David Gilmour knows what it means to be young and hip. He was only 21 when Pink Floyd brought him in to help fill the void left by Syd Barrett, whose departure came amid a decline in his mental health. Joining the psychedelic pioneers cast Gilmour into the spotlight almost immediately: he helped finish their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets, and after Barrett left mid-recording, stepped up as co-frontman alongside bassist Roger Waters.
Together, they formed an indomitable partnership. By 27, Gilmour had played a central role in one of the most acclaimed and commercially successful records of all time, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). What followed was a game-changing run of albums, culminating in The Wall in 1979.
It’s been many years since the height of Pink Floyd, with the band inactive since 2014 bar a brief reunion in 2022 for the Ukraine charity single ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’ Yet despite now being 80, Gilmour has continued to mature artistically and stay relevant, unlike many of his generation. His 2024 solo album Luck and Strange, his first in a decade, saw him team up with Alt-J producer Charlie Andrew to subtly refresh his sound.
Part of what makes Gilmour compelling is his self-awareness. He knows who he is, who he isn’t, and exactly where he sits in the cultural conversation.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2006, he acknowledged that the times had moved on from the heyday of the 1960s and 70s. Asked about Arctic Monkeys, then the hottest band in Britain off the back of ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ and the fastest-selling debut in British history, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, Gilmour weighed in on the wily Sheffield upstarts.
He admitted he hadn’t bought the album, but said he’d “would have loved” Arctic Monkeys and their contemporaries had he been in his 20s: “But it is a young person’s thing and I can’t pretend to be there. I don’t want to listen to the Arctic Monkeys or the Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand particularly.”
He continued: “I’ve been there, and my poor old ears and brain just don’t … I have changed, over the years. I probably would have loved that when I was in my 20s. But, you know, I like slower tempos and melody and stuff.”
Gilmour also made clear that, despite feeling too old for the new wave of British indie, he never wanted to become a legacy act in the mould of Neil Diamond or Barry Manilow. Committed to growing old gracefully, he knows his back catalogue speaks for itself: few artists can claim as many acclaimed albums as him.
