Nick Mason Recalls The Pinnacle Of Rock Followed By Simpler Bands Like Sex Pistols And The Clash

As many great bands and records have come out throughout the history of rock, it is pretty hard to name any period as the peak point of the genre. Still, the early and mid-’70s have been widely accepted as the heyday of great rock and roll. It looks like Pink Floyd’s long-serving drummer Nick Mason agreed on that, as he revealed in a recent interview with Northern Transmissions.

“It’s probably that 1973 marked the pinnacle of all the new music and ideas that came out throughout the 1960s,” Mason said when he was reminded of the impactful records that dropped during that era. The musician continued, “At some point after that, it imploded on itself, and punk took over. 1973 was a time of so many great bands, like Traffic, Led Zeppelin, and the best of the Who’s albums were around that period.”

He then added, referring to the inevitable transformation in the music industry in line with the demands and the context of the period, “I don’t think it’s something that was in the water; I think that phases of music have a finite time to develop and build to a point after which they’ve done all that they can.”

The drummer also noted, “After that, a young audience will then move on and create something that resonates more with them, like we saw with the Sex Pistols and the Clash. The transition into punk is fascinating, really; everyone sort of wanted to move on to something a lot simpler.”

Following the golden age of rock and roll during the 1960s and the early 1970s, punk came to the front in the mid-’70s and overturned the music world by introducing new styles of making music. It was a completely different attitude compared to the traditional rock elements, from their lyrics and singing styles to dressing. According to Mason, moving into simpler bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash was an interesting but understandable transition.