Reply #55: I think a lot of people feel the same way.

[bling bling]

VH1 did a rockumentary or whatever on Pink Floyd a few years back and Syd Barrett was the main focus throughout the entire biography. It was wierd. They've been a band for what, almost 40 years or something, and he was only in the band for like 2 years, yet he got so much of the attention in the biography. That's because I think most people who know the story of Syd Barrett find themselves fascinated, including me, and want to know more -- even though he'd been in total seclusion since the mid 70's. I even bought both of his solo works, although I found them very hard to listen to for any type of pleasure, with the exception of just a couple of songs.

But like you said, his story is intriguing but also scary. How could someone with so much going for him suddenly just lose it. Rick Wright once said the transformation of Syd happened over the course of a weekend. They all saw him on Friday and he was his normal self and then Monday he came to work and had that look in his eyes "like black holes in the sky." Sad.