I made a short documentary style video about Syd Barrett and his infleunce on Pink Floyd.
His story often gets reduced to one clean explanation, that he took too many drugs, chose the wrong life and ultimately disappeared. In my opinion that is just way too simple.
The drug use obviously mattered in him ending up the way he did but so did the machine surrounding him.
The touring, sudden fame, interviews, industry and just general fakeness that forms when people thinks they can get something from you.
What further fascinates me with Syd is that how much of early Pink Floyd's language seems to begin with him. Like his wording, childlike rawness and strange melodies.
So the video is less about how drugs destroyed him and instead more about what a brilliant and fragile person he was, that ultimately got caught in between childhood and stardom (hehe)
If anyone knows more about Syd or early Pink Floyd or disagrees with the framing then I would be glad to hear it.