Pink Floyd's Indian Influences: A Passing Phase, Not a Raga Rock Turn

Pink Floyd’s Indian-tinged moments are really a Barrett-era thing, not a serious foray into raga rock. “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Astronomy Domine” lean on modal drones that feel Eastern, but they never wrote a song built around a classical raga the way the Beatles did with “Norwegian Wood” or the Yardbirds did with “Heart Full of Soul”.

After Syd left, those influences mostly faded. “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” keeps a drone, but it’s more about atmosphere than Indian scales. By the time of Dark Side of the Moon, the band had fully committed to space rock, synthesizers, and jazz—no sitars, no tamburas. If you want Pink Floyd and Indian music together, you’re basically stuck with a handful of 1967 tracks.