Pink Floyd's Animals Is Reborn In The Time Of Trump
Roger Waters explains the renewed relevance of Pink Floyd's coruscating 1977 album in an exclusive MOJO interview.
WITH ITS VIOLENT VISIONS of a society torn by greed, hypocrisy and control, Pink Floyd’s Animals turns 40 more relevant than ever. In all-new interviews in the latest issue of MOJO magazine (in UK stores now), the origins, iconography and ominous fallout of the group’s gnarliest album, and its resurrection in the age of Trump and Brexit, are thoroughly explored. “It’s a good piece of meat,” Roger Waters tells Mark Blake.
Waters – Pink Floyd’s bass player and key songwriter after the departure of original singer-guitarist Syd Barrett – has been playing keynote Animals track Pigs (Three Different Ones) at his recent solo shows. Its lyric – “Big man, pig man / Ha, ha, charade you are / You well heeled big wheel / Ha, ha, charade you are” – might seem pointed enough, but Waters underlined it with images of the then-Presidential candidate and the unignorable slogan: “Trump Is A Pig”.
Waters is fiercely critical of the new President, but explains to MOJO that “until the human race accepts that killing and conquering isn’t working anymore” the likes of Donald Trump will thrive. “But we allow things like Trump to happen,” says Waters. “It’s like Brexit. You think, Why?”
The circumstances from which Animals originally sprang are explored in depth, including the breakdown of Waters’ first marriage and ongoing struggle to make sense of Pink Floyd’s purpose after the staggering success of The Dark Side Of The Moon. “I was somewhat disturbed at the time,” Waters tells Mark Blake
Animals' poignant Pigs On The Wing Parts 1 & 2 has also gained new meaning in the current political climate. “It’s saying, If we don’t care for one another and have empathy for one another, then all we’re left with is this… crap,” says Waters. “It’s the idea that we’re not alone, that we have a responsibility to one another in the global society.”
MOJO’s Pink Floyd coverage also includes an exclusive preview of Their Mortal Remains, the V&A’s exhaustive presentation of Pink Floyd and their associated creative works, which opens to the public in May.
Don’t forget there’s a Limited Edition of the new MOJO with a spectacular lenticular cover. Click here to watch Pink Floyd’s pig “Algie” fly across the magazine, and order your own copy today.
PHOTO: Desert Trip by Alamy