Does Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album sync up to The Wizard of Oz? Is this intentional? Here is our look at this urban legend.
The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and The Wizard of Oz
I was a late coming fan of Pink Floyd, and perceived them to be a boring and pretentious band prior to my conversion, but now they rank among my favorites. It wasn’t until I listened closely to their first release, 1967’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn with their first singer and guitarist (the brilliant and eccentric Syd Barrett) that I began seeking out more of their music. In the late 1990s, I discovered their outstanding succession of 70’s releases such as Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here. Around the same time, rumors were spreading on the internet about a secretive connection between Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz, the motion picture classic which was released in 1939. The instructions at the time, which I still vaguely remember, were to start the Dark Side of the Moon CD during one of the MGM lion roars at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz. Then one was supposed to watch the movie with the sound turned off while listening to the Floyd album. Being a curious lad, I couldn’t resist trying it at the time…
The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Below is a Youtube video syncing the two pieces:
As with the ‘Paul is dead‘ hoax, this rumor was also allegedly started by an American DJ. In a brief 1997 MTV interview with WZLX DJ George Taylor Morris, he takes credit for spreading the story, yet claims that it was a rumor that had been around for years. “The weird thing about the Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon phenomenon that’s been going around is that it’s been going around for quite a while,” Morris said, “I just mentioned it, just briefly on the air. If you play the Dark Side of the Moon against The Wizard of Oz as a soundtrack, all of these amazing coincidences happen.”
Members of Pink Floyd Deny Rumors
Despite the coincidences, members of Pink Floyd and others involved in the making of the Dark Side of the Moon album have denied that the synchronization was intentional. Drummer Nick Mason has been especially vocal in denying the rumors, and two interviews in which he denies the connection can be heard here and here. When directly asked if the link was intentional in the first interview, Mason responds “The answer has to be no. There’s something pretty weird about people who’ve got time to work their way through Dark Side in a number of films.”
Alan Parsons, who engineered the audio on Dark Side of the Moon, responded to the rumor in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, “It was an American radio guy who pointed it out to me. It’s such a non-starter, a complete load of eyewash.”
Google Trends History
The Google Trends graph below shows interest in the search term “dark side of the moon wizard of oz” over time. It appears that interest peaked in December of 2004, and has largely declined since then.
Bottom Line
When synced correctly, there are a number of coincidences between Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz. However, members of Pink Floyd and others involved in creating the album have denied that these coincidences are intentional.
What do you think? Did members of Pink Floyd intentionally write/record Dark Side of the Moon to be synced with The Wizard of Oz? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
Updated June 5, 2016
Originally published June 2014
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