title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy was in his Senate offices meeting with First Lady Laura Bush when the September 11, 2001, attacks took place. Two of the airplanes involved had taken off from Boston, and in the following weeks, Kennedy telephoned each of the 177 Massachusetts families who had lost members in the attacks. He pushed through legislation that provided healthcare and grief counseling benefits for the families, and recommended the appointment of his former chief of staff Kenneth Feinberg as Special Master of the government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Kennedy maintained an ongoing bond with the Massachusetts 9/11 families in subsequent years.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: In reaction to the attacks, Kennedy was a supporter of the American-led 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, Kennedy strongly opposed the Iraq War from the start, and was one of 23 senators voting against the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002. As the Iraqi insurgency grew in subsequent years, Kennedy pronounced that the conflict was "Bush's Vietnam." In response to losses of Massachusetts service personnel to roadside bombs, Kennedy became vocal on the issue of Humvee vulnerability, and co-sponsored enacted 2005 legislation that sped up production and Army procurement of up-armored Humvees.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Despite the strained relationship between Kennedy and Bush over No Child Left Behind spending, the two attempted to work together again on extending Medicare to cover prescription drug benefits. Kennedy's strategy was again doubted by other Democrats, but he saw the proposed $400 billion program as an opportunity that should not be missed. However, when the final formulation of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act contained provisions to steer seniors towards private plans, Kennedy switched to opposing it. It passed in late 2003, and led Kennedy to again say he had been betrayed by the Bush administration.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: In the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Kennedy campaigned heavily for fellow Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and lent his chief of staff, Mary Beth Cahill, to the Kerry campaign. Kennedy's appeal was effective among blue collar and minority voters, and helped Kerry stage a come-from-behind win in the Iowa caucuses that propelled him on to the Democratic nomination.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: After Bush won a second term in the 2004 general election, Kennedy continued to oppose him on Iraq and many other issues. However, Kennedy sought to partner with Republicans again on the matter of immigration reform in the context of the ongoing United States immigration debate. Kennedy was chair of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees, and in 2005, Kennedy teamed with Republican Senator John McCain on the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. The "McCain-Kennedy bill" did not reach a Senate vote, but provided a template for further attempts at dealing comprehensively with legalization, guest worker programs, and border enforcement components. Kennedy returned again with the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was sponsored by an ideologically diverse, bipartisan group of senators and had strong support from the Bush administration. The bill aroused furious grassroots opposition among talk radio listeners and others as an "amnesty" program, and despite Kennedy's last-minute attempts to salvage it, failed a cloture vote in the Senate. Kennedy was philosophical about the defeat, saying that it often took several attempts across multiple Congresses for this type of legislation to build enough momentum for passage.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: In 2006, Kennedy released a children's book from the view of his dog Splash, "". Also in 2006, Kennedy released a political history entitled "America Back on Track".


title: Ted Kennedy

text: In 2006, a Cessna Citation 550 in which Kennedy was flying lost electrical power after being struck by lightning and had to be diverted.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy again easily won re-election to the Senate in 2006, winning 69 percent of the vote against Republican language school owner Kenneth Chase, who suffered from very poor name recognition.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy initially stated that he would support John Kerry again if he were to make another bid for president in 2008, but in January 2007, Kerry said he would not make a second attempt for the White House. Kennedy then remained neutral as the 2008 Democratic nomination battle between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama intensified, because his friend Chris Dodd was also running for the nomination. The initial caucuses and primaries were split between Clinton and Obama. When Dodd withdrew from the race, Kennedy became dissatisfied with the tone of the Clinton campaign and what he saw as racially tinged remarks by Bill Clinton. Kennedy gave an endorsement to Obama on January 28, 2008, despite appeals by both Clintons not to do so. In a move that was seen as a symbolic passing of the torch, Kennedy said that it was "time again for a new generation of leadership," and compared Obama's ability to inspire with that of his fallen brothers. In return, Kennedy gained a commitment from Obama to make universal health care a top priority of his administration if he were elected. Kennedy's endorsement was considered among the most influential that any Democrat could get, and raised the possibility of improving Obama's vote-getting among unions, Hispanics, and traditional base Democrats. It dominated the political news, and gave national exposure to a candidate who was still not well known in much of the country, as the Super Tuesday primaries across the nation approached.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: On May 17, 2008, Kennedy suffered a seizure, which was followed by a second seizure as he was being rushed from the Kennedy Compound to Cape Cod Hospital and then by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Within days, doctors announced that Kennedy had a malignant glioma, a type of cancerous brain tumor. The grim diagnosis brought reactions of shock and prayer from many senators of both parties and from President Bush.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Doctors initially informed Kennedy that the tumor was inoperable, but Kennedy followed standard procedure and sought other opinions. He decided to follow the most aggressive and exhausting course of treatment possible. On June 2, 2008, Kennedy underwent brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center in an attempt to remove as much of the tumor as possible. The 3½-hour operation—conducted by Dr. Allan Friedman while Kennedy was conscious to minimize any permanent neurological effects—was deemed successful in its goals. Kennedy left the hospital a week later to begin a course of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Opinions varied regarding Kennedy's prognosis: the surgery typically extends survival time for only a few months, but people can sometimes live for years.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: The operation and follow-up treatments left Kennedy thinner, prone to additional seizures, weak and short on energy, and hurt his balance.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy made his first post-illness public appearance on July 9, when he surprised the Senate by showing up to supply the added vote to break a Republican filibuster against a bill to preserve Medicare fees for doctors. In addition, Kennedy was ill from an attack of kidney stones. Against the advice of some associates, he insisted on appearing during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25, 2008, where a video tribute to him was played. Introduced by his niece Caroline Kennedy, the senator said, "It is so wonderful to be here. Nothing – nothing – is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight." He then delivered a speech to the delegates (which he had to memorize, as his impaired vision left him unable to read a teleprompter) in which, reminiscent of his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, he said, "this November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. So, with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on." The dramatic appearance and speech electrified the convention audience, as Kennedy vowed that he would be present to see Obama inaugurated.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: On September 26, 2008, Kennedy suffered a mild seizure while at home in Hyannis Port; he immediately went to the hospital, was examined and released later that same day. Doctors believed that a change in his medication triggered the seizure. Kennedy relocated to Florida for the winter; he continued his treatments, did a lot of sailing, and stayed in touch with legislative matters via telephone. In his absence, many senators wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: On January 20, 2009, Kennedy attended Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, but then suffered a seizure at the luncheon immediately afterwards. He was taken by wheelchair from the Capitol building and then by ambulance to Washington Hospital Center. Doctors attributed the episode to "simple fatigue". He was released from the hospital the following morning, and he returned to his home in Washington, D.C.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: When the 111th Congress began, Kennedy dropped his spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee to focus all his attentions on national health care issues, which he regarded as "the cause of my life". He saw the characteristics of the Obama administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress as representing the third and best great chance for universal health care, following the lost 1971 Nixon and 1993 Clinton opportunities, and as his last big legislative battle. Kennedy made another surprise appearance in the Senate to break a Republican filibuster against the Obama stimulus package. When spring arrived, Kennedy appeared on Capitol Hill more frequently, although staffers often did not announce his attendance at committee meetings until they were sure Kennedy was well enough to appear. On March 4, 2009, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown announced that Kennedy had been granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, and for his contribution to UK–US relations, although the move caused some controversy in the UK due to his connections with Gerry Adams of the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin. Later in March, a bill reauthorizing and expanding the AmeriCorps program was renamed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act by Senator Hatch in Kennedy's honor. Kennedy threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park before the Boston Red Sox season opener in April, echoing what his grandfather "Honey Fitz" – a member of the Royal Rooters – had done to open the park in 1912. Even when his illness prevented him from being a major factor in health plan deliberations, his symbolic presence still made him one of the key senators involved.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: However, Kennedy's tumor had spread by spring 2009 and treatments for it were no longer effective; this information was not disclosed to the public. By June 2009 Kennedy had not cast a Senate vote in three months, and his deteriorating physical health had forced him to retreat to Massachusetts, where he underwent another round of chemotherapy. In his absence, premature release of his health committee's expansive plan resulted in a poor public reception. Kennedy's friend Chris Dodd had taken over his role on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, but Republican senators and other observers said that the lack of Kennedy's physical presence had resulted in less consultation with them and was making successful negotiation more difficult. Democrats also missed Kennedy's ability to smooth divisions on the health proposals. Kennedy did cut a television commercial for Dodd, who was struggling early on in his 2010 re-election bid. In July, HBO began showing a documentary tribute to Kennedy's life, "Teddy: In His Own Words". A health care reform bill was voted out of the committee with content Kennedy favored, but still faced a long, difficult process before having a chance at becoming law. At the end of July 2009, Kennedy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He could not attend the ceremony to receive this medal, and attended a private service but not the public funeral when his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver died at age 88 in mid-August. In his final days, Kennedy was in a wheelchair and had difficulty speaking, but consistently stated that "I've had a wonderful life".


