The photo shoot that was rather rasher than most
Pink Floyd: Animals (EMI, 1977)
Progressive rock in the Seventies brought an overblown grandeur to sleeve design, involving elaborate gatefold covers featuring abstruse concepts and impossible scenes. Few were better at it than Pink Floyd, whose prism for Dark Side of the Moon (1973) remains one of the most iconic images in rock history. It was the work of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, friends of the band who were still students when they created the dazzling psychedelic cover for Saucerful of Secrets in 1968. They formed Hipgnosis and became the most influential album design company of the era. Their sleeve for Wish You Were Here in 1975 boasted particularly elaborate packaging, with a striking burning handshake image hidden inside a black shrink wrap. But Floyd and Hipgnosis almost overreached themselves with their most ambitious sleeve ever.
What is it?
Animals was Pink Floyd’s 10th studio album, conceived by chief lyricist Roger Waters as a savage critique of capitalist society. Inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, it divided the human race into three animal species: tyrannical pigs, aggressive dogs and mindless sheep. It is not clear where Waters thought he himself fitted in, though it was notably the album where he really started to fall out with his bandmates. The cover is a thing of beauty, though; a striking gatefold photo of a giant pink pig floating between two stacks of Battersea Power Station, an immense coal-fired power plant on the south bank of the River Thames in London.
The story behind the cover
The original Hipgnosis idea was to depict a small child entering his parents’ bedroom to find them “copulating like animals”. Waters was thankfully unimpressed and came up with his own concept. The bassist and songwriter lived near Battersea Power Station, which was built in the Thirties and in the process of being decommissioned. Waters conceived a visual pun for the impossible metaphor of “pigs will fly”, juxtaposing a giant airborne pig above a decaying industrial structure, symbolic of the dark triumph of capitalism. Or something like that.
The easiest way to achieve this would have been a photo montage, with the pig shot hot separately. Indeed, this is what Hipgnosis proposed. But it was Pink Floyd oyd in the Seventies and they wanted ted the whole thing staged for real. al. They commissioned a 40ft inflatable e porcine (designed by Jeffrey Shaw, the Australian artist) from Ballon Fabrik, the German firm that had constructed tructed the Zeppelin airships. On December 2 1976, Powell arranged ged 14 photographers at various vantage ntage points. There was also an eight-man ight-man film crew, a helicopter and d a marksman to shoot down the inflatable atable in case anything went wrong. There was a beautiful, moody sky and nd perfect photographic conditions. However, owever, despite much huffing and puffing uffing with helium canisters, the pig stubbornly refused to inflate. flate.
The crew reconvened econvened the next day. This time the pig inflated ed and rose rapidly, when a gust of wind d twisted the dirigible and the mooring cable e snapped. Unfortunately, y, Pink
Floyd’s manager ger had neglected d to rebook the sharpshooter. The pig continued its ascent unimpeded and was out of sight within five minutes. Flights were halted when pilots reported an airborne pig over Heathrow. Two RAF jets were scrambled to track it down but lost the pig at 30,000ft. Warnings were issued on TV and radio. At 9pm, a farmer in Kent called to complain that a giant pig had landed on his property and was scaring his cattle.
Pink Floyd’s road crew retrieved the deflated pig and repaired a puncture, and a smaller crew reconvened for day three, with the marksman on standby. This time everything went according to plan. There was, however, a further development in this incredibly expensive cover fiasco. Viewing the shots, the band preferred the ominous sky from day one, with no pig in sight. So Hipgnosis ended up superimposing the pig on to the picture, as they had originally suggested.
So what is the music like?
Sadly, it’s a case where the cover may be more interesting than the album. Perhaps responding to the challenge of punk rockers who had labelled them “dinosaurs”, Pink Floyd forsook the plush grandeur of their classic
Seventies productions to concoct a darker, dirtier sound. The 17-minute epic Dogs and 10-minute rocker Sheep certainly have transcendent moments, but with Waters asserting control of songwriting and vocals, and the fantasy touches of guitarist David Gilmour and keyboard player Rick Wright reined in, the mood of the album was unrelentingly sour and pessimistic.
And what is its legacy?
Dissatisfied with the album and subsequent world tour, Pink Floyd recovered to make The Wall in 1979, a final Seventies classic, before the dissolution of The Final Cut in 1983. The cover image remains one of the most celebrated in rock history and helped make Battersea Power Station a famous landmark around the world. During Danny Boyle’s Isles of Wonder film for the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics, a pig flew proudly over Battersea once again.
Flights were halted when pilots reported an airborne pig over Heathrow