In rock star portraiture, it behooves a writer to avoid straightforward presentation of cliche. The story of a troubled virtuoso tormented by their own genius, turning to drink and drugs, then flaming out before their time has been told over and over again. And so in the making of Have You Got It Yet?, his new documentary about the Pink Floyd cofounder Syd Barrett, director Roddy Bogawa faced the peculiar task of fighting the ready-made drama of a man whose life story sounds like legend.
Barrett led the group as guitarist and vocalist when they dubbed themselves The Pink Floyd Sound in 1965, and he spearheaded the creation of their groundbreaking debut album Piper at the Gates of Dawn two years later. But erratic behavior stemming from his deteriorating mental health had alienated his fellow band members, and ultimately led to his unceremonious dismissal not long afterward. There were murmurs that LSD had liquefied his brain, leaving him to slowly descend into madness while secluding himself in his country home. In the popular imagination, he became a symbol of squandered potential and larger-than-life tragedy.