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Fifteen months after he was initially diagnosed with brain cancer, Kennedy succumbed to the disease on August 25, 2009, at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In a statement, Kennedy's family thanked "everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice".


title: Ted Kennedy

text: President Obama said that Kennedy's death marked the "passing of an extraordinary leader" and that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were "heartbroken" to learn of his passing, while Vice President Biden said "today we lost a truly remarkable man," and that Kennedy "changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans". Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor and Kennedy's opponent in the 1994 senate race, called Kennedy "the kind of man you could like even if he was your adversary" and former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she was "terribly saddened". She went on, "Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family. ... I will miss him." Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the President pro tempore of the Senate, issued a statement on Kennedy's death in which he said "My heart and soul weeps at the loss of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy"; Byrd had broken down on the Senate floor and cried uncontrollably when Kennedy's cancer diagnosis was made public the previous year. Upon his death, his sister Jean was the only one still living of the nine Kennedy siblings.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: There were also tributes from outside politics. Before a Boston Red Sox game, flags at Fenway Park were flown at half-staff and "Taps" was performed as players stood along the baselines, and the Yankees observed a moment of silence for Kennedy before a game at Yankee Stadium.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy's funeral procession traveled a journey from the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, past numerous landmarks named after his family, to the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, where his corpse lay in repose and where over 50,000 members of the public filed by to pay their respects. On Saturday, August 29, a procession traveled from the library to the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, for a funeral Mass. Present at the funeral service were President Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush (also representing his father, former President George H. W. Bush, who decided not to attend), along with Vice President Biden, three former Vice presidents, 58 senators, 21 former senators, many members of the House of Representatives, and several foreign dignitaries. President Obama delivered the eulogy.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: The funeral service also drew celebrities and other notables from outside politics from Boston, Washington, and across the United States, including journalists Bob Woodward, Tom Brokaw and Gwen Ifill; singers Tony Bennett and Plácido Domingo; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; actors Jack Nicholson, Lauren Bacall, and Brian Stokes Mitchell; presidents and chancellors of Boston-area colleges and universities including Harvard University President Drew G. Faust and University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson; and sports figures including former Boston Celtics basketball player Bill Russell, as well as the top management of the Red Sox.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Kennedy's remains were returned to Washington, D.C. and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of his assassinated brothers. Former Cardinal and Washington D.C. Archbishop Theodore McCarrick presided over his burial service, which was attended by Biden, Kennedy's widow Vicki, and other members of the Kennedy family. Kennedy's grave marker is identical to his brother Robert's: a white oak cross and a white marble foot marker bearing his full name and years of birth and death.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: "True Compass", the memoir that Kennedy worked on throughout his illness, was published three weeks after his death. It debuted atop the New York Times Best Seller list and by mid-December 2009 had total sales of some 400,000 copies.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: A special election was scheduled for January 19, 2010, for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts left vacant by Kennedy's death. Shortly before his death, Kennedy had written to Democratic Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts legislature, asking them to change state law to allow an appointee to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy for a term expiring upon the special election. Kennedy had been instrumental in the prior 2004 alteration of this law to prevent Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a Republican senator should John Kerry's presidential campaign succeed. The law was amended, and on September 24, 2009, Paul G. Kirk, former Democratic National Committee chairman and former aide to Kennedy, was appointed to occupy the Senate seat until the completion of the special election. Kirk announced that he would not be a candidate in the special election. In that election, Republican State Senator Scott Brown won the seat in a stunning upset, ending Democratic control of it going back to 1953.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Brown's victory ended the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate that the Democrats had held since mid-2009, and appeared to spell the end for health care reform legislation. However, Democrats rallied and passed the measure; Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in doing so, credited Kennedy's life work in her closing remarks on the House floor before the final vote. Kennedy's widow Vicki attended the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, at which both she and President Obama wore blue "Tedstrong" bracelets. Congressman Patrick Kennedy brought a copy of a national health insurance bill his father had introduced in 1970 as a gift for the president. Patrick Kennedy then laid a note on his father's grave that said, "Dad, the unfinished business is done." Patrick's earlier decision not to seek re-election meant that in January 2011, a 64-year-long period in which a Kennedy held Federal elective office came to an end, but resumed in January 2013 (due to the November 2012 election) with Ted's great-nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, becoming a member of the House. Democratic control of Kennedy's former Senate seat was also regained following Brown's 2012 loss to Elizabeth Warren.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Political scientists gauge ideology in part by comparing the annual ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings by the American Conservative Union (ACU). Kennedy had a lifetime liberal 90 percent score from the ADA through 2004, while the ACU awarded Kennedy a lifetime conservative rating of 2 percent through 2008. Using another metric, Kennedy had a lifetime average liberal score of 88.7 percent, according to a "National Journal" analysis that places him ideologically as the third-most liberal senator of all those in office in 2009. A 2004 analysis by political scientists Joshua D. Clinton of Princeton University and Simon Jackman and Doug Rivers of Stanford University examined some of the difficulties in making this kind of analysis, and found Kennedy likely to be the 8th-to-15th-most liberal Senator during the 108th Congress. "The Almanac of American Politics" rates congressional votes as liberal or conservative on the political spectrum, in three policy areas: economic, social, and foreign. For 2005–2006, Kennedy's average ratings were as follows: the economic rating was 91 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative, the social rating was 89 percent liberal and 5 percent conservative, and the foreign rating was 96 percent liberal and 0 percent conservative.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Various interest groups gave Kennedy scores or grades as to how well his votes aligned with the positions of each group. The American Civil Liberties Union gave him an 84 percent lifetime score as of 2009. During the 1990s and 2000s, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood typically gave Kennedy ratings of 100 percent, while the National Right to Life Committee typically gave him a rating of less than 10 percent. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence gave Kennedy a lifetime rating of 100 percent through 2002, while the National Rifle Association gave Kennedy a lifetime grade of "F" (failing) as of 2006.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: When Kennedy died in August 2009, he was the second-most senior member of the Senate (after President pro tempore Robert Byrd of West Virginia) and the third longest-serving senator of all time, behind Byrd and Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Later that same year, he was passed by Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. Kennedy therefore held the record as the longest-serving Democratic member of Congress to solely serve as a senator until October 2021, when he was surpassed by fellow Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: During his tenure, Kennedy became one of the most recognizable and influential members of his party and was sometimes called a "Democratic icon" as well as "The Lion of the Senate". Kennedy and his Senate staff authored around 2,500 bills, of which more than 300 were enacted into law. Kennedy co-sponsored another 550 bills that became law after 1973. Kennedy was known for his effectiveness in dealing with Republican senators and administrations, sometimes to the irritation of other Democrats. During the 101st Congress under President George H. W. Bush, at least half of the successful proposals put forward by the Senate Democratic policy makers came out of Kennedy's Labor and Human Resources Committee. During the 2000s, almost every bipartisan bill signed during the George W. Bush administration had significant involvement from Kennedy. A late 2000s survey of Republican senators ranked Kennedy first among Democrats in bipartisanship. Kennedy strongly believed in the principle "never let the perfect be the enemy of the good," and would agree to pass legislation he viewed as incomplete or imperfect with the goal of improving it down the road. In April 2006, Kennedy was selected by "Time" as one of "America's 10 Best Senators"; the magazine noted that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country" and that "by the late 1990s, the liberal icon had become such a prodigious cross-aisle dealer that Republican leaders began pressuring party colleagues not to sponsor bills with him". In May 2008, soon-to-be Republican presidential nominee John McCain said, "[Kennedy] is a legendary lawmaker and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner." Republican Governor of California and Kennedy relative Arnold Schwarzenegger described "Uncle Teddy" as "a liberal icon, a warrior for the less fortunate, a fierce advocate for health-care reform, a champion of social justice here and abroad" and "the rock of his family". At the time of Kennedy's death, sociologist and "Nation" board member Norman Birnbaum wrote that Kennedy had come to be viewed as the "voice" and "conscience" of American progressivism.


