Pink Floyd and the Wizard of Oz? "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

June 22, 2000 4:26 PM

Pink Floyd and the Wizard of Oz? "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." While no one involved with Pink Floyd has ever admitted to any link between the band's seminal 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" and the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," urban legend purports that the album was conceived as an alternate soundtrack to the film.
posted by 120degrees (7 comments total)

Have you tried it? It's uncanny. Just don't try to smoke banana peels 'cause of Yellow Submarine. That just don't work.
posted by billpena at 6:35 PM on June 22, 2000

It was uncanny in parts. But most of it was just boring. W of O with the sound off and Pink Floyd playing, staring intently at the screen, waiting for something cool to happen. There's a reason they call it dope.
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:54 PM on June 22, 2000

I think it is just a coincidence. I had the same thing happen when I played Army of Darkness
and The Electric Moog Orchestra's Star Wars soundtrack together. I pull them out every time I throw a party. It is a nice warm up to playing the demonstration video for the Venus II, big laughs all around.
posted by thirteen at 7:06 PM on June 22, 2000

Err, I forgot the warning that my link is slightly sexual in nature. Not at all erotic tho.
posted by thirteen at 7:08 PM on June 22, 2000

I was high when I did it and I still thought it was a waste of time. The times of alignment are sparse, and the album ends before the movie is half over.
posted by Awol at 9:23 PM on June 22, 2000

if you're looking for synchronicity, the less-well-known but (I think) more interesting combination is the smashing pumpkins' siamese dream and disney's fantasia. maybe the only reason it works better is because fantasia is *designed* to be accompanied by music and music alone, so it already has a certain rhythm.

I thought the dark side of the moon thing was mildly entertaining, but I did it mostly so I could *say* I did and see for myself, not because I had high expectations. I think I was more entertained by the sheer bizarreness of the scenario: me, headphones on, remote in hand, watching the wizard of oz in complete silence.

also, awol, if you have dark side on cd and you put it on repeat, there are a few more instances of alignment.
posted by rabi at 9:46 PM on June 22, 2000

Well, if it's supposed to be a soundtrack, shouldn't you use it like one? Soundtracks don't replace the sound, they add to it. Try and figure out what songs go with what scenes. With digital editing, you could easily strip out the music and replace it with Dark Side of the Moon if you wanted to (for home use only, of course. Do not show this to anyone, as it would be a horrendous violation of copyright, I'm sure.)
posted by Ezrael at 9:21 AM on June 23, 2000