Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon": 40 Years Later

Originally released in March of 1973, Pink Floyd's iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon turned 40 years old in 2013. From its 741 weeks on the Billboard charts and estimated 50 million copies sold, it has remained one of the most commercially successful recordings of all time. It also marked the emergence of Pink Floyd on a world wide stage, from their beginnings in the London underground music scene.

John Covach, chair of the Department of Music and director of the Institute for Popular Music at the University of Rochester, says what makes The Dark Side of the Moon stand out is the album coherence from beginning to end. While the album produced successful singles that got significant radio play such as "Money" and "Time", each song seems to flow naturally into the next, making the sum greater than the parts. Covach says that The Dark Side of the Moon is one those landmark albums in the echelon of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Michael Jackson's Thriller, and is arguably not only one of the greatest albums of the 1970s, but perhaps in the history of rock music.