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Despite his bipartisan legislative practices, Kennedy was a polarizing symbol of American liberalism for many years. Republican and conservative groups long viewed Kennedy as a reliable "bogeyman" to mention in fundraising letters, on a par with Hillary Clinton and similar to Democratic and liberal appeals mentioning Newt Gingrich. The famous racially motivated "Hands" attack ad used in North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms's 1990 re-election campaign against Harvey Gantt accused Gantt of supporting "Ted Kennedy's racial quota law". University of California, San Diego political science professor Gary Jacobson's 2006 study of partisan polarization found that in a state-by-state survey of job approval ratings of the state's senators, Kennedy had the largest partisan difference of any senator, with a 57 percentage point difference in approval between Massachusetts's Democrats and Republicans. The Associated Press wrote that, "Perhaps because it was impossible, Kennedy never tried to shake his image as a liberal titan to admirers and a left-wing caricature to detractors."


title: Ted Kennedy

text: After Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Ted was the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family and the last surviving son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. John F. Kennedy had said in 1957, "Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him." However, Ted was never able to carry on the "Camelot" mystique in the same way that both of his fallen brothers had, with much of it disappearing during his failed 1980 presidential bid. His negligence in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick and his well-documented later personal problems further tarnished his image in relation to the Kennedy name, and significantly damaged his chances of ever becoming president. The Associated Press wrote, "Unlike his brothers, Edward M. Kennedy has grown old in public, his victories, defeats and human contradictions played out across the decades in the public glare." But Kennedy's legislative accomplishments remained, and as "The Boston Globe" wrote, "By the early 21st century, the achievements of the younger brother would be enough to rival those of many presidents." His death prompted the realization that the "Camelot era" was truly over. Kennedy's "New York Times" obituary described him via a character sketch: "He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy."


title: Ted Kennedy

text: Senator Kennedy received many awards and honors over the years. These include an honorary knighthood bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the Order of the Aztec Eagle from Mexico, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order of Merit of Chile, and honorary degrees from a number of institutions including Harvard University.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album was primarily developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of the suite several months before recording began. The record was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and partly deal with the apparent mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band's earlier work. The group employed multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation with the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many of the sonic aspects and the recruitment of singer Clare Torry, who appears on "The Great Gig in the Sky".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" explores themes such as conflict, greed, time, death and mental illness. Snippets from interviews with the band's road crew are featured alongside philosophical quotations. The sleeve, which depicts a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design which would represent the band's lighting and the album's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: "Money" and "Us and Them".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" is among the most critically acclaimed records in history, and is often featured in professional listings of the greatest albums of all time. The record helped to propel Pink Floyd to international fame, bringing wealth and plaudits to all four band members. A blockbuster release of the album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry during the 1970s. "The Dark Side of the Moon" has been certified 14× platinum in the United Kingdom, and topped the US "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 962 weeks in total. With estimated sales of over 45 million copies, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album, and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. In 2012, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Following "Meddle" in 1971, Pink Floyd assembled for a tour of Britain, Japan and the United States in December of that year. In a band meeting at drummer Nick Mason's home in Camden, bassist Roger Waters proposed that a new album could form part of the tour. Waters conceived an album that dealt with things that "make people mad", focusing on the pressures associated with the band's arduous lifestyle, and dealing with the apparent mental health problems suffered by former band member Syd Barrett. The band had explored a similar idea with the 1969 concert suite "The Man" and "The Journey". In an interview for "Rolling Stone", guitarist David Gilmour said: "I think we all thought and Roger definitely thought that a lot of the lyrics that we had been using were a little too indirect. There was definitely a feeling that the words were going to be very clear and specific."


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: For the most part, the whole band approved of Waters' concept for an album unified by a single theme. Waters, Gilmour, Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright participated in the writing and production of the new material, and Waters created the early demo tracks at his Islington home in a small studio built in his garden shed. Parts of the album were taken from previously unused material; the opening line of "Breathe" came from an earlier work by Waters and Ron Geesin, written for the soundtrack of "The Body", and the basic structure of "Us and Them" was borrowed from an original composition, "The Violent Sequence" by Wright for "Zabriskie Point". The band rehearsed at a warehouse in London owned by the Rolling Stones and at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London. They also purchased extra equipment, which included new speakers, a PA system, a 28-track mixing desk with a four channel quadraphonic output, and a custom-built lighting rig. Nine tonnes of kit was transported in three lorries. This would be the first time the band had taken an entire album on tour. The album had been given the provisional title of "Dark Side of the Moon" (an allusion to lunacy, rather than astronomy). After discovering that title had already been used by another band, Medicine Head, it was temporarily changed to "Eclipse". The new material was premiered at The Dome in Brighton, on 20 January 1972, and after the commercial failure of Medicine Head's album the title was changed back to the band's original preference.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics", as it was then known, was performed for an assembled press on 17 February 1972 at the Rainbow Theatre, more than a year before its release, and was critically acclaimed. Michael Wale of "The Times" described the piece as "bringing tears to the eyes. It was so completely understanding and musically questioning." Derek Jewell of "The Sunday Times" wrote "The ambition of the Floyd's artistic intention is now vast." "Melody Maker" was less enthusiastic: "Musically, there were some great ideas, but the sound effects often left me wondering if I was in a bird-cage at London Zoo." The following tour was praised by the public. The new material was performed in the same order in which it was eventually sequenced on the album. Differences included the lack of synthesisers in tracks such as "On the Run", and Clare Torry's vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" replaced by readings from the Bible.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Pink Floyd's lengthy tour through Europe and North America gave them the opportunity to make improvements to the scale and quality of their performances. Work on the album was interrupted in late February when the band travelled to France and recorded music for French director Barbet Schroeder's film "La Vallée". They then performed in Japan and returned to France in March to complete work on the film. After a series of dates in North America, the band flew to London to begin recording, from 24 May to 25 June. More concerts in Europe and North America followed before the band returned on 9 January 1973 to complete the album.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" built upon experiments Pink Floyd had attempted in their previous live shows and recordings, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions which, according to critic David Fricke, had become characteristic of the band following founding member Syd Barrett's departure in 1968. Gilmour, Barrett's replacement, later referred to those instrumentals as "that psychedelic noodling stuff". He and Waters cited 1971's "Meddle" as a turning point towards what would be realised on the album. "The Dark Side of the Moon"s lyrical themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time, death and insanity, the latter inspired in part by Barrett's deteriorating mental state. The album contains musique concrète on several tracks.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Each side of the album is a continuous piece of music. The five tracks on each side reflect various stages of human life, beginning and ending with a heartbeat, exploring the nature of the human experience and, according to Waters, "empathy". "Speak to Me" and "Breathe" together highlight the mundane and futile elements of life that accompany the ever-present threat of madness, and the importance of living one's own life "Don't be afraid to care". By shifting the scene to an airport, the synthesiser-driven instrumental "On the Run" evokes the stress and anxiety of modern travel, in particular Wright's fear of flying. "Time" examines the manner in which its passage can control one's life and offers a stark warning to those who remain focused on mundane pursuits; it is followed by a retreat into solitude and withdrawal in "Breathe (Reprise)". The first side of the album ends with Wright and vocalist Clare Torry's soulful metaphor for death, "The Great Gig in the Sky".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Opening with the sound of cash registers and loose change, the first track on side two, "Money", mocks greed and consumerism using tongue-in-cheek lyrics and cash-related sound effects. "Money" became their most commercially successful track, and has been covered by several artists in subsequent years. "Us and Them" addresses the isolation of the depressed with the symbolism of conflict and the use of simple dichotomies to describe personal relationships. "Any Colour You Like" tackles the illusion of choice one has in society. "Brain Damage" looks at mental illness resulting from the elevation of fame and success above the needs of the self; in particular, the line "and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes" reflects the mental breakdown of former bandmate Syd Barrett. The album ends with "Eclipse", which espouses the concepts of alterity and unity, while forcing the listener to recognise the common traits shared by humanity.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" was recorded at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) between 31 May 1972 and 9 February 1973. Pink Floyd were assigned staff engineer Alan Parsons, who had worked as assistant tape operator on their fifth album, "Atom Heart Mother" (1970), and gained experience as a recording engineer on the Beatles' "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be". The "Dark Side of the Moon" sessions made use of advanced studio techniques; the studio was capable of 16-track mixes, which offered greater flexibility than the eight- or four-track mixes Pink Floyd had previously used, although they often used so many tracks that to make more space available second-generation copies were made.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The first track recorded was "Us and Them" on 31 May, followed seven days later by "Money". Waters had created effects loops from recordings of various money-related objects, including coins thrown into a mixing bowl taken from his wife's pottery studio; these were re-recorded to take advantage of the band's decision to record a quadraphonic mix of the album. Parsons later expressed dissatisfaction with the result of this mix, which was attributed to a lack of time and the paucity of available multi-track tape recorders.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "Time" and "The Great Gig in the Sky" were recorded next, followed by a two-month break, during which the band spent time with their families and prepared for an forthcoming tour across the United States. The recording sessions were frequently interrupted; Waters, a supporter of Arsenal F.C., would often break to see his team compete, and the band would occasionally stop work to watch "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on the television, leaving Parsons to work on material recorded up to that point. In an interview in 2003, Gilmour said: "We would sometimes watch them but when we were on a roll, we would get on."


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: On returning from the US in January 1973, they recorded "Brain Damage", "Eclipse", "Any Colour You Like" and "On the Run", while fine-tuning the work from the previous sessions. A group of four female vocalists was assembled to sing on "Brain Damage", "Eclipse" and "Time", and saxophonist Dick Parry was booked to play on "Us and Them" and "Money". With director Adrian Maben, the band also filmed studio footage for "". Once the recording sessions were complete, the band began a tour of Europe.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The album features metronomic sound effects during "Speak to Me", and tape loops opening "Money". Mason created a rough version of "Speak to Me" at his home, before completing it in the studio. The track serves as an overture and contains cross-fades of elements from other pieces on the album. A piano chord, replayed backwards, serves to augment the build-up of effects, which are immediately followed by the opening of "Breathe". Mason received a rare solo composing credit for "Speak to Me".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The sound effects on "Money" were created by splicing together Waters' recordings of clinking coins, tearing paper, a ringing cash register, and a clicking adding machine, which were used to create a 7-beat effects loop (later adapted to four tracks to create a "walk around the room" effect in quadraphonic presentations of the album). At times the degree of sonic experimentation on the album required the engineers and band to operate the mixing console's faders simultaneously, to mix down the intricately assembled multitrack recordings of several of the songs (particularly "On the Run").


