[Current & Culture] Farewell to the "Unknown Moon"

The Moon's Mystique Fades Amid Exploration Race
Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" at 50
A Half-Century-Old Album That Seemed to Foresee Today

Quiz. How many countries have successfully landed on the moon so far? The answer is four. Starting with Russia (then the Soviet Union), the United States, China, and India have succeeded, and Japan is attempting to become the fifth country. The most recent country to succeed is India, which made headlines by choosing the lunar south pole as its landing site. Now, the second quiz: which of these countries is the only one to have landed a probe on the far side of the moon? The answer is China.

People who are not very interested in space might tilt their heads in confusion. What difference does it make whether the landing is on the near side or the far side? Many might remember from high school science class why we cannot see the far side of the moon. It is due to a phenomenon called tidal locking, where the mutual gravitational interaction between the Earth and the moon has synchronized the moon’s rotation period with its orbital period. Therefore, the far side of the moon is never visible from Earth, and naturally, landing a probe there is more difficult.

The far side of the moon has also symbolized the unknown. Just as people in ancient times had various imaginations about the shape of the Earth before the heliocentric theory emerged, many fantasies were conjured about the far side of the moon. In the movie “Transformers,” the place where a robot from deep space crash-lands is the far side of the moon. There was also a ridiculous movie called “Iron Sky,” where Nazis defeated in World War II flee to the far side of the moon, build a secret base, and plan to invade Earth.

Among creative works featuring the far side of the moon, the most highly regarded is the progressive rock group Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd’s music is quite complex and requires concentration and patience to fully enjoy. This album is no exception. Songs lasting over six or seven minutes continue with instrumental pieces that heighten chaos and anxiety. The ambiguous and profound lyrics follow, so it is more reasonable to consider it as one 43-minute-long song. Considering that most popular songs today are around three minutes long, this is quite a challenge. It is bewildering how such difficult music gained such massive popularity. The total sales reached a staggering 43.5 million copies. It is the best-selling album classified as rock music and holds the record for the second best-selling album across all genres, following Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

To mark the 50th anniversary of this album, released in 1973, a remastered version with improved sound quality was released earlier this year. I want to believe that India’s lunar south pole probe landing this year was also to commemorate this 50th anniversary. I am someone who believes this album is more valuable than the minerals buried on the moon or the lunar exploration competition among great powers. No matter how you think about it, the idea of exploiting the moon’s resources because Earth’s are insufficient is madness. Considering that the theme running through this album is human madness, did Pink Floyd predict the current situation 50 years ago?

The far side of the moon is no longer mysterious. Movies or music using the far side of the moon as a creative theme will no longer be made. How fortunate it is that this album came out before that happened! In today’s trend of making music and videos shorter and shorter, listening to a 43-minute concept album in its entirety might be more of a challenge than a pleasure. Fortunately, Pink Floyd has released the remastered album in full on YouTube, so you can listen for free. Challenge?

Jaeik Lee, Novelist

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.