More of my obsession or “hyper focus” on Syd Barrett.

A Very Irregular Head: The Life of Syd Barrett by Rob Chapman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett is one of the most renowned casualties of Rock ‘n’ Roll. At the cusp of stardom with Pink Floyd in 1967, he had a major breakdown. He was 21 years old. His behavior became erratic (to say the least) and he left Pink Floyd or was dismissed.

Syd’s mental collapse continues to be a source of speculation and fascination 54 years later and 15 years after his death at age 60 in 2006. Was it the onset of schizophrenia? Was it autism, as suggested in The Interesting Case of Syd Barrett? Was it LSD, or the more dangerous DOM, as suggested by Men on the Border? Was it temporal lobe damage, as suggested in Julian Palacios’ biography Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd: Dark Globe? Or was it just the sixties, man? Our interest in Syd’s mental collapse isn’t merely voyeuristic, it’s also about making sense about what happened.

Rob Chapman de-emphasizes Syd’s drug use, which makes it harder to make sense of what happened to Syd. Syd’s gifts at songwriting left him. His singing left him. His guitar playing left him. His mental health left him. I wept as I read about Syd’s deterioration.

But Chapman makes an interesting point: A rock star’s peak creativity lasts for a very short while: after that, he or she becomes redundant. And being redundant was Syd’s major fear.

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