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Along with the conventional rock band instrumentation, Pink Floyd added prominent synthesisers to their sound. The band experimented with an EMS VCS 3 on "Brain Damage" and "Any Colour You Like", and a Synthi A on "Time" and "On the Run". They also devised and recorded unconventional sounds, such as an assistant engineer running around the studio's echo chamber (during "On the Run"), and a specially treated bass drum made to simulate a human heartbeat (during "Speak to Me", "On the Run", "Time" and "Eclipse"). This heartbeat is most prominent in the intro and the outro to the album, but it can also be heard sporadically on "Time" and "On the Run". "Time" features assorted clocks ticking, then chiming simultaneously at the start of the song, accompanied by a series of Rototoms. The recordings were initially created as a quadraphonic test by Parsons, who recorded each timepiece at an antique clock shop. Although these recordings had not been created specifically for the album, elements of this material were eventually used in the track.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Several tracks, including "Us and Them" and "Time", demonstrated Richard Wright's and David Gilmour's ability to harmonise their voices. In the 2003 Classic Albums documentary "The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon", Waters attributed this to the fact that their voices sounded extremely similar. To take advantage of this, Parsons used studio techniques such as the double tracking of vocals and guitars, which allowed Gilmour to harmonise with himself. The engineer also made prominent use of flanging and phase shifting effects on vocals and instruments, odd trickery with reverb, and the panning of sounds between channels (most notable in the quadraphonic mix of "On the Run", when the sound of the Hammond B3 organ played through a Leslie speaker rapidly swirls around the listener).


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The album's credits include Clare Torry, a session singer and songwriter, and a regular at Abbey Road. She had worked on pop material and numerous cover albums, one of which convinced Parsons to invite her to the studio to sing on Wright's composition "The Great Gig in the Sky". She declined this invitation as she wanted to watch Chuck Berry perform at the Hammersmith Odeon, but arranged to come in on the following Sunday. The band explained the concept behind the album, but were unable to tell her exactly what she should do. Gilmour was in charge of the session, and in a few short takes on a Sunday night Torry improvised a wordless melody to accompany Wright's emotive piano solo. She was initially embarrassed by her exuberance in the recording booth, and wanted to apologise to the band only to find them delighted with her performance. Her takes were then selectively edited to produce the version used on the track. For her contribution she was paid £30, her standard session fee, equivalent to about £ in 2022. In 2004, she sued EMI and Pink Floyd for 50% of the songwriting royalties, arguing that her contribution to "The Great Gig in the Sky" was substantial enough to be considered co-authorship. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, with all post-2005 pressings crediting Wright and Torry jointly.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Snippets of voices between and over the music are another notable feature of the album. During recording sessions, Waters recruited both the staff and the temporary occupants of the studio to answer a series of questions printed on flashcards. The interviewees were placed in front of a microphone in a darkened Studio 3, and shown such questions as "What's your favourite colour?" and "What's your favourite food?", before moving on to themes more central to the album (such as madness, violence, and death). Questions such as "When was the last time you were violent?", followed immediately by "Were you in the right?", were answered in the order they were presented. Roger "The Hat" Manifold proved difficult to find, and was the only contributor recorded in a conventional sit-down interview, as by then the flashcards had been mislaid. Waters asked him about a violent encounter he had had with another motorist, and Manifold replied "... give 'em a quick, short, sharp shock ..." When asked about death he responded "live for today, gone tomorrow, that's me ..." Another roadie, Chris Adamson, who was on tour with Pink Floyd, recorded the snippet which opens the album: "I've been mad for fucking years absolutely years". The band's road manager Peter Watts (father of actress Naomi Watts) contributed the repeated laughter during "Brain Damage" and "Speak to Me". His second wife, Patricia "Puddie" Watts (now Patricia Gleason), was responsible for the line about the "geezer" who was "cruisin' for a bruisin used in the segue between "Money" and "Us and Them", and the words "I never said I was frightened of dying" heard halfway through "The Great Gig in the Sky".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Several responses "I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime" and closing words "there is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark" came from the studios' Irish doorman, Gerry O'Driscoll. Paul and Linda McCartney were also interviewed, but their answers were judged to be "trying too hard to be funny", and were not included on the album. The McCartneys' Wings bandmate Henry McCullough contributed the line "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Following the completion of the dialogue sessions, producer Chris Thomas was hired to provide "a fresh pair of ears". Thomas's background was in music, rather than engineering. He had worked with Beatles producer George Martin, and was an acquaintance of Pink Floyd's manager, Steve O'Rourke. All four members of the band were engaged in a disagreement over the style of the mix, with Waters and Mason preferring a "dry" and "clean" mix that made more use of the non-musical elements, and Gilmour and Wright preferring a subtler and more "echoey" mix. Thomas later claimed there were no such disagreements, stating "There was no difference in opinion between them, I don't remember Roger once saying that he wanted less echo. In fact, there were never any hints that they were later going to fall out. It was a very creative atmosphere. A lot of fun." Although the truth remains unclear, Thomas's intervention resulted in a welcome compromise between Waters and Gilmour, leaving both entirely satisfied with the end product. Thomas was responsible for significant changes to the album, including the perfect timing of the echo used on "Us and Them". He was also present for the recording of "The Great Gig in the Sky" (although Parsons was responsible for hiring Torry). Interviewed in 2006, when asked if he felt his goals had been accomplished in the studio, Waters said:


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The album was originally released in a gatefold LP sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie. Hipgnosis had designed several of the band's previous albums, with controversial results; EMI had reacted with confusion when faced with the cover designs for "Atom Heart Mother" and "Obscured by Clouds", as they had expected to see traditional designs which included lettering and words. Designers Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell were able to ignore such criticism as they were employed by the band. For "The Dark Side of the Moon", Richard Wright instructed them to come up with something "smarter, neater more classy". The design was inspired by a photograph of a prism with a colour beam projected through it that Thorgerson had found in a photography book, as well as by album cover inventor Alex Steinweiss' illustration for the New York Philharmonic's 1942 performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The artwork was created by their associate, George Hardie. Hipgnosis offered the band a choice of seven designs, but all four members agreed that the prism was by far the best. The final design depicts a glass prism dispersing light into colour. The design represents three elements: the band's stage lighting, the album lyrics, and Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design. The spectrum of light continues through to the gatefold an idea that Waters came up with. Added shortly afterwards, the gatefold design also includes a visual representation of the heartbeat sound used throughout the album, and the back of the album cover contains Thorgerson's suggestion of another prism recombining the spectrum of light, facilitating interesting layouts of the sleeve in record shops. The light band emanating from the prism on the album cover has six colours, missing indigo compared to the traditional division of the spectrum into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Inside the sleeve were two posters and two pyramid-themed stickers. One poster bore pictures of the band in concert, overlaid with scattered letters to form PINK FLOYD, and the other an infrared photograph of the Great Pyramids of Giza, created by Powell and Thorgerson.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The band were so confident of the quality of Waters' lyrics that, for the first time, they printed them on the album's sleeve.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: As the quadraphonic mix of the album was not then complete, the band (with the exception of Wright) boycotted the press reception held at the London Planetarium on 27 February. The guests were, instead, presented with a quartet of life-sized cardboard cut-outs of the band, and the stereo mix of the album was played over a poor-quality public address system. Generally, however, the press were enthusiastic; "Melody Maker"s Roy Hollingworth described side one as "so utterly confused with itself it was difficult to follow", but praised Side Two, writing: "The songs, the sounds, the rhythms were solid and sound, Saxophone hit the air, the band rocked and rolled, and then gushed and tripped away into the night." Steve Peacock of "Sounds" wrote: "I don't care if you've never heard a note of the Pink Floyd's music in your life, I'd unreservedly recommend everyone to "The Dark Side of the Moon"". In his 1973 review for "Rolling Stone" magazine, Loyd Grossman declared "Dark Side" "a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement". In "" (1981), Robert Christgau found its lyrical ideas clichéd and its music pretentious, but called it a "kitsch masterpiece" that can be charming with highlights such as taped speech fragments, Parry's saxophone, and studio effects which enhance Gilmour's guitar solos.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" was released first in the US on 1 March 1973, and then in the UK on 16 March. It became an instant chart success in Britain and throughout Western Europe; by the following month, it had gained a gold certification in the US. Throughout March 1973 the band played the album as part of their US tour, including a midnight performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 17 March before an audience of 6,000. The album reached the "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart's number one spot on 28 April 1973, and was so successful that the band returned two months later for another tour.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Much of the album's early American success is attributed to the efforts of Pink Floyd's US record company, Capitol Records. Newly appointed chairman Bhaskar Menon set about trying to reverse the relatively poor sales of the band's 1971 studio album "Meddle". Meanwhile, disenchanted with Capitol, the band and manager O'Rourke had been quietly negotiating a new contract with CBS president Clive Davis, on Columbia Records. "The Dark Side of the Moon" was the last album that Pink Floyd were obliged to release before formally signing a new contract. Menon's enthusiasm for the new album was such that he began a huge promotional advertising campaign, which included radio-friendly truncated versions of "Us and Them" and "Time". In some countries notably the UK Pink Floyd had not released a single since 1968's "Point Me at the Sky", and unusually "Money" was released as a single on 7 May, with "Any Colour You Like" on the B-side. It reached number 13 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in July 1973. A two-sided white label promotional version of the single, with mono and stereo mixes, was sent to radio stations. The mono side had the word "bullshit" removed from the song leaving "bull" in its place however, the stereo side retained the uncensored version. This was subsequently withdrawn; the replacement was sent to radio stations with a note advising disc jockeys to dispose of the first uncensored copy. On 4 February 1974, a double A-side single was released with "Time" on one side, and "Us and Them" on the opposite side. Menon's efforts to secure a contract renewal with Pink Floyd were in vain however; at the beginning of 1974, the band signed for Columbia with a reported advance fee of $1M (in Britain and Europe they continued to be represented by Harvest Records).


