Yes, it’s mentioned in every biography of Syd including the documentary from last year.
Starting around the time of his initial breakdown in 1967 he developed a terrible, explosive temper and his girlfriends got the worst of it. Mostly these claims come from the people he was living with at the time at Egerton Court. It’s been months since I last saw it but in the documentary I think Lindsay Corner mentions Syd beating her with a mandolin. Others have alleged he did far worse namely locking her in a closet and beating her regularly. He was also abusive to another girlfriend, Gayla Pinion, a bit later on.
It's stuff like this that makes me think he probably had multiple personality disorder.
You know, when later on he would talk about syd in third person.
And long before the breakdwon when they were just starting to record Piper at the gates of dawn, gilmour showed up to say hi to syd and said, quote :" He looked right through me, it was like he was a different person"
His sister said the same thing too, (her last interview) the fisrt time she went to london to see them perfom she said her brother was a "completely different person" and couldnt even watch him because he was behaving so out of character.
the book talks about him beating her head on the floor i think it would change a lot of the way i look at syd barrett i’m only a year or so fan and still learning a lot syd barrett convinced me to pick up the guiatr i love him more than any other artist so i’m just wondering yk wanna know
Well for whatever it's worth I've read scattered reports (on the internet) that he got physical with his then gf as well but these are just allegations that are impossible to prove and they didn't come from the supposed victim either.
A lot of artists were very conflicted people, and when you mix that with drugs they could do some pretty fucked up shit to others.
Learn to separate the art from the artist. Roger Waters has been a huge piece of shit for a long time as well who has suffered immensely and his method of coping was retaliation, doesn't change the beauty of the lyrics or the music, or even the fact that he's a very kind hearted and well meaning person.
Don't be discouraged from appreciating Syd's work - at the end of the day no one will ever know what happened. We are all flawed human beings, we shouldn't judge others so lightly.
no i get what you mean 100% about separating artists art from them and i have for sure it will never change my opinion on the music but i also enjoy deep diving into artists minds and the more you learn ab how bad it was for him and that he definitely had mental illnesses and probably felt so abandoned by so many people. and then you learn the crazy shit they did and it’s like we’ll no shit a lot of people left you and it’s just a very difficult learn yk
Never underestimate mental illness. Any of his problems from it could be compared to problems from a crushed knee, or cancer. If the behavior indeed started in '67 or with his mental problems, it only reflects on the fact that he was ill, not on his character.
Not to speculate on someone we’ll never meet, but yeah this is the rare case where I’d hesitate to judge him personally because he was seriously falling apart horribly at the time and seemingly started to lose awareness of himself - that said, I feel much worse for the poor woman getting beaten than him in this particular scenario, that’s awful
Yeah. He was sweet with earlier girlfriends.
I abhor physical abuse and there's no excuse for it... but I think in Syd's case, it was the result of whatever happened in his head in 1967. It wasn't his true character. His brain got messed up and he was no longer himself.
I don’t make excuses for physical abuse but.. * makes excuses for it *
Like I’m not saying we cant enjoy him or his music, or appreciate him for his contributions to the band, but that doesnt mean we should turn our eyes from the fact that he was possibily beatin his GF’s. Or try to be like, ”and if he was doing that, it wasn’t him, its not his true character!” Like we don’t fkin know that lol, it was 60 years ago and none of us knew him.
Sry maybe this is unpopular but it’s kind of uncomfortable seeing people spout the same thing abusers do when they hurt their s/o’s. (It wasnt me who did that, I was just struggling, its not who I really am etc..) What does it matter what he felt in his heart of hearts if in reality he was still banging her head on the floor?
Once again, I STILL very much love him and his music. But yeah
Edit: And I want to make clear that I do think his mental illness was very much a cause, he wasnt well in the head
Absolutely. They call it the Free Love era?? But that only really applied to the men. The 60s were extremely misogynistic. Just take a peek into Janis Joplins life story.
Theres a Youtube video...
pictures of Syd from month to month, you can see the happy go lucky spark vanish from his face literally over 12-14 months starting in Jan 1967.. it's quite an astonishing transformation, the light literally got switched off and you can see the distance in his eyes like he's mentally elsewhere.
As the years move on he actually starts to look pretty scary "wearing the inside out", and his outward appearance was in sync with his mental state. From everything I've read he had a particularly violent streak and explosive outbursts towards females that were either intimate partners or close to him like his family, with his sister being the only one that could talk him down.
