As the old adage goes, you get what you pay for—an unavoidable life lesson Pink Floyd had to learn the hard way amidst the chaos of the photoshoot for their 1977 album, Animals. By the time the psych-rock band was preparing to release their tenth studio album, they were enjoying the height of their fame from smash hits like Wish You Were Here and Dark Side of the Moon.
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Thus, Pink Floyd had a lot of momentum to maintain. And as anyone who has perused vinyls at a record shop can attest, an intriguing album cover can make or break a sale. After a few initial ideas turned out to be duds, the band finally settled on an idea from bassist Roger Waters.
In the end, Waters’ idea proved to be a hit for everyone involved…except one angry farmer in Godmersham, Kent.
Finding A Better Idea Out Of A Pile Of Rejects
Pink Floyd had originally planned to collaborate with the British graphic design firm and long-time partner, Hipgnosis, for the Animals album cover. But one by one, the band rejected the firm’s ideas (including an image of a child walking in on their parents having sex). Bassist Roger Waters led the charge in turning down Hipgnosis’ ideas, although he would later say he didn’t think the rest of the band was fond of them, either.
So, Waters set off on his bicycle with a camera and began cruising through London. He came upon the Battersea Power Station in South London, which Waters said drew him in with its “doomy, inhuman” vibe. The band decided to create an image of the power station with a giant, inflatable pig flying through the factory towers. “It’s a symbol of hope,” Waters explained, per Mark Blake’s 2008 book, Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd.
Hipgnosis continued to work with Pink Floyd by assisting in the cover shoot’s setup, which included transporting a 30-foot, deflated pig to south London. From there, Pink Floyd’s road crew and the inflatable company’s employees filled the massive swine with helium and floated the pig between Battersea Power Station’s towers using mooring ropes. For the most part, everything was going okay—until, of course, it wasn’t.
The Chaotic Story of Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’ Album Cover Photoshoot
If Pink Floyd’s massive inflatable pig were to hypothetically come loose from its mooring ropes, the 30-foot balloon would pose a significant threat to local air traffic. So, manager Steve O’Rourke hired a marksman to shoot down the pig if it got free from its restraints. The only problem, however, was that O’Rourke only hired the gunman for one day—the first day. Due to technical difficulties, the pig didn’t even get inflated until the second day, which is exactly when the crew needed that expert marksman.
On the album cover photoshoot’s second day, a huge gust of wind pulled the pig (which the band had nicknamed “Algie”) out of its restraints and sent it flying free in the sky. “All hell broke loose,” Aubrey Powell, Hipgnosis co-founder, later recalled in Blake’s Comfortably Numb. “The RAF and air traffic control at Heathrow all started reporting this flying pig. We even had a mention on the evening news.” The pig, which had reached elevations upwards of 18,000 feet, eventually landed in a farmer’s field.
The farmer from Godmersham, Kent, was “furious,” Powell remembered, “as it had apparently scared his cows.” Frightened cows aside, the chaotic incident was less disastrous than it could have been. The pig didn’t seriously affect any air traffic, and amazingly, the balloon was in one piece when it landed on the farmer’s property. Pink Floyd’s crew retrieved the pig and drove it back to South London for the third and final day of shooting.
This time, O’Rourke hired two marksmen to wait on standby…just in case.
Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
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