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" became one of the best-selling albums of all time and is in the top 25 of a list of best-selling albums in the United States. Although it held the number one spot in the US for only a week, the album remained in the "Billboard" 200 albums chart for 736 nonconsecutive weeks (from 17 March 1973 to 16 July 1988). "The Dark Side of the Moon" made its final appearance in the "Billboard" 200 albums during its initial run on the week ending 8 October 1988, in its 741st charted week. The album re-appeared on the "Billboard" charts with the introduction of the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in the issue dated 25 May 1991, and was still a perennial feature ten years later. It reached number one on the Pop Catalog chart when the 2003 hybrid CD/SACD edition was released and sold 800,000 copies in the US. On the week of 5 May 2006 "The Dark Side of the Moon" achieved a combined total of 1,716 weeks on the "Billboard" 200 and Pop Catalog charts. Upon a change in chart methodology in 2009 allowing catalogue titles to be included in the "Billboard" 200, "The Dark Side of the Moon" returned to the chart at number 189 on 12 December of that year for its 742nd charting week. It has continued to sporadically appear on the "Billboard 200" since then, with the total at 962 weeks on the chart as of February 2022. "On a slow week" between 8,000 and 9,000 copies are sold. As of April 2013, the album had sold 9,502,000 copies in the US since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for "Billboard". One in every fourteen people in the US under the age of 50 is estimated to own, or to have owned, a copy.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In terms of US sales certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), "The Dark Side of the Moon" was released before the introduction of platinum awards in 1976. It therefore held only a gold certification by the RIAA until 16 February 1990, when it was certified 11× platinum. On 4 June 1998, the RIAA certified the album 15× platinum, denoting sales of fifteen million in the United States making it their biggest-selling work there ("The Wall" is 23× platinum, but as a double album this signifies sales of 11.5 million). "Money" has sold well as a single, and as with "Time", remains a radio favourite; in the US, for the year ending 20 April 2005, "Time" was played on 13,723 occasions, and "Money" on 13,731 occasions.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In 2017 "The Dark Side of the Moon" was the seventh-best-selling album of all time in the UK and the highest selling album never to reach number one.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In 2013 industry sources suggested that worldwide sales of "The Dark Side of the Moon" totalled about 45 million.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The combination of words and music hit a peak," explained Gilmour. "All the music before had not had any great lyrical point to it. And this one was clear and concise. The cover was also right. I think it's become like a benevolent noose hanging behind us. Throughout our entire career, people have said we would never top the "Dark Side" record and tour. But "The Wall" earned more in dollar terms." As one of the blockbuster LPs of the album era (1960s–2000s), "The Dark Side of the Moon" also led to an increase in record sales overall into the late 1970s.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In 1979, "The Dark Side of the Moon" was released as a remastered LP by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, and in April 1988 on their "Ultradisc" gold CD format. The album was released by EMI and Harvest on the then-new compact disc format in Japan in June 1983, in the US and Europe in August 1984, and in 1992 it was re-released as a remastered CD in the box set "Shine On". This version was re-released as a 20th anniversary box set edition with postcards the following year. The cover design was again by Storm Thorgerson, the designer of the original 1973 cover. On some pressings, a faintly audible orchestral version of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" can be heard after "Eclipse" over the album's closing heartbeats.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The original quadraphonic mix, created by Alan Parsons, was commissioned by EMI but never endorsed by Pink Floyd, as Parsons was disappointed with his mix. To celebrate the album's 30th anniversary, an updated surround version was released in 2003. The band elected not to use Parsons' quadraphonic mix (done shortly after the original release), and instead had engineer James Guthrie create a new 5.1 channel surround sound mix on the SACD format. Guthrie had worked with Pink Floyd since co-producing and engineering their eleventh album, "The Wall", and had previously worked on surround versions of "The Wall" for DVD-Video and Waters' "In the Flesh" for SACD. Speaking in 2003, Alan Parsons expressed some disappointment with Guthrie's SACD mix, suggesting that Guthrie was "possibly a little too true to the original mix", but was generally complimentary. The 30th-anniversary edition won four Surround Music Awards in 2003, and has since sold more than 800,000 copies. The cover image was created by a team of designers including Storm Thorgerson. The image is a photograph of a custom-made stained glass window, built to match the exact dimensions and proportions of the original prism design. Transparent glass, held in place by strips of lead, was used in place of the opaque colours of the original. The idea is derived from the "sense of purity in the sound quality, being 5.1 surround sound ..." The image was created out of a desire to be "the same but different, such that the design was clearly DSotM, still the recognisable prism design, but was different and hence new".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" was also re-released in 2003 on 180-gram virgin vinyl (mastered by Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering) and included slightly different versions of the posters and stickers that came with the original vinyl release, along with a new 30th anniversary poster. In 2007 the album was included in "Oh, by the Way", a box set celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd, and a DRM-free version was released on the iTunes Store. In 2011 the album was re-released as part of the Why Pink Floyd...? campaign, featuring a remastered version of the album along with various other material.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: The success of the album brought wealth to all four members of the band; Richard Wright and Roger Waters bought large country houses, and Nick Mason became a collector of upmarket cars. Some of the profits were invested in the production of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Engineer Alan Parsons received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for "The Dark Side of the Moon", and he went on to have a successful career as a recording artist with the Alan Parsons Project. Although Waters and Gilmour have on occasion downplayed his contribution to the success of the album, Mason has praised his role. In 2003, Parsons reflected: "I think they all felt that I managed to hang the rest of my career on "Dark Side of the Moon", which has an element of truth to it. But I still wake up occasionally, frustrated about the fact that they made untold millions and a lot of the people involved in the record didn't."