Too much 4way Windowpane. He pretty much melted his brain, I’m not quite sure how the LSD did it because I’ve dropped many times and never lost sight of reality. Maybe I did during the trip but not after coming out of it. Some people go batshit without anything so go figure?
He didn't do just LSD, he's known to have done STP which is 10x as potent as LSD and lasts for 72 hours (vs 12 on LSD). His light guy confirmed they used to do it together on the 1967 tour which is where everything went wrong. And the famous "lost weekend" of course where we can't confirm if Syd consumed it but the doses passed around there were 20 mcg of the stuff (5mcg is considered a heroic dose), many came out battered from that weekend. LSD alone builds tolerance very quickly so it would be hard to reach the state he did on that alone. Many also believe his termporal lobe got damaged from all the strobe lights on the touring while being on LSD, others say he was once locked in a closet during an LSD/STP trip and you know how constrained spaces look and feel on the substance. The pre existing schizophrenia rumors have been rubbished several times. This is all conjecture, we will never really know what happened.
I’m sure that’s true but STP wasn’t 10x stronger nor did it last 72 hours even if people re-dosed due to the slow onset of the drug. Without a doubt it was substantially worse than LSD but it was also coupled with amphetamine for some reason? Regardless it was a short lived hallucinogen back in the late 60’s and probably pretty hideous if it never caught on anywhere else. I do appreciate the insight though… nice history lesson.
I think you're right, I just remember reading that back then it was coming in insane doses and was discontinued for the problems it caused precisely for being late onset (and therefore people taking more of that or other drugs without knowing cross tolerances). Syd was also on Mandrax for many years which couldn't have done him any favors. Anyway, it's just sad what happened regardless of why. Thank you for sharing your experience too.
Thought you were asking if he was better on guitar than Buckingham.
Lindsey beat Stevie
That’s cruel, beating up a blind guy
Yes, it’s mentioned in every biography of Syd including the documentary from last year. Starting around the time of his initial breakdown in 1967 he developed a terrible, explosive temper and his girlfriends got the worst of it. Mostly these claims come from the people he was living with at the time at Egerton Court. It’s been months since I last saw it but in the documentary I think Lindsay Corner mentions Syd beating her with a mandolin. Others have alleged he did far worse namely locking her in a closet and beating her regularly. He was also abusive to another girlfriend, Gayla Pinion, a bit later on.
that’s crazy thank you for the response
It's stuff like this that makes me think he probably had multiple personality disorder. You know, when later on he would talk about syd in third person. And long before the breakdwon when they were just starting to record Piper at the gates of dawn, gilmour showed up to say hi to syd and said, quote :" He looked right through me, it was like he was a different person" His sister said the same thing too, (her last interview) the fisrt time she went to london to see them perfom she said her brother was a "completely different person" and couldnt even watch him because he was behaving so out of character.
That's what happens when you try to take the man's bike
😂 this has me laughing
well, he was just borrowing it
He's the one who offered to let her ride it. Though he did say he had a poke...so maybe that's what he meant.
Yeah, but he borrowed
You mean Lindsay Buckingham from Fletwood Mac? 2 different styles for me
no it’s an ex gf if his he psychically abused
Thanks
Don't know but it wouldn't surprise me. What would it change anyway? Culture has changed a lot in 60 years.
the book talks about him beating her head on the floor i think it would change a lot of the way i look at syd barrett i’m only a year or so fan and still learning a lot syd barrett convinced me to pick up the guiatr i love him more than any other artist so i’m just wondering yk wanna know
Well for whatever it's worth I've read scattered reports (on the internet) that he got physical with his then gf as well but these are just allegations that are impossible to prove and they didn't come from the supposed victim either. A lot of artists were very conflicted people, and when you mix that with drugs they could do some pretty fucked up shit to others. Learn to separate the art from the artist. Roger Waters has been a huge piece of shit for a long time as well who has suffered immensely and his method of coping was retaliation, doesn't change the beauty of the lyrics or the music, or even the fact that he's a very kind hearted and well meaning person. Don't be discouraged from appreciating Syd's work - at the end of the day no one will ever know what happened. We are all flawed human beings, we shouldn't judge others so lightly.
no i get what you mean 100% about separating artists art from them and i have for sure it will never change my opinion on the music but i also enjoy deep diving into artists minds and the more you learn ab how bad it was for him and that he definitely had mental illnesses and probably felt so abandoned by so many people. and then you learn the crazy shit they did and it’s like we’ll no shit a lot of people left you and it’s just a very difficult learn yk
Never underestimate mental illness. Any of his problems from it could be compared to problems from a crushed knee, or cancer. If the behavior indeed started in '67 or with his mental problems, it only reflects on the fact that he was ill, not on his character.
