What happened to Syd Barrett? The short answer is drugs and madness, I guess. LSD has been used to treat certain ailments, but is less than great in treating schizophrenia. In later life he laid low and stayed out of trouble, but seemed to have sealed off the part of his brain that had started Pink Floyd.
Possibly necessary for self preservation, but sad nonetheless. He had been inspired. His gift carried him unsteadily through two solo albums, and as late as 1974 he created some interesting guitar demos, albeit not developed into anything. And of course there were early Floyd songs like "The Scarecrow", both eerie and touching.
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Syd was a musical genius who happened to be one of those individuals already susceptible to schizophrenia or psychosis that could be triggered by psychedelics. He might have taken a lot over the course of a short time but his family always agreed that he wasn't mentally ill in the classic sense but that he was very very depressed. The good news is he found solace in gardening, painting and trips to the seaside with his photographer sister. It's a shame he could no longer face being a musician but perhaps that's just our opinion because we always wanted more. There's no doubt that even though he was no longer with the band he was always its soul.
https://youtu.be/8DylQaiFL30?si=Z3-wavh-fgd2-zQr
Another brilliant musician who stopped performing regularly around the same time was Vivian Stanshall. Stage fright has been said was the cause of his subsequent depression. Nevertheless he never stopped being incredibly creative despite being unreliable due to heavy drinking. There was an interesting article about him in the Guardian a couple of years ago.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/12/on-best-behaviour-he-was-a-joy-the-lost-archive-of-english-pop-eccentric-vivian-stanshall
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