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Part of the legacy of "The Dark Side of the Moon" is its influence on modern music and on the musicians who have performed cover versions of its songs; moreover, the record gave rise to the "Dark Side of the Rainbow" theory, according to which the album matches up perfectly with the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" when they are played simultaneously. The album's release is often seen as a pivotal point in the history of rock music, and comparisons are sometimes made with Radiohead's 1997 album "OK Computer", including a premise explored by Ben Schleifer in "'Speak to Me': The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon" (2006) that the two albums share a theme that "the creative individual loses the ability to function in the [modern] world".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In a 2018 book about classic rock, Steven Hyden recalls concluding, in his teens, that "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "Led Zeppelin IV" were the two greatest albums of the genre, vision quests "encompass[ing] the twin poles of teenage desire". They had similarities, in that both album's cover and internal artwork eschew pictures of the bands in favor of "inscrutable iconography without any tangible meaning (which always seemed to give the music packaged inside "more" meaning)". But whereas Led Zeppelin had looked outward, toward "conquering the world" and was known at the time for its outrageous sexual antics while on tour, Pink Floyd looked inward, toward "overcoming your own hang-ups" and seemed so sedate and boring that, Hyden commented, the scene in "Live at Pompeii" where they take a lunch break at the studio might well have been the most interesting part of recording "The Dark Side of the Moon".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In 2013, "The Dark Side of the Moon" was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "The Dark Side of the Moon" frequently appears on professional rankings of the greatest albums. In 1987, "Rolling Stone" ranked the record 35th in its list of the "Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years". In 2003, the album was ranked number 43 on the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revision of the list, but dropping to number 55 in a 2020 revision of the list (the band's highest-charting album on the list). Both "Rolling Stone" and "Q" have listed "The Dark Side of the Moon" as the best progressive rock album.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: In 2006, it was voted "My Favourite Album" by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's audience. "NME" readers voted the album eighth in their 2006 "Best Album of All Time" online poll, and in 2009, Planet Rock listeners voted the album the "greatest of all time". The album is also number two on the "Definitive 200" list of albums, made by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers "in celebration of the art form of the record album". It ranked 29th in "The Observer"s 2006 list of "The 50 Albums That Changed Music", and 37th in "The Guardian"s 1997 list of the "100 Best Albums Ever", as voted for by a panel of artists and music critics. In 2014, readers of "Rhythm" voted it the seventh most influential progressive drumming album. It was voted number 9 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Based on such rankings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists "The Dark Side of the Moon" as the 21st most acclaimed album in history, the seventh most acclaimed of the 1970s, and number one of albums from 1973. The album's cover has also been lauded by critics and listeners alike, with VH1 proclaiming it the fourth greatest in history.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: "Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd", released in 2006, is a cover album of "The Dark Side of the Moon" featuring artists such as Adrian Belew, Tommy Shaw, Dweezil Zappa, and Rick Wakeman. In 2000, The Squirrels released "The Not So Bright Side of the Moon", which features a cover of the entire album. The New York dub collective Easy Star All-Stars released "Dub Side of the Moon" in 2003 and "Dubber Side of the Moon" in 2010. The group Voices on the Dark Side released the album "Dark Side of the Moon a Cappella", a complete a cappella version of the album. The bluegrass band Poor Man's Whiskey frequently play the album in bluegrass style, calling the suite "Dark Side of the Moonshine". A string quartet version of the album was released in 2003. In 2009, The Flaming Lips released a track-by-track remake of the album in collaboration with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, and featuring Henry Rollins and Peaches as guest musicians.


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Several notable acts have covered the album live in its entirety, and a range of performers have used samples from "The Dark Side of the Moon" in their own material. Jam-rock band Phish performed a semi-improvised version of the entire album as part of their show on 2 November 1998 in West Valley City, Utah. Progressive metal band Dream Theater have twice covered the album in their live shows, and in May 2011 Mary Fahl released "From the Dark Side of the Moon", a song-by-song "re-imagining" of the album. Milli Vanilli used the tape loops from Pink Floyd's "Money" to open their track "Money", followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch on "Music for the People".


title: The Dark Side of the Moon

text: Dark Side of the Rainbow and Dark Side of Oz are two names commonly used in reference to rumours (circulated on the Internet since at least 1994) that "The Dark Side of the Moon" was written as a soundtrack for the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz". Observers playing the film and the album simultaneously have reported apparent synchronicities, such as Dorothy beginning to jog at the lyric "no one told you when to run" during "Time", and Dorothy balancing on a tightrope fence during the line "balanced on the biggest wave" in "Breathe". David Gilmour and Nick Mason have both denied a connection between the two works, and Roger Waters has described the rumours as "amusing". Alan Parsons said the film was never mentioned during production of the album.


title: Love Actually

text: Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television projects. Mostly filmed on location in London, the screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as the tales progress. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.


title: Love Actually

text: An international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States and France, the film was released in the United States on 14 November 2003 and a week later in the United Kingdom, to generally mixed reviews. "Love Actually" was a box-office success, grossing $246 million worldwide on a budget of $40–45 million. It received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Frequently shown during the Christmas season, the film has proved more popular with audiences than critics, and it has been discussed as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.


title: Love Actually

text: A made-for-television short film sequel, "Red Nose Day Actually", aired in two different versions on BBC One and NBC in 2017.


title: Love Actually

text: A voiceover opens the film, commenting that whenever he gets gloomy about the state of the world, he thinks of the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport, about the pure uncomplicated love of friends and families welcoming their loved ones. He also points out that the messages from the 9/11 victims were messages of love and not hate. The story then switches between the interconnecting 'love stories' of many people:


title: Love Actually

text: With his long-time manager Joe, rock and roll legend Billy Mack records a Christmas version of the Troggs' 1967 song "Love Is All Around", titling it "Christmas Is All Around". Although believing the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single, which it does. He foregoes a victory party hosted by Elton John to celebrate Christmas with Joe, getting drunk and watching porn.


title: Love Actually

text: Juliet and Peter's wedding is videotaped by the best man, Mark, where a surprise band plays the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" as they walk out of the church. Although the couple believe Mark dislikes Juliet, he is actually in love with her. When he evades her requests to see the video he shot at the wedding, she shows up at his flat. Juliet insists she wants them to be friends, but when she views the wedding video Mark recorded, she sees many extreme close-ups of herself and few of Peter's face. She realises Mark's true feelings towards her. After an uncomfortable silence, Mark blurts out that he acts cold out of "self-preservation".


title: Love Actually

text: On Christmas Eve, Juliet answers the doorbell to find Mark carrying a boombox playing a Christmas carol and large cue cards. While Peter is inside watching television, Mark tells a message of his love to Juliet through the cue cards. As he walks away down the street, Juliet runs after him, gives him a quick kiss and returns inside.


title: Love Actually

text: Writer Jamie is pushed by his girlfriend to attend Juliet and Peter's wedding alone, as she is ill. He returns before the reception to check on her, discovering she is having sex with his brother. Crushed, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage, where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia, who does not speak English. Despite not sharing a common language, they share a mutual attraction.


title: Love Actually

text: Jamie returns to England, realises he is in love with Aurélia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her and ends up walking through town with her father and sister, gathering additional people as they walk to her waitressing job. In basic, and often grammatically incorrect Portuguese, he declares his love for her and proposes. She says yes in broken English, showing she too had been studying English "just in cases", as the crowd erupts in applause.


title: Love Actually

text: Harry is the managing director of a design agency. Mia is his secretary. Harry is happily married to Karen, a stay-at-home mother. They have two children, Bernard and Daisy. Mia behaves in an overtly sexual way with him at the office and asks him for a Christmas present. At the company Christmas party held at Mark's gallery, they dance closely.


title: Love Actually

text: While Christmas shopping, Harry calls Mia and asks what she wants for Christmas. He is almost caught by his wife purchasing an expensive necklace with a gold heart pendant from the jewellery department when the salesman Rufus takes an inordinate amount of time to wrap it. Later, Karen finds the necklace in Harry's coat pocket and assumes it is for her. Opening a similarly shaped box on Christmas Eve, she is heartbroken to find it is a Joni Mitchell CD and realises he bought the necklace for someone else and cries in her bedroom alone. She keeps a happy face as not to ruin her family's holiday. She confronts Harry and asks what he would do if he were her. She feels he has made a mockery of their marriage and of her.


title: Love Actually

text: David, who is Karen's brother, is also the recently elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Natalie is a new junior member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street. During a meeting with the U.S. President, they come across Natalie and the president makes some inappropriate comments to David about her. Later, David walks in on Natalie serving tea and biscuits to the President, and it appears that something untoward is happening. Natalie seems embarrassed, and the president has a sly grin on his face. At the following joint press conference, David is uncharacteristically assertive while taking a stand against the President's intimidation techniques.


title: Love Actually

text: Feeling uncomfortable around Natalie, David has her moved to another position. However, he is spurred to action on Christmas Eve when he finds a Christmas card from her in his red box, declaring that she is his and only his. He finds her after a door-to-door search of her street. Her entire family is on their way to a multi-school Christmas play and he offers to drive them so he can talk to her. As Natalie sneaks him into the school, he runs into his heartbroken sister, Karen, who believes he is there for his niece and nephew. As David and Natalie try to keep from being seen and watch from backstage, they finally kiss. Everyone sees them kissing as the curtain rises.


title: Love Actually

text: Daniel, Karen's close friend, mourns the recent death of his wife, Joanna, as he tries to care for his stepson Sam. Sam has fallen for an American classmate, also named Joanna, and after talking with his stepfather, decides to learn the drums to accompany her in the big finale for their school's Christmas pageant at Karen and Harry's children's school. Sam feels he has missed his chance to impress her, but Daniel convinces him to try to tell Joanna how he feels at the airport before she returns to the US. Sam slips through airport security and catches up with her. She acknowledges him by name which surprises him. Sam returns to Daniel to tell him and Joanna follows him surprising him again and kisses him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Daniel meets Carol, the mother of Sam's schoolmate, and there is a mutual spark.


title: Love Actually

text: Sarah first appears at Juliet and Peter's wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. An American working at Harry's graphic design company, she is in love with the creative director, Karl. Prompted by Harry, they finally connect at the Christmas party and Karl drives her home. Michael, her mentally ill brother, telephones from a psychiatric hospital, aborting their tryst. On Christmas Eve they are both working late. Karl tries to find words but just wishes her a merry Christmas and leaves. In tears, Sarah calls Michael and visits him to give him a Christmas gift.


