Legendary ’60s Rock Band Shelved a Wild Experimental Album You’ve Never Heard originally appeared on Parade.
Rock fans all know Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here — but what if there was a secret, more experimental album that never saw the light of day?
That album was Household Objects, and yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.
Following the success of their 1973 album, the legendary band set out to create something even riskier — a project built entirely from sounds made by everyday items.
The idea actually dated back to the late ‘60s, during the Atom Heart Mother era, but didn’t take real shape until a few years later.
Eventually, they stepped into the studio with engineer Alan Parsons and began recording. Tracks like “The Hard Way,” which used a rubber band for a bassline, and “Wine Glasses” — you can probably guess how that one sounded — started to come together.
As groundbreaking as the idea was, it didn’t quite land as the group quickly returned to their instruments.
In a 2007 BBC documentary, Richard Wright remembered telling Roger Waters, “Roger, this is insane!” David Gilmour agreed, saying much of it just sounded like “plonky noises” and ultimately felt “unsatisfying.”
Despite that, Household Objects kept resurfacing whenever the band hit a creative block. Waters even teased to Zigzag magazine that their household-made music was “turning into a really nice piece.”
For weeks, they experimented — scraping broomsticks, hitting wood with axes — trying to turn things around them into their next big hit.
Eventually, they shelved the project, and it’s hard to argue with that decision.
After abandoning Household Objects, Waters turned his focus to the theme of loss — which would become the foundation for Wish You Were Here. An album, now considered one of the greatest of all time, with over 20 million copies sold worldwide.
Still, not everyone was ready to let go. Parsons later admitted, “I was rather disappointed it never came to anything.”
Legendary ’60s Rock Band Shelved a Wild Experimental Album You’ve Never Heard first appeared on Parade on Jun 28, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.
