Syd Barrett - Pink Floyd Bugs T-Shirt

This entomological assortment comes from the cover art to Barrett, the sophomore solo album by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett. Produced by former bandmates David Gilmour and Richard Wright, the 1970 album was hardly a commercial success – but it has become an oddball-pop talisman in the years since its release. Indeed, at least two of its song titles, “Gigolo Aunt” and “Baby Lemonade,” have inspired the names of well-regarded bands.

Barrett was already struggling in 1970, having exacerbated his mental illness with copious amounts of... Read More

This entomological assortment comes from the cover art to Barrett, the sophomore solo album by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett. Produced by former bandmates David Gilmour and Richard Wright, the 1970 album was hardly a commercial success – but it has become an oddball-pop talisman in the years since its release. Indeed, at least two of its song titles, “Gigolo Aunt” and “Baby Lemonade,” have inspired the names of well-regarded bands.

Barrett was already struggling in 1970, having exacerbated his mental illness with copious amounts of drugs, but the same psychedelic sensibility that birthed such early Floyd masterpieces as “See Emily Play,” “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Bike” was still at work here. Still, the bugs were clearly on the march; by 1974 Barrett had essentially withdrawn from music. He would reappear, in an almost ghostly fashion, at the sessions for Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album – just as the band was tracking their tribute to their troubled founder, “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond.” Hide