Pink Floyd's 'Top Gear' Session: Beating the BBC Singles Ban

In October 1967, Pink Floyd recorded their first session for BBC Radio 1’s Top Gear — a move that quietly sidestepped the corporation’s own ban on their singles. Earlier that year, “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play” had been pulled from BBC airplay for supposedly promoting drug use, which meant no mainstream radio exposure for the band’s A-sides. But the BBC’s rules only covered commercially released singles, not specially recorded studio sessions for shows like Top Gear.

The session included three tracks: “Flaming,” “The Gnome,” and an early version of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.” None of these had been released as singles, so the ban didn’t apply. By performing them live in the BBC’s own studio, Pink Floyd got their sound onto national radio without triggering the prohibition. The show, hosted by John Peel, already had a cult following among psychedelic and underground listeners — exactly the audience the band needed.

For Floyd, this was a clever workaround. The session aired on November 5, 1967, and gave listeners a taste of their upcoming album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn without the BBC having to play a banned 45