“We weren’t tempted to pursue that particular avenue, no. Led Zeppelin did it much better than us”: the Pink Floyd song that made Nick Mason realise they would have been a “terrible” heavy metal band

A posed photograph of Pink Floyd in 1973.

Roger Waters and David Gilmour may have a higher profile, but Nick Mason is the longest-serving member of Pink Floyd, and the only person to have appeared on all of their studio albums, from 1967’s debut Piper At The Gates Of Dawn to their 2014 swansong The Endless River.

During that time, the band have successfully incorporated a number of different styles into their expansive sound, from the acid-fuelled psychedelia of their early, Syd Barrett-led era to the hints of disco lurking below the surface of their worldwide 1980 Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2. Yet there’s one genre that Mason says never suited Pink Floyd: heavy metal.