‘Animals’: The Pink Floyd album cover that downed all planes in London
The entire ethos of Pink Floyd had always been about reaching for the boundaries of what rock and roll could do. Rather than staying within the realm of psychedelic rock after Syd Barrett’s departure, Roger Waters would help steer the band into their next major event, culminating in some of the most daring albums ever created, like Dark Side of the Moon. While the band always had their music at the forefront of their albums, the packaging of one of their greatest hits was enough to land them in hot water.
Then again, every album designed by masterminds Hipgnosis was supposed to be about making graphics larger than life. When working alongside the band, each album cover they created would become striking works of visual art from the moment the listener saw them, from the Dark Side prism to the image of a man being physically burned on the cover of Wish You Were Here.
While Waters had envisioned making songs that were critiquing the music industry, he had another idea in mind when sculpting the sounds of Animals. Written around the characters in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, each song reflects the corrupt side of capitalism, thinking that the ‘Dogs’ of the world want nothing more than to hunt after their prey without remorse.
To capture the feeling of the music, the accompanying album cover would become an equally striking image. Shooting a picture of a bellowing power plant, the main sticking point would be the site of a gigantic balloon of a pig floating across the skyline, practicality representing the visual of the working class trying to find their way amid the institutions around them.
While the original idea was to have the gigantic pig held together on a string for the shot, the winds from that day saw the famous swine breaking free from its tether. Drifting its way across the English skyline, the pig eventually caught the attention of the airways when it was moving in the direction of Heathrow Airport.
As head designer Aubrey Powell recalled, “Eventually, they managed to inflate the pig and hoist it between the two chimneys. It was all set up and ready to go when the chain broke, and the pig sailed up 20,000ft, ending up right in the centre of Heathrow air traffic. At which point Pink Floyd left the site”.
While Powell would be arrested for his trouble, that wasn’t the end of the issue. After putting out different distress signals over the radio, the hunt was on to find out where the balloon would be headed next. Tracking it down to a farmer’s field, the disaster would ultimately be a blessing in disguise for the upcoming album.
Even though the band had to reschedule the original date that they had for the shoot, the hype for the album went through the roof, with everyone clamouring for what the latest audio spectacle that the band had cooking up would involve the pig in question. Although Animals would become another classic in Pink Floyd’s discography, that wasn’t the last the band would see of the pig, eventually using another pig balloon when putting together their live shows years later.
