While Pink Floyd was thankfully imbued with some of the best musicians of the 1960s rock scene, by the time they were reaching their prog rock pomp in the 1970s, they had begun to split into creative factions. The two main creators of the group, David Gilmour and Roger Waters, had begun to operate on different sides of the studio, only joining ideas together through gritted teeth.
Despite this, the decade also saw the band deliver some of their seminal LPs, including 1971’s Meddle, the genre-defining The Dark Side of the Moon, the platinum-selling Wish You Were Here, and the 1977 smash hit Animals. That album, as well as enjoying one of the most calamitous promotional campaigns in rock history, also had a rich current of storytelling running through it.
Using the concept of George Orwell’s Animal Farm as the base inspiration for the songs on the album was a piece of genius in itself, but the delivery of the tracks is what makes it a classic album.
As punk was swelling around London, the idea that Pink Floyd had become flabby pensioners overnight was soon put to bed when this progressive album was released. The album’s cover may have a ludicrous story behind it, but the rest of the record was dead serious. The LP reflects the first moment Waters took on the politics of the world so explicitly. It would appear that both Waters’ earnestness and love for Orwell’s text would continue on into their next album, The Wall.
Routinely noted as a defacto Roger Waters solo album, The Wall is a concept record that puts the protagonist Pink centre stage as he negotiates a menacing world. Not only did it show off Waters’ musicianship, but the record was also his most personal album ever. It saw the bassist open himself up to his audience and reflect on the pursuit and final loneliness of fame and fortune.
The album also reflected a band in turmoil. The duo of Gilmour and Waters had been fighting for some years, and when the group took a break after the release of Animals, they pursued solo work. Gilmour would release his own album away from the band, while Waters would bring an almost fully finished The Wall to Pink Floyd.
Despite this, Gilmour is credited as a co-songwriter on three songs on the LP, ‘Run Like Hell,’ ‘Comfortably Numb,’ and ”Young Lust’, but if you thought that this was a harmonious moment of the two men putting aside their differences, then Waters’ words on the record to Mojo in 1999, will quell any of those thoughts: “This was not a cooperative. It was in no sense a democratic process.”
Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright would all later claim they made significant contributions to the album, something Waters dismissed with a familiar comparison: “If somebody had a good idea, I would accept it and maybe use it, in the same sense that if someone writes and directs a movie he will often listen to what the actors have to say. It sounds to me a bit like Animal Farm, the pigs fight about who was more equal than others.”
