On This Day in 1971, Pink Floyd Released the Transitional Album That (Thankfully) Didn’t Feature the Original Cover Idea

Deciding not to do something can sometimes be even more important than deciding to do something, which was certainly the case for Pink Floyd and their sixth album, Meddle, which they released on October 31, 1971, in the U.S. (The U.K. release would come a week later on November 5.) Fortunately for the band and the general public alike, the album cover wasn’t the image that art director Storm Thorgerson originally suggested to the band. Even through the grainy line of an international phone call, Pink Floyd knew better than to follow through with an idea like that.

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Throughout their decades-long career, Pink Floyd has crafted incredibly memorable and distinct album covers. But Meddle isn’t necessarily one of them. The abstract nature of the rusty orange and turquoise image seemed to mirror the band’s transitional state. The group was still finding its footing after firing Syd Barrett. Coincidentally, the album cover almost looks like a cell mutating in a petri dish, which would be appropriate for this particular state of flux. According to drummer Nick Mason, the band’s idea was anatomical, but not quite so cellular.

“On a stop over at Hong Kong airport heading home, we phoned the Hipgnosis studio to brief Storm on the cover design for Meddle,” Mason wrote in Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. “The title had been hastily concocted and, maybe inspired by some Zen-like image of water gardens, we told Storm we wanted ‘an ear under water.’ Time differences meant that neither party was on top form for the telephone discussion. But even across the intervening miles, we could hear the sound of Storm’s eyes rolling.” Perhaps that’s why he made his suggestion?

This 1971 Pink Floyd Album Could Have Looked Very, Very Different

Creating an image evocative of the sounds an ear might hear underwater is no small task. But to be fair, art director Storm Thorgerson’s album cover suggestion would have been no less, er, troubling to make. Legend has it that Thorgerson’s initial recommendation was to feature a close-up photograph of a baboon’s anus on the album cover. Considering Nick Mason’s recollection of the phone call with Thorgerson, maybe the artist was being sarcastic due to his dislike of their idea. In any case, the Pink Floyd pick beat out Thorgerson’s, and the album cover was (fortunately) lacking in primate backsides. Of course, if it hadn’t been, perhaps the record would be more memorable than it stands today.

For Pink Floyd fans, there is much to love about Meddle. Many elements of their 1971 album seem to foreshadow records to come, like Wish You Were Here. One can easily draw a line between the Meddle B-side, “Echoes”, and the nine-part “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. Similarly, windy transitions from “One of These Days” into “A Pillow of Winds” would help inform the same transition in “Wish You Were Here”. The band might not have found its footing completely post-Syd Barrett, but Meddle showed they were getting close.

Pink Floyd released Meddle in their native U.K. several days after the U.S. release on November 5, 1971. The album performed better in the U.K., peaking at No. 3, while the band received a much more modest No. 70 placement in the States. It received Top 40 placements in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain as well.

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