The Movie Project That Made Pink Floyd Reunite — Sort Of
Pink Floyd recorded several all-time great classic rock songs. They also hid some underrated gems on their albums, but “Have You Got It Yet?” wasn’t one of them. Still, that tune reunited Pink Floyd’s three surviving members for a movie of the same name that looks at the band’s early history.
Pink Floyd reunited for the movie ‘Have You Got It Yet?’
Pink Floyd’s intraband relationships were rarely smooth sailing, even when the band reached its peak.
Bassist and chief songwriter Roger Waters and lead guitarist David Gilmour often found themselves on rocky ground. Waters fired keyboard player Rick Wright while recording The Wall and supplanted drummer Nick Mason with Andy Newmark on The Final Cut. The classic Pink Floyd lineup bitterly disintegrated after that latter album. The years and distance did little to thaw the frosty relationships.
Still, Have You Got It Yet? got Pink Floyd to reunite. Gilmour, Mason, and Waters — the three surviving members of the band — all appear in the movie. The last time that trio had anything to do with each other came in July 2005 when they performed at Live 8 together (Wright died in 2008). Gilmour and Waters shared the stage for a small benefit show in 2010.
You could count the times Pink Floyd reunited for any reason since 1985 on one hand. Getting Waters, Mason, and Gilmour to contribute to the same project — in this case Have You Got It Yet? — might be the closest we ever get to a Pink Floyd reunion.
The three musicians have a good reason to put aside any differences, though. The movie explores Syd Barrett’s life and musical influence. He founded Pink Floyd, and his music helped the band establish a rabid fan base in the mid-1960s.
Mason said Pink Floyd’s earliest concerts were mostly rubbish, but Barrett’s psychedelic pop songs and cosmic guitar experiments earned them a dedicated following. The band more or less soundtracked London’s summer of love for the underground set, but they didn’t remain a curiosity for long.
Beatles members John Lennon and Paul McCartney helped finance one of Pink Floyd’s major concerts. Floyd recorded their first album across the hall while the Fab Four made Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, spent seven straight weeks in the top 10 from August to October 1967.
The band dismissed Barrett in 1968 when he proved unwilling or incapable of being a professional musician. Still, Barrett cast a shadow over everything the band did for the rest of their career.
Syd Barrett influenced Pink Floyd even when they kicked him out of the band
Pink Floyd parted ways with Barrett in early 1968. The original quartet — Barrett, Mason, Waters, and Wright — added Gilmour to the lineup to play guitar during the frequent instances when Barrett played the wrong chords (or none at all). It was clear that the Madcap’s mental instability was holding back the band, so they moved forward without him. A year after writing two top-20 singles and releasing his band’s debut album, Barrett was out.
Still, Barrett’s short time in the spotlight cast a long shadow.
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page recognized Barrett’s genius approach to making music. Pink Floyd’s 1970s albums routinely touched on madness; nearly all of Wish You Were Here was about their ex-bandmate. David Bowie said Floyd ended for him after they fired Barrett.
More about ‘Have You Got It Yet?’
In addition to reuniting Pink Floyd’s three remaining members to contribute to the same project (albeit separately), Have You Got it Yet? included interviews with other notable musicians. The Who’s Pete Townshend, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, and MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden also appear.
The film synopsis (via Mercury Studios) reads:
“Syd and Pink Floyd crystallized a cultural moment where anything seemed possible but where that freedom could come with a cost. Was Syd just another drug casualty? Did he suffer from an undiagnosed mental condition? Or did he dislike the attention and fame as the fun turned to work? While there are no clear answers, there is the feeling by all those around Syd that something went terribly wrong. ‘Have You Got It Yet?’ is a chronicle and a mosaic of Barrett’s creative and destructive impulses, his captivating presence and absence – a portrait of the complex puzzle that was his life.”
The movie, which runs 94 minutes, debuted in select markets in the United States on July 14, 2023.
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