Many bands and artists have left a mark in the industry of music, but none were ever quite like Pink Floyd. They were always blending storytelling, emotion and sound together. Their discography was different, meaningful and timeless. Pink Floyd formed in London, 1965. The rock band created multiple albums together up to year 2014, which was when they created their final studio album The Endless River. The members of the group were rearranged over the years, due to conflicts between individual members, like many other bands. The most relevant members would include guitarist David Gilmour, bassist Roger Waters, Nick Mason on drums, and keyboardist Richard Wright. For vocals, the band would take turns between all of the members.
The band is most well known for their influence in psychedelic rock for their earlier works, and would later shape the progressive rock genre, as they would be one of the most well known to contribute. The band has a total of fifteen studio albums, including their most notable works, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), and The Wall (1979).
One album of theirs that stood out to me, but wasn’t quite as popular as the others would be Animals (1977), their tenth studio album, officially released January 21st, 1977, which consists of five different songs for the duration of forty one minutes. The album was created during the time when Pink Floyd was experimenting heavily with the progressive rock genre.
The story and political themes that go along with the record are loosely inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which critiques communism and ranks society under roles which are depicted as different animals. In the story, the dogs are described as predatory and corrupt policemen. The pigs represent controlling politicians that take advantage of their power. And lastly, the sheep are meant to symbolize the mindless and willing individuals who are so easily manipulated by those who rank above them. The album, however, critiques capitalism, but keeps the storyline of farm animals who end up instead overthrowing the oppressive system of a capitalist society.
The first track, “Pigs on the Wing Part One” is a short introduction to the album, sung by Roger Waters. The first part and second part are written by Waters, about his wife at the time, and seems to be about turning a blind eye to society and how they would rather focus on each other, rather than the corrupt society surrounding them. I don’t have much else to say about this track, but I do believe that it’s a great opening to such a meaningful album.
Track number two, “Dogs”, is a more in depth track, at the length of seventeen minutes, chipping into the progressive rock genre. Both Roger Waters and David Gilmour share vocals on the track, Gilmour during the first half and Waters during the second. The themes of the track are about the sadness that comes from trying to discover your role in the society and getting stuck in the race of our daily lives. When Animal Farm depicted the dogs as policemen, Pink Floyd opposingly interprets them as powerful businessmen and how they end up stabbing those who trust them in their backs. The lyrics describe the deep down emptiness of a businessman catching up to him as he grows older.
This track happens to be my personal favorite out of the album for many reasons. One thing I really admire about this album is how on most of the tracks, you can hear mimicked noises of the referenced animal, for this track you can distinctly hear barking, which is processed through a vocoder. I also love the deep meaning behind this track and really enjoyed how the instruments came together, especially Gilmour on guitar.
The third track on the album, “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, really dives into the political themes that surround the record. Written and sung by Roger Waters, the lyrics describe the pigs as the ones at the top of the social ladder, those with wealth and power who abuse it. They manipulate and compete with the rest of our society to maintain their power. I also really enjoyed David Gilmour’s unique use of a talk box during his guitar solo which is used to mimic the squealing sound that pigs tend to make. The political meaning behind the song can surely be relevant and can connect to even today’s politics.
Track number four, “Sheep”, is another that was written and sung by Roger Waters and is the length of around ten minutes. His lyrics refer to those who mindlessly work and are exploited by others, such as the “dogs” and “pigs”, who they blindly follow without a doubt. It’s not just about how they are followers, but also how they end up deciding to rebel and rise up against the upper classes. The ideas behind this track are mainly inspired by the inner-city riots that Waters remembers, and how he felt that they would occur again.
This song does something similar to “Dogs” and “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, as it includes the unique use of mimicked sheep noises. What really stood out to me for this song, is that other than the political nature that this entire record is inspired by, this track seems to pick up some religous undertones as well, because of some of the lyrics seem to blatantly reference biblical themes, and since the hardworking lower class are referred to as “sheep”.
The fifth and final track on the album, “Pigs on the Wing Part Two”, is practically just a reprise of it’s first part. Roger Waters believed that without both parts, that the album “would have been just a kind of scream of rage”, which I can agree with. The song is very short compared to the other tracks on the album and has a theme to it that isn’t as heavy as the others. I do like the song, but I would have preferred if they had the closing song as something with at least a little difference.
After listening to the entire record, I can say that overall it was a great experience. I loved each track lyrically, and I absolutely adore the sound of this album and the difference compared to their other work. As a fan of Pink Floyd, I had never listened to this album and I decided it was time, as I have been previously had the album recommended to me. My all time favorite of theirs has to be Wish You Were Here and I definitely got a very similar feeling to it while listening to this album. I dare say that it’s overlooked compared to their other work. The dark and political themes of this album may not click with everyone, but it for sure did with me. I think that the concept and storytelling of this album is really well done and the clear inspiration behind George Orwell’s Animal Farm is purely genius.