title: Love Actually

text: Unsuccessfully attempting to woo various English women, including Mia and Nancy, Juliet and Peter's wedding caterer, Colin Frissell informs his friend Tony that he plans to go to America, convinced that his Britishness will be an asset. Landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin meets Stacey, Jeannie and Carol-Anne, three stunningly attractive women who instantly fall for his Estuary English accent, inviting him to stay at their home, where they are joined by their roommate Harriet.


title: Love Actually

text: John and Judy are professional body doubles for films. They meet doing the sex scenes for a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It's lovely to find someone [he] can actually chat to." While they are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and tentative off-set. They carefully pursue a relationship, attending the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen's children, Daniel and Sam, etc.) at the local school with John's brother. They get engaged by the end of the movie.


title: Love Actually

text: Rufus is the jewellery salesman whose meticulous gift-wrapping nearly results in Karen seeing Harry buying a necklace for Mia. In another scene, his distraction of airport staff enables Sam to sneak past them to talk to Joanna. (In the director and cast commentary, it is revealed that Rufus was originally supposed to be a Christmas angel, but this was dropped from the final script.)


title: Love Actually

text: One month later, all of the characters are seen at Heathrow Airport. Billy's Christmas single has spurred a comeback. Juliet, Peter and Mark meet Jamie and his bride, Aurélia. Karen and the kids greet Harry, but Karen's stifled reaction suggests they are struggling to move past his indiscretion. Sam greets Joanna, who has returned from America, and Daniel is joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. Newlyweds John and Judy, heading off to their honeymoon, run into Tony, who is awaiting Colin's return from America. Colin returns with Harriet and her sister Carla, who meets Tony for the first time but greets him with a hug and a kiss on the lips. Natalie welcomes David back from his flight in view of the press, showing their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow, as the screen is divided into an increasing number of smaller segments which form the shape of a heart.


title: Love Actually

text: All the stories are linked in some way; while Billy Mack and his manager may not connect with any of the other characters physically, Billy appears frequently on characters' radios and TVs, his music video twice providing an important plot device for Sam's pursuit of Joanna, and they also cross paths with the other characters in the closing Heathrow scene. John and Judy work with Tony, who is best friends with Colin, who works for a catering company that services the office where Sarah, Karl, Mia and Harry work. Mia is friends with Mark, who runs the art gallery where the Christmas office party takes place. Mia also lives next door to Natalie. Mark is in love with Juliet and friends with Peter. The couple are friends with Jamie and Sarah. Harry is married to Karen, who is friends with Daniel and her brother is David, who works with Natalie. Harry and Karen's children (and thus David's niece and nephew), Natalie's siblings (and thus Mia's neighbours) and Carol's son are all schoolmates of Sam and Joanna. An additional plot that was dropped in editing concerned the children's headmistress (Anne Reid) and her dying lesbian partner (Frances de la Tour).


title: Love Actually

text: Initially, Curtis started writing with two distinct and separate films in mind, each featuring expanded versions of what would eventually become storylines in "Love Actually": those featuring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. He changed tack, however, having become frustrated with the process. Partly inspired by the films of Robert Altman as well as films such as "Pulp Fiction", and inspired by Curtis having become "more interested in writing a film about love and what love sort of means" he had the idea of creating an ensemble film. The film initially did not have any sort of Christmas theme, although Curtis's penchant for such films eventually caused him to write it as one.


title: Love Actually

text: Curtis's original concept for the film included fourteen different scenarios, but four of them were cut (two having been filmed). The scene in which Colin attempts to chat up the female caterer at the wedding appeared in drafts of the screenplay for "Four Weddings and a Funeral", but was cut from the final version. The music video for Billy Mack's song, "Christmas Is All Around", is a tribute to Robert Palmer's 1986 video, "Addicted to Love". Curtis has spoken negatively about the editing process for the film, which he labelled in 2014 as a "catastrophe" and "The only nightmare scenario that I've been caught in". The film was rushed in order to be ready for the 2003 Christmas season which he likened to "three-dimensional chess".


title: Love Actually

text: Ant and Dec played themselves in the film with Bill Nighy's character referring to Dec as "Ant or Dec". This refers to the common mistaking of one for the other, owing to their constant joint professional presence as a comedy and presenting duo. The veteran actress Jeanne Moreau is seen briefly, entering a taxi at the Marseille Airport. The soul singer Ruby Turner appears as Joanna Anderson's mother, one of the backing singers at the school Christmas pageant.


title: Love Actually

text: Curtis cast his daughter Scarlett in the film; she was given the choice of being an angel or a lobster, and played the part of Lobster number 2 in the nativity play, on the condition that she met Keira Knightley.


title: Love Actually

text: Joe Alwyn auditioned for the part of Daniel's Son Sam, which eventually went to Thomas Brodie-Sangster.


title: Love Actually

text: Curtis originally had two actors in mind for the part of Billy Mack until he told Casting Lady Mary Selway who should play the role she suggested Bill Nighy.


title: Love Actually

text: Most of the film was made on location in London, including Trafalgar Square, the central court of Somerset House in the Strand, Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street near Hyde Park, St Paul's Church, Clapham, the Millennium Bridge, Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, Lambeth Bridge, the Tate Modern in the former Bankside Power Station, Canary Wharf, Marble Arch, the St. Lukes Mews off All Saint's Road in Notting Hill, Chelsea Bridge, the OXO Tower, London City Hall, Poplar Road in Herne Hill, Elliott School in Pullman Gardens, Putney, Heathrow Airport and the Marseille Airport. Scenes set in 10 Downing Street were filmed at Shepperton Studios.


title: Love Actually

text: Following Tony Blair's resignation as Prime Minister, pundits and speculators commented on a potential anti-American shift in Gordon Brown's cabinet as a ""Love Actually" moment", referring to the scene in which Hugh Grant's character stands up to the US President. In 2009, during President Barack Obama's first visit to the UK, Chris Matthews referred to the president in "Love Actually" as an example of George W. Bush and other former presidents' bullying of European allies. Commenting on this, Mediaite's Jon Bershad described the U.S. president character as a "sleazy Bill Clinton/George W. Bush hybrid". In the scene in question, the swaggering president bullies the prime minister and then sexually harasses a member of the household staff. In September 2013, David Cameron made a speech in reply to Russia's comment that Britain was a small insignificant country, which drew comparisons with Hugh Grant's speech during the film.


title: Love Actually

text: The US edition of the soundtrack removed two pieces of score and "Sometimes" by Gabrielle and reordered the tracklist. It also replaced the Girls Aloud cover of "Jump (For My Love)" with the original by The Pointer Sisters, and replaced Maroon 5's "Sweetest Goodbye" with a medley of "Sweetest Goodbye" with "Sunday Morning."


title: Love Actually

text: The film's original score was composed, orchestrated and conducted by Craig Armstrong. It was commercially unreleased until 19 November 2021, when it was released digitally by Universal Pictures' Back Lot Music, and on CD by La-La Land Records.


title: Love Actually

text: The soundtrack album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, and by Christmas 2018 it had spent 348 weeks on the Chart. It reached the top forty on the US "Billboard" 200 in 2004 and ranked second on the Top Soundtracks chart.


title: Love Actually

text: The UK and US versions of the actual film contain two instances of alternative music. In the UK cut, the montage leading up to and continuing through the first part of the office party is set to the song "Too Lost in You", by the British group Sugababes. In the US version of the film, this song is replaced with "The Trouble with Love Is", performed by the American singer Kelly Clarkson. Subsequently, in the UK version's end credit roll, the second song is a cover of "Jump (For My Love)" performed by Girls Aloud; in the US version, this song is replaced with "Too Lost in You".


title: Love Actually

text: The Working Title Films production, with a budget of $40–45 million, was released by Universal Pictures. It grossed $62.7 million in the United Kingdom, $14 million in Australia and $59.5 million in the US and Canada. It took a worldwide total of $246.2 million.


title: Love Actually

text: The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 64% of 224 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critics consensus states: "A sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories. Still, the cast charms." On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Love Actually

text: Todd McCarthy of "Variety" called it "a roundly entertaining romantic comedy," a "doggedly cheery confection," and "a package that feels as luxuriously appointed and expertly tooled as a Rolls-Royce" and predicted "its cheeky wit, impossibly attractive cast, and sure-handed professionalism ... along with its all-encompassing romanticism should make this a highly popular early holiday attraction for adults on both sides of the pond".


title: Love Actually

text: Michael Atkinson of "The Village Voice" called it "love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colorful neurotics". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three and a half out of four stars, describing it as "a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy ... The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs, until at times Curtis seems to be working from a checklist of obligatory movie love situations and doesn't want to leave anything out ... It feels a little like a gourmet meal that turns into a hot-dog eating contest."


title: Love Actually

text: Susan Wloszczyna of "USA Today" wrote "Curtis' multi-tiered cake of comedy, slathered in eye-candy icing and set mostly in London at Christmas, serves sundry slices of love—sad, sweet and silly—in all of their messy, often surprising, glory." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" rated it B and called it "a toasty, star-packed ensemble comedy ... [that's] going to make a lot of holiday romantics feel very, very good; watching it; I felt cozy and charmed myself."


