An upcoming remaster of the album Wish You Were Here had fans complaining about the “horribly designed” merchandise.
Pink Floyd will celebrate fifty years since the release of their 1975 album later this year with a remastered album and early versions of some of their biggest songs. Fans, while excited for the upcoming release, were not as interested in the merchandise being sold alongside the album. A post to the r/PinkFloydCircleJerk subreddit highlighted the very plain merchandise, which included a black jumper emblazoned with the words “Wish You Were Here” and a picture of David Gilmour and Roger Waters working together in the studio. While the merchandise was promoted with a black wrapped fire extinguisher and lighter, the actual merchandise has left a lot to be desired.
One fan wrote: “It wouldn’t be official PF merch if it wasn’t the poorest taste you’ve ever seen. (First pic slaps though, that’s interesting merch now).” Another added: “Pink Floyd has the worst merchandise out of any classic rock band, which is a shame because they have so much great iconography to pull from.
“I’d love to wear a sick Pink Floyd T-Shirt, but you wouldn’t catch me dead in any of these. They need to take note of what the Rolling Stones are doing, working with real fashion designers instead of these fiver-ass graphic designers they find.”
Others were confused as to why the black wrap had been leaned into so heavily for the run-up to the Wish You Were Here remaster release. While the original album came in a black wrapping, some listeners were confused as to why it had been made such a focus of the fiftieth anniversary.
One person wrote: “Yeah, it’s hardly as iconic a part of Wish You Were Here as they’d think. I legitimately didn’t know about the black wrap until they started advertising it, but everyone knows the album cover.”
Another added: “There are a million shirts that have absolutely nothing to do with PF that look identical to that long sleeve.” Not everyone was negative about the merchandise on sale, with one suggesting it “used to be way worse.” They continued: “Sony is at least attempting to design wearable shit. The Pink Floyd shop used to be way worse/awful.”
A remaster of Wish You Were Here was confirmed earlier this year, with Pink Floyd’s back catalogue revamped ever since a lucrative deal with Sony was confirmed. Earlier this year saw a release of Pink Floyd’s iconic Pompeii performance, and it seems the team are now hard at work remastering other parts of their discography. A full tracklist for the fiftieth anniversary release can be found below.
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5)
- Welcome to the Machine
- Have a Cigar
- Wish You Were Here
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6-9)
- Wine Glasses
- Have a Cigar (Alternate Version)
- Wish You Were Here (feat. Stéphane Grappelli)
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Early Instrumental Version)
- The Machine Song (Roger’s Demo)
- The Machine Song (Demo #2)
- Wish You Were Here (Take 1)
- Wish You Were Here (Pedal Steel Instrumental Mix)
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9, New Stereo Mix)
- Raving and Drooling (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- You’ve Got to Be Crazy (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5) (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Have a Cigar (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6-9) (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Speak to Me (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Breathe (In the Air) (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- On the Run (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Time (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- The Great Gig in the Sky (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Money (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Us and Them (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Any Colour You Like (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Brain Damage (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Eclipse (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
- Echoes (Live from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, 1975)
