A Very Irregular Head

This biography of the Pink Floyd founder “cuts through the myths and half-truths, and details the story of a flawed and erratic genius” (What Hi-Fi).

“I don't think I'm easy to talk about. I've got a very irregular head. And I'm not anything that you think I am anyway.” —Syd Barrett's last interview, Rolling Stone, 1971Blessed with good looks and a natural aptitude for painting and music, Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett fast became a teenage leader in Cambridge, England's burgeoning bohemian scene in the early 1960s. Along with three friends and collaborators—Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason—he formed Pink Floyd, evolving from a typical British cover band to pioneers of British psychedelic rock. With trippy, Barrett-penned pop hits such as “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play,” Pink Floyd captured the zeitgeist of “Swinging” London.But once Barrett began ingesting large quantities of LSD, his already-fragile mental state began to unravel, revealing erratic, highly eccentric, reclusive, and sometimes violent behavior. Inevitably sacked from the band, Barrett retreated to his mother's house in Cambridge, where he would remain until his death, rarely seen or heard. Meanwhile Pink Floyd emerged from the underground to become one of the biggest international rock bands of all time, releasing multi-platinum albums, many that dealt thematically with the loss of their friend Syd Barrett: The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall.In A Very Irregular Head, journalist Rob Chapman lifts the veil of secrecy that has surrounded the Barrett's legend, drawing on exclusive access to family, friends, archives, journals, letters, and artwork to create the definitive portrait of a brilliant and tragic artist.