title: Love Actually

text: Nev Pierce of the BBC awarded it four of a possible five stars and called it a "vibrant romantic comedy ... Warm, bittersweet and hilarious, this is lovely, actually. Prepare to be smitten." Carla Meyer of the "San Francisco Chronicle" opined "[it] abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humor – an approach that works about half the time ... most of the story lines maintain interest because of the fine cast and general goodwill of the picture."


title: Love Actually

text: In his review in "The New York Times", journalist A. O. Scott called it "a romantic comedy swollen to the length of an Oscar-trawling epic – nearly two and a quarter hours of cheekiness, diffidence and high-tone smirking" and added, "it is more like a record label's greatest-hits compilation or a "very special" sitcom clip-reel show than an actual movie. ... the film's governing idea of love is both shallow and dishonest, and its sweet, chipper demeanor masks a sour cynicism about human emotions that is all the more sleazy for remaining unacknowledged. It has the calloused, leering soul of an early-60s rat-pack comedy, but without the suave, seductive bravado. ... It is disturbing to see [Emma] Thompson's range and subtlety so shamelessly trashed, and to see Laura Linney's intelligence similarly abused as a lonely, frustrated do-gooder. The fate of their characters suggests that women who are not young, pert secretaries or household workers have no real hope of sexual fulfillment and can find only a compromised, damaged form of love."


title: Love Actually

text: In "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers rated it two stars out of a possible four, saying "there are laughs laced with feeling here, but the deft screenwriter Richard Curtis dilutes the impact by tossing in more and more stories. As a director ... Curtis can't seem to rein in his writer. ... He ladles sugar over the eager-to-please Love Actually to make it go down easy, forgetting that sometimes it just makes you gag." Christopher Orr of "The Atlantic" was negative toward the work and described it as the least romantic movie of all time, considering its ultimate message to be "It's probably best if you give up on love altogether and get on with the rest of your life."


title: Love Actually

text: Although critics' response to "Love Actually" was mixed, the film is popular among audiences and has been discussed as an arguable modern-day Christmas classic.


title: Love Actually

text: The screenplay by Richard Curtis was published by Michael Joseph Ltd. in the United Kingdom and by St. Martin's Griffin in the US.


title: Love Actually

text: In 2017, Richard Curtis wrote a script for Red Nose Day which reunited a dozen characters and picked up their storylines fourteen years later. Filming began in February 2017, and the short film was broadcast on BBC One on 24 March 2017.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she joined the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings and made her television debut as Dr. Pat on "The Joe Schmo Show" (2003).


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 2005 and appeared in the Christmas comedy film "Unaccompanied Minors" the next year. After a series of supporting roles in comedy films such as "Knocked Up" (2007), "Adventureland" (2009), "Whip It" (2009) and "Paul" (2011), she co-wrote and starred in the comedy film "Bridesmaids" (2011), which was critically and commercially successful. It earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy, nominations for the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig lent her voice to the animated franchises "How to Train Your Dragon" (2010–2019) and "Despicable Me" (2010–2024). She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role as Cynthia Morehouse in the comedy miniseries "The Spoils of Babylon" (2014). Her other film credits include "Girl Most Likely" (2012), "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (2013), "The Skeleton Twins" (2014), "Welcome to Me" (2014), "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" (2015), "The Martian" (2015), "Ghostbusters" (2016), "Downsizing" (2017), "Mother!" (2017), "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" (2019), and "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020).


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig was born on August 22, 1973, in Canandaigua, New York, the daughter of Jon Wiig, who ran a lake marina in Western New York, and Laurie (née Johnston), an artist. She has an older brother, Erik. Her father has Norwegian and Irish ancestry, and her mother, English and Scottish. The name Wiig comes from the area of Vik in Sogn og Fjordane in Norway. Kristen's paternal grandfather, Gunnar Wiig, emigrated from Norway to the United States as a child and grew up in Rochester, New York, where he was an accomplished broadcaster for the Rochester Red Wings baseball team, and later became an executive at WHEC radio, WHEC-TV, and WROC-TV.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig moved with her family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania at the age of three, and attended Nitrauer Elementary School and Manheim Township Middle School until eighth grade. When she was 13, she and her family returned to Rochester where she attended Allendale Columbia School for ninth and tenth grades and graduated from Brighton High School.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig attended Roanoke College, but soon returned to Rochester. She attended community college and a three-month outdoor-living program. She had no performing ambitions at the time. Wiig then attended the University of Arizona, majoring in art. When she took an acting class to fulfill a course requirement, the teacher suggested she continue to act. She was hired by a plastic surgery clinic to draw postsurgery bodies, but the day before the job began, she decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig relocated to Los Angeles to act while working odd jobs to support herself. She performed with Empty Stage Comedy Theatre and The Groundlings. She felt improvisation was a better fit than acting, and being a part of the comedy group improved her skills. In 2003, she appeared in Spike TV's "The Joe Schmo Show", a spoof of reality television, where she played Dr. Pat, a quack marriage counselor. She auditioned for "Mad TV". While at The Groundlings, Wiig's manager encouraged her to submit an audition tape to "Saturday Night Live". She played the Target Lady on part of her audition tape. She debuted on "SNL" shortly into season 31, on November 12, 2005. She survived an "SNL" budget cut and became a full cast member at the beginning of season 32 in 2006.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: She was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on "SNL" (2009 to 2012). Wiig headlined the 2009 Christmas special "SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas", featuring new sketches with her character Gilly and highlights of older "SNL" clips. She was featured in "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of 15 Great Performances for her various impersonations on "SNL" (December 2008) and in "EW"'s list of the 25 Funniest Women in Hollywood (April 2009). She voiced Lola Bunny in the series "The Looney Tunes Show" from 2011 to 2014.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig made her film debut in the 2006 Christmas movie "Unaccompanied Minors", and appeared in Judd Apatow's 2007 comedy "Knocked Up" as a passive-aggressive assistant. She also performed in Jake Kasdan's "", another Apatow-produced film. Between 2008 and 2010, she had supporting roles in several studio comedies which had various degrees of success. She made a cameo appearance as Bear Trainer Girl in the 2008 comedy "Semi-Pro", reuniting with "SNL" alum Will Ferrell. She played a yoga instructor in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and a self-involved surgeon in David Koepp's "Ghost Town".


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Wiig co-starred in Greg Mottola's 2009 coming-of-age dramedy "Adventureland", voiced a beaver mom in the animated adventure film "", played a roller derby competitor in "Whip It" (Drew Barrymore's directorial debut) and appeared as the wife of a flavoring-extracts company owner in Mike Judge's "Extract". She had a brief role in Andrew Jarecki's 2010 drama "All Good Things", starred opposite Will Forte and Ryan Phillippe in "MacGruber", and voiced two big-budget animated films, "Despicable Me" and "How to Train Your Dragon", that kicked off two highly profitable film franchises.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: 2011 was a turning point in Wiig's career. The comedy "Bridesmaids", which she wrote with fellow Groundlings performer Annie Mumolo, was released that spring by Universal Pictures to critical acclaim, making US$167 million in North America and US$280 million worldwide. In her top-billed role, she played a single woman suffering a series of misfortunes after being asked to be her best friend's maid of honor. "The New York Times" wrote: "A lanky-limbed blonde who evokes Meg Ryan stretched along Olive Oyl lines, Ms. Wiig keeps her features jumping and sometimes bunching. She's a funny, pretty woman, but she's also a comedian, and she's wonderfully confident about playing not nice [...] Ms. Wiig, a longtime cast member of "Saturday Night Live", and Ms. Mumolo, a veteran of the Los Angeles comedy troupe the Groundlings, know what female moviegoers want: honest laughs with, and not solely about, women". For her work in the film, Wiig was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Her last 2011 film was the romantic comedy "Friends with Kids", where she played one half of a sex-obsessed couple, opposite "Bridemaids" collaborator Maya Rudolph. It received positive reviews, who deemed it "sharp, shrewd, and funny", and was a success in limited release.


title: Kristen Wiig

text: In the 2010s, Wiig was a prominent figure in Hollywood, acting in leading and supporting roles. The little-seen dramedy "Revenge for Jolly!", which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, was her first 2012 release. In the comedy "Girl Most Likely", she headlined opposite Annette Bening as a playwright who stages a suicide in an attempt to win back her ex, only to wind up in the custody of her gambling-addict mother. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 20% rating based on 85 reviews, with the site's consensus: "Largely witless and disappointingly dull, "Girl Most Likely" strands the gifted Kristen Wiig in a blandly hollow foray into scattershot sitcom territory."


title: Kristen Wiig

text: Her final performance as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" was season 37, episode 22, which aired on May 19, 2012 and was hosted by Mick Jagger. The closing celebration of her time on the show included "SNL" alumni Amy Poehler, Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell, Will Forte, and Rachel Dratch, as well as Steve Martin and Jon Hamm. She has since returned to host the program several times.