10 Most Underrated Pink Floyd Songs

Nearly 50 years after its release, The Dark Side of the Moon remains one of the most successful and influential rock albums ever. Therefore, there’s no argument to be made that people are unaware of The Great Gig in the Sky. What is debatable, though, is whether or not fans give it enough credit for being perhaps the best non-lexical representation of insanity and mortality in popular music.

Granted, the introductory sentiments of Abbey Road Studios doorman Gerry O’Driscoll are powerful, too, especially alongside Wright’s mournful piano chords. Yet, it’s when the piece explodes into a cosmic dirge led by Clare Torry’s impeccable wailing that it truly nails its lyric-less incarnation of death (be it ego death or literal death). From there, it ebbs and flows between its two main temperaments to embody the five stages of grief (anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) simultaneously.

It's shocking to think that some people skip the track altogether when listening to the LP, and that Rolling Stone’s review deemed it something that “could have been shortened or dispensed with.” On the contrary, it’s a vital part of the cumulative conceptual statement whose affective simplicity is downright brilliant.