The Dark Side of the Rainbow

Dark Side of the Rainbow – also known as Dark Side of Oz or The Wizard of Floyd – is the pairing of the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This produces moments of apparent synchronicity where the film and the album appear to correspond. Members of Pink Floyd have denied any intent to connect the album to the film.

History

In August 1995, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette published an article by Charles Savage suggesting that readers watch the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz while listening to the 1973 Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon. Savage said the idea was first shared on an online Pink Floyd newsgroup.^[1] According to Savage, if you start the album as the MGM lion roars for the first time onscreen, “The result is astonishing. It's as if the movie were one long art-film music video for the album. Song lyrics and titles match the action and plot. The music swells and falls with character's movements ... expect to see enough firm coincidences to make you wonder whether the whole thing was planned."^[1]

Fans created websites about the experience and catalogued moments of synchronicity. In April 1997, the DJ George Taylor Morris discussed "Dark Side of the Rainbow" on Boston radio.^[2] In July 2000, Turner Classic Movies aired The Wizard of Oz with the option of synchronising the broadcast to the album using the SAP audio channel.^[3][4]

Response

Members of Pink Floyd have denied any connection between the album and the film. Guitarist David Gilmour dismissed it as the product of "some guy with too much time on his hands".^[5] Drummer Nick Mason told MTV in 1997, "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz. It was all based on The Sound of Music."^[6] The Dark Side of the Moon audio engineer Alan Parsons also denied any connection, saying the band had no means of playing video tapes in the studio at the time of recording.^[2] He said in 2003:

It's such a non-starter, a complete load of eyewash. I tried it for the first time about two years ago. One of my fiancée's kids had a copy of the video, and I thought I had to see what it was all about. I was very disappointed ... And anyway, if you play any record with the sound turned down on the TV, you will find things that work.^[7]

Asked about the connection in 2022, the bassist, Roger Waters, said it was "bullshit" and that had "nothing to do" with anyone who worked on the album.^[8]

Detractors argue that the phenomenon is the result of the mind's tendency to find patterns by discarding data that does not fit.^[9] The film critic Richard Roeper published his assessment of the phenomenon, which he referred to as "Dark Side of Oz". Roeper concluded that while Pink Floyd may have had the resources and technical abilities to produce an alternative film soundtrack, undergoing such an endeavour would have been impractical. Roeper also noted that The Dark Side of the Moon is approximately an hour shorter than The Wizard of Oz.^[10]

Variations

The fame of Dark Side of the Rainbow has prompted some to search for synchronicities among other albums by other bands and films by other directors. The lengthy Pink Floyd song "Echoes" from the 1971 album Meddle has been paired with "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite", the fourth act in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both the track and the sequence are approximately 23 minutes.^[11] Comedian Matt Herzau claims that the Pixar film WALL-E syncs up with Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall, which he has called "Another Brick in the WALL-E", after the album's three-part song "Another Brick in the Wall".^[12][13] Podcast host Griffin McElroy has praised the synchronicity between Dark Side of the Moon and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 in the podcast 'Til Death Do Us Blart.^{[14][non-primary source needed]}

See also

• Apophenia
• Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences urban legend
• Pareidolia
• Synchronicity

References

1. Savage, Charles (August 1, 1995). . The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007 – via rbsavage.
2. "The Pink Floyd/Wizard Of Oz Connection". MTV News. from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
3. . Chicago Sun-Times. July 3, 2000. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
4. Iverson, Jon (June 18, 2000). "Dark Side of the Rainbow?". Audiophile. from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
5. . Archived from the original on May 5, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2005.
6. "The Pink Floyd/Wizard Of Oz Connection". MTV. May 30, 1997. from the original on September 13, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
7. Harris, John (March 12, 2003). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
8. Kielty, Martin. "Roger Waters Shares His Favorite 'Dark Side of the Rainbow' Rumor". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
9. "Does the music in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon coincide with the action of The Wizard of Oz?". The Straight Dope. May 5, 2000. from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2005.
10. Richard Roeper (1999). Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths that are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True!. Career Press. ISBN 978-1-56414-418-8. from the original on 2022-01-09. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
11. Shaffner, Nicholas (1991). Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. Harmony Books. p. 142. ISBN 0-517-57608-2.
12. "Another Brick in the Wall-E? Pixar Meets Pink Floyd". Daily Camera/Colorado Daily. July 22, 2009. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
13. Davis, Lauren (July 22, 2009). "Another Brick in the Wall-E? Pixar Meets Pink Floyd". io9. from the original on July 25, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
14. "Till Death Do Us Blart 2017". Nov 22, 2017. from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.