vocals, guitar, [=VCS3=]

* Music/RogerWaters - lead vocals, bass, [=VCS3=], tape effects
* Richard Wright - keyboard, backing and lead vocals, [=VCS3=], tape effects

** The album cover was directly inspired by Alex Steinweiss' artwork for Rudolf Serkin and the New York Philharmonic's [[https://www.discogs.com/master/581199-Rudolf-Serkin-Bruno-WalterNew-York-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Ludwig-van-Beethoven-Beethoven-Piano-Conce 1941 performance]] of Music/LudwigVanBeethoven's "Emperor Concerto", which features a white piano similarly refracting a beam of light into a six-stripe rainbow (Steinweiss himself was the inventor of the illustrated album cover).

''The Dark Side of the Moon'' is Music/PinkFloyd's eighth studio album, released on March 1, 1973. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and at the time of writing, it's only surpassed by Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}'', Music/{{ACDC}}'s ''Music/BackInBlack'', and Music/MeatLoaf's ''Music/BatOutOfHell'' in sales. The album was Pink Floyd's BreakthroughHit, and made them a mainstream name.

* PrecisionFStrike: While the album is mostly free of profanities, there are two brief instances of heavy swearing that stick out so as to grab the listener's attention as readily as possible.
** The album opens with one – the very first spoken words of "Speak to Me":
--->''I've been mad for fucking years...''
** "Money":
--->''Don't give me that do goody-good bullshit...''
* ProductPlacement: "Money":
-->''I think I need a Lear Jet...''

** Roadie Chris Adamson (the PrecisionFStrike at the start of the album);

-->-- The lyrics of "'''Speak to Me'''", the first track of the album

** "Time" and "Breathe (Reprise)". "Breathe (Reprise)" is short enough compared to "Time" that it is always issued with that song, and is officially considered the coda of "Time" on Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}. Even the original vinyl only mentioned "Breathe (Reprise)" [[https://img.discogs.com/tlYo1Z6yvg7j6OKJcSlYY54F-pE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1873013-1471100862-7344.jpeg.jpg on the lyric sheet]] and not in the tracklist.

* BookEnds:

* AlbumClosure: The album ends with "Eclipse", the second half of "Brain Damage," which helps to bring all the themes of the album that it was illustrating together in an epic closer.

* RefrainFromAssuming:
** The second song is "Breathe", not "Breathe in the Air". This wasn't helped by some CD reissues in the '80s and '90s which labelled the song "Breathe in the Air", sometimes with the final three words in parentheses.
** It's "Brain Damage", not the TitleTrack. There isn't one.[[note]] The song ''did'' have [=TDSotM=] as a working title before the name was given to the album [[/note]] It's also two songs ("Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" run into each other), not one.

** "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" are so inseparable they're often collectively mistaken for the title track of the album, [[RefrainFromAssuming which doesn't exist.]]

Preceded by ''Music/ObscuredByClouds''. Proceeded by ''Music/WishYouWereHere1975''.

Since its release, it has been certified double-diamond in Canada, 16-fold platinum in New Zealand, 15-fold platinum in the US, 14-fold platinum in the UK and Australia, quintuple-platinum in Italy[[note]]it sold enough there to be potentially certified even higher, but the FIMI only started counting the album's numbers in 2009[[/note]], double-platinum in Argentina and Germany, platinum in France, Poland, and Russia, and gold in Belgium and the Czech Republic. However, this sudden super-stardom also sowed the seeds to the band's (especially Music/RogerWaters') later ArtistDisillusionment, which became very apparent on the band's later albums, particularly [[Music/WishYouWereHere its follow-up]].

Preceded by ''Music/ObscuredByClouds''. Proceeded by ''Music/WishYouWereHere''.

* ConceptAlbum: The songs are about the "pressures in life that can drive you to insanity" -- in order: Life ("Breathe"), travel ("On the Run"), time ("Time"), death ("The Great Gig in the Sky), money ("Money"), war and society ("Us and Them"), and insanity ("Brain Damage").

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: It's one of the most famous album covers ever made for a reason.

* {{Feelies}}: Most vinyl copies of the album come with two posters and a set of two sticker sheets. [[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZNARH4/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_g15_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=01YYCAVFSDB0P1VTBQGR&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 The Immersion box set from 2011 has even more!]]