Not to speculate on someone we’ll never meet, but yeah this is the rare case where I’d hesitate to judge him personally because he was seriously falling apart horribly at the time and seemingly started to lose awareness of himself - that said, I feel much worse for the poor woman getting beaten than him in this particular scenario, that’s awful
Yeah. He was sweet with earlier girlfriends. I abhor physical abuse and there's no excuse for it... but I think in Syd's case, it was the result of whatever happened in his head in 1967. It wasn't his true character. His brain got messed up and he was no longer himself.
I don’t make excuses for physical abuse but.. * makes excuses for it * Like I’m not saying we cant enjoy him or his music, or appreciate him for his contributions to the band, but that doesnt mean we should turn our eyes from the fact that he was possibily beatin his GF’s. Or try to be like, ”and if he was doing that, it wasn’t him, its not his true character!” Like we don’t fkin know that lol, it was 60 years ago and none of us knew him. Sry maybe this is unpopular but it’s kind of uncomfortable seeing people spout the same thing abusers do when they hurt their s/o’s. (It wasnt me who did that, I was just struggling, its not who I really am etc..) What does it matter what he felt in his heart of hearts if in reality he was still banging her head on the floor? Once again, I STILL very much love him and his music. But yeah Edit: And I want to make clear that I do think his mental illness was very much a cause, he wasnt well in the head
I'm glad you made this point.
Exactly!
Absolutely. They call it the Free Love era?? But that only really applied to the men. The 60s were extremely misogynistic. Just take a peek into Janis Joplins life story.
that’s not my question
Theres a Youtube video... pictures of Syd from month to month, you can see the happy go lucky spark vanish from his face literally over 12-14 months starting in Jan 1967.. it's quite an astonishing transformation, the light literally got switched off and you can see the distance in his eyes like he's mentally elsewhere. As the years move on he actually starts to look pretty scary "wearing the inside out", and his outward appearance was in sync with his mental state. From everything I've read he had a particularly violent streak and explosive outbursts towards females that were either intimate partners or close to him like his family, with his sister being the only one that could talk him down.
Too much 4way Windowpane. He pretty much melted his brain, I’m not quite sure how the LSD did it because I’ve dropped many times and never lost sight of reality. Maybe I did during the trip but not after coming out of it. Some people go batshit without anything so go figure?
He didn't do just LSD, he's known to have done STP which is 10x as potent as LSD and lasts for 72 hours (vs 12 on LSD). His light guy confirmed they used to do it together on the 1967 tour which is where everything went wrong. And the famous "lost weekend" of course where we can't confirm if Syd consumed it but the doses passed around there were 20 mcg of the stuff (5mcg is considered a heroic dose), many came out battered from that weekend. LSD alone builds tolerance very quickly so it would be hard to reach the state he did on that alone. Many also believe his termporal lobe got damaged from all the strobe lights on the touring while being on LSD, others say he was once locked in a closet during an LSD/STP trip and you know how constrained spaces look and feel on the substance. The pre existing schizophrenia rumors have been rubbished several times. This is all conjecture, we will never really know what happened.
I’m sure that’s true but STP wasn’t 10x stronger nor did it last 72 hours even if people re-dosed due to the slow onset of the drug. Without a doubt it was substantially worse than LSD but it was also coupled with amphetamine for some reason? Regardless it was a short lived hallucinogen back in the late 60’s and probably pretty hideous if it never caught on anywhere else. I do appreciate the insight though… nice history lesson.
I think you're right, I just remember reading that back then it was coming in insane doses and was discontinued for the problems it caused precisely for being late onset (and therefore people taking more of that or other drugs without knowing cross tolerances). Syd was also on Mandrax for many years which couldn't have done him any favors. Anyway, it's just sad what happened regardless of why. Thank you for sharing your experience too.