Animals-Pink-Floyd
Pink Floyd is one of those bands that just seems to put out good music. For nearly two decades, Pink Floyd was able to put out awe inspiring music, the likes of which the world had never heard before. Out of their discography, their most underrated album has to be Animals.
When people talk about Pink Floyd, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the famous prism, or perhaps the white bricked wall. However, neither of those albums seem to hold the same complexity that Animals offers.
Sticking to their formula, Animals is another concept album released in 1977, it was a short album only in terms of the number of tracks on it. The five-song album holds some of Floyd’s greatest hits, including “Dogs”, a 17-minute track that is simply a joy to listen to.
Animals is said to be loosely based on Animal Farm, the book by George Orwell. It depicts our society divided into classes and each class depicted by an animal. The most common one being the pigs. For Pink Floyd, the pig describes the people who consider themselves better than everyone else. They are the people that walk over others for their own benefit with no concern for anything but themselves.
On the other hand, the dogs are viewed as those violent people who incite wars and send people to their death. Dogs can be anything from politicians to terrorists, depending on how you understand the meaning, but they are merely there to force others to do their bidding.
Finally, the third animal that Pink Floyd wrote about is the sheep. Floyd views all the people that simply comply with everything given to them as sheep. They are mindless and follow whatever laws or orders given to them with no question whatsoever. Perhaps that is why they are sheep, always rounded up by dogs.
So, Animals is a creative narrative of society during the late 70s. However, does that music still resonate with society today? The short answer is yes. Even today we simply cannot shake the sense of this hierarchal structure. We still see the Pigs sitting on top of the world doing whatever they like no matter the consequences. We still have the Dogs who govern people and force them to abide by their laws. We still have the sheep who are seemingly helpless in front of these groups and must live under their rule or die trying to get out. Animals is as relevant today as it was in the 70s and 80s.
Moreover, it is a perfect depiction of American society in the 21st century. The British band may not have had this foresight, but America has slowly turned into the country that best fits under Animal’s description. America is home to one of the most hated and talked about police forces in the world. They use violence and anger to scare people into submission, and those that do not comply are killed. These are the Dogs.
The pigs exist as the “one-percenters” who do everything in their power to stay in luxury. They are the section of American society that cannot be touched by anyone else. The part of American society that has no fears about the future and has no second thoughts about walking over people they deem inferior.
The sheep are all the citizens who remain silent. Obediently following their government even if it harms them. They are the people that will look at some like Donald Trump and praise him even as they live in continued poverty.
Throughout the album, we are exposed to lyrical content that hints at these notions of society. Pink Floyd has always written songs that seem to bring to light the cruelty of society, government, and wars, but Animals is the one that tries to describe the world. It is the album that paints a picture of human society in modern times and why it is a dangerous place for people. Either in an effort to change the path of human society, or simply to make people aware of the world they are living in, Pink Floyd’s Animals is not only a musical masterpiece, but it can also be viewed as a political or social commentary on the class system that people have seemed to embrace.
As a result, Animals remains one of the greatest albums of all time. It may not be as well known as some of Floyd’s other albums (they have a stellar discography full of absolutely amazing albums) but it is by far their bravest and most honest one.