THE 50(ISH) GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
The Dark Side of The Moon, The Light Side of Sport
Album #25 : Pink Floyd — The Dark Side of The Moon
There is a theory that if you manage to start The Dark Side of The Moon at exactly the same time The Wizard of Oz, specifically the third roar of the lion in the MGM vanity card, the two line up perfectly. This is, of course, absolute nonsense. For a start, The Wizard of Oz is more than twice as long as The Dark Side of The Moon. So don’t waste your time.
However, it turns out there is another theory which is that if you manage to start The Dark Side of The Moon at any time in the last week, I will be either a) sleeping, b) watching sport or c) sleeping whilst watching sport. That’s because Euro 2020 (2021?) started this week, as well as there being a cricket match on, and the US Open this week, so it is wall-to-wall sport for me.
According to TDSOTM’s Wikipedia page, the album’s theme’s are conflict, greed, time, mental health, and death. They seem like good kicking off points to me. So, let’s address each of those in turn, shall we?
Conflict
The very essence of sport is the arbitrary creation of conflict for entertainment, isn’t it? None of it really matters, at the end of the day, and yet it means so much to so many people. On Richard Herring’s podcast RHLSTP (RHLSTP!) he has an ‘emergency question’ which is something like: “All sport is inherently pointless, discuss.” I think he has a point, it is all a waste of time isn’t it? That said, if you were to ask me that during an England match this week, I would tell you to be quiet.
Greed
I’ve spoken about greed in sport a lot previously, especially in the week that certain football clubs tried to start their own the European Super League, but the beauty of international sport (like the Euros) is that there are no private owners, no sponsors and no overpaid stars. Just good old-fashioned nationalism. There is a real pride in pulling on the national shirt, if you want proof you only have to look as far as teams singing their national anthems. But it doesn’t really mean anything, does it?
Time
I live in Scotland. The last time they qualified for a major tournament was 23 years ago. That is quite a long time. I play football on Monday nights with people who genuinely may not have been born when Scotland were last in a major international tournament. The excitement has been palpable. It means something to these people, it really does.
Mental Health
I don’t mind telling you, between Thursday and Saturday, I cried three days in a row. All three involved sport. The first was at about 10:58am on Thursday morning. Before the day’s play in every England cricket game, the fans sing Jerusalem. I have no idea why — as with most English traditions there is probably some shady, colonial reason behind it — but it is quite a spectacle at the best of times. After a year of watching cricket played in empty stadiums, to nobody, it was a deeply moving moment to hear that song sung in real time by a stadium full of real people. It was the first real sign that things are getting back to normal after the covid-19 pandemic.
Then, on Friday night, the Euros started. The first game was in Rome and Andrea Bocelli sang Nessa Dorma ahead of it kick off. It was, in the truest sense of the word, amazing. My fiancée and I were in bits (although she had just finished a set of night shifts, so had a bit more of an excuse). Especially with everything Italy has been through over the last twelve to eighteen months. In one way, the last year and a half has been the kind to put sport into perspective but, on the other hand, moments like Friday night show exactly why it is important. There’s a sense of community there that you just don’t get elsewhere.
Death
The third time I cried was on Saturday night, and I don’t think I was alone. The reason for it was that, shortly before halftime in the Denmark v Finland match, Danish midfielder Christian Erikson, without any prior warning, collapsed on the pitch. What followed was harrowing as players and fans alike watched on as the player received chest compressions and was shocked on the field.
Mercifully, Erikson survived and by the time he was carried from the pitch was awake and able to lift his head. The match was interrupted and, remarkably, completed later on that evening. It was a real wake-up call — sport is important, yes, but not because it is a contest to decide who wins and who loses. It is important because it reminds us what else is important; community, working together, living our lives to the full.
Basically, sport isn’t important; until it is.
Thanks for reading — over the course of 2021, I’ll be reviewing 50(ish) of the greatest albums ever recorded. You can see the list here:
There is also a playlist featuring the best song from each album here.
