10 Most Ambitious Pink Floyd Instrumentals Ranked by Their Experimental Edge

A band drawn to experimentation

Pink Floyd released 15 studio albums, including The Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Their music drew on unusual time signatures, experimental recording, atmospheric sounds and long instrumental passages.

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, the group recorded instrumental tracks ranging from expansive compositions to sound collages. Some include speech, chants or vocalized sounds, but are not primarily vocal-driven.

Atmosphere in Main Theme

“Main Theme” appears on the soundtrack to More, Barbet Schroeder’s 1969 film. Roger Waters’ bass and Nick Mason’s drumming anchor the five-minute piece, while Richard Wright’s organ and David Gilmour’s guitar build an ominous, psychedelic mood.

Its repetitive groove develops through tension and atmosphere rather than a conventional song structure. “Up the Khyber” and “Quicksilver,” also from More, are mentioned as other notable instrumentals.

Mason’s percussive experiment

Nick Mason composed “The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party,” a nearly nine-minute work on the 1969 album Ummagumma. It is arranged in three movements: “Entrance,” “Entertainment” and “Exit.” A flute melody by Mason’s then-wife Linda gives way to drum rolls, cymbal crashes, percussion and tape effects. For the album, each band member created an individual piece; Mason’s contribution rejects conventional rock structure in favor of rhythm and texture.

Electronic tension on the run

David Gilmour and Roger Waters wrote “On the Run,” an electronic instrumental on 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon. Its fast, eight-note sequence was programmed on an EMS Synthi AKS synthesizer, with filters and electronic percussion shaping its relentless pulse.

Footsteps, voices, airport announcements and airplane sounds help create an anxious atmosphere. The track builds to an explosive finish and transitions into “Time,” whose opening features chiming clocks.

A film soundtrack soundscape

“Absolutely Curtains” closes Obscured by Clouds, Pink Floyd’s 1972 soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder’s film La Vallée. Wright’s keyboards and Gilmour’s restrained guitar open the piece with a dreamlike atmosphere that evokes the film’s remote wilderness setting.

The music develops gradually before taking a bizarre turn. The available account ends as it begins describing that shift, so it does not explain what follows.