OINK, WOOF, BAAA

Released in 1977, Animals remains one of Pink Floyd’s most politically charged and emotionally potent albums—a snarling, dystopian masterpiece that channels the disillusionment of a generation into a five-track conceptual epic. Loosely inspired by George Orwell’s allegorical story Animal Farm, the album trades the surreal psychedelia of early work The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and the polished melancholy of Wish You Were Here for something more raw, cynical, and confrontational (Mason,2004).

Following Orwell, the heart of Animals is its allegorical perspective on society, where humans are divided into three categories: dogs, pigs, and sheep. Each archetype represents a facet of capitalist Britain that Roger Waters, the band’s primary lyricist, viewed with disdain. The “Dogs” are the ruthless businessmen: calculating, paranoid, ultimately consumed by their own power and control. “Pigs” represent corrupt leaders and moral hypocrites while “Sheep” are the passive masses, blindly following and always consuming. Waters has stated that the record was an expression of his abhorrence of the increasing conservatism and greed he saw taking hold in the mid-1970s (Schaffner, 1991).

What to you get for pretending 

The danger’s not real?  ["Sheep"]

Musically, Animals is a transitional piece. While it retains the progressive rock roots of Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon, it strips away ornament and whimsy, substituting harder, more abrasive guitar riffs and extended instrumental passages. David Gilmour’s guitar work here is particularly visceral; angular, searing, and emotionally raw. His solos on “Dogs” are some of his finest, capturing the moral rot and anxiety of the song’s hungry canines (Blake, 2008).

Roger Waters’ fingerprints are all over this album. He dominates the lyrical content and shapes the album’s bitter tone. His delivery on “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” drips with contempt, especially the infamous third verse which takes direct aim at Mary Whitehouse, a British political activist for “family values.”

Though comprising only five tracks, the album feels both vast and claustrophobic. The two-part acoustic bookends, “Pigs on the Wing,” provide momentary softness and a human connection amidst the bleakness. These brief, melancholy reflections frame the tension within, suggesting that even in the most dehumanized society, there’s a glimmer of personal salvation (Mason, 2004). Ironically, these two very brief pieces—credited solely to Waters—earned him extra royalties, fuelling dissatisfaction about Waters’ increasingly authoritarian style and willingness to make unilateral decisions. How ironic that the process reflected the content.

The album cover, featuring London’s Battersea Power Station with a floating pig between its smokestacks, became iconic. Designed by Hipgnosis and Waters, it captures the industrial alienation at the core of the record (Thorgerson, 1999). For the 2018 Remix (released in 2022), Aubrey "Po" Powell (the other foundation half of Hipgnosis) created a dark, stormy dystopian image roiling with urban gloom. Forty years later the vista is harder, lonelier, industrially desolate. The pig is floating away.

Sonically, the remix is much less gloomy than the original: punchier bass, more cut-through on the guitars, greater clarity on the vocals. James Guthrie’s re-mix has added space and focus. While some have preferred the muddier original, others consider this a ray of light through the smog.

Animals does not have the radio-friendly hits of Dark Side or The Wall; its power lies in an uncompromising vision and emotional directness. It is an album born out of frustration; with politics, with society, and even within the band itself. That tension fuels its greatness. Nearly five decades later, Animals still snarls, still bites, and still resonates. It’s not just a record, it is a warning.

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Sources

Blake, Mark. Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Da Capo Press, 2008.

Mason, Nick. Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. Chronicle Books, 2004.

Schaffner, Nicholas. Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey. Dell, 1991.

Thorgerson, Storm. Mind Over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd. Sanctuary Publishing, 1999.

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© Bruce Jenkins—April 2025