For fans of Pink Floyd, choosing a favorite album is really tough to narrow down. From the band’s early work with frontman Syd Barrett to the conceptual behemoths that brought them mainstream success, there’s plenty to choose from the British group’s collection.
And when it comes to what many see as their golden era, the most frequently mentioned records are 1973’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” and 1979’s “The Wall” due to their massive cultural impact.
However, 1975’s “Wish You Were Here” and 1977’s “Animals” are also outstanding albums in their own right that deserve to be part of the conversation more often.
Released at a time when punk broke, “Animals” was initially met with somewhat 50/50 reviews from critics who were more interested in the shenanigans of The Sex Pistols, even though later it was established as a Pink Floyd classic.
Via Ultimate Guitar, In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, drummer Nick Mason recalled the influence that the blooming punk movement had during the “Animals” writing sessions:
Nick stated: “I think whatever influence punk brought to Animals or indeed, music at the time, it was subliminal rather than being obvious. It was an influence, but I think for me, I don’t think there was a lot of it that I thought, ‘This is great.’ It was more, well, it’s interesting because it’s returning to the sort of rock ‘n’ roll where teenagers can get together and do this and actually have an audience and do it.”
Nick, not one to really hold back would dive deeper.
Nick continued: “It was strange in that respect. I think it was a good thing in terms of dealing with prog rock – which had become so pompous, really – but it wasn’t obvious. I mean, apart from Johnny Rotten [Sex Pistols frontman] having the T-shirt that said ‘I Hate Pink Floyd.’ [Laughs.] It’s almost as though they were such separate camps that it would be hard to see quite how the influence of one might influence another.”
From the subsequent tour to promote the album came the concept for “The Wall”, as Roger Waters cited his personality changes during the run as the main drivers for the seminal record.
When discussing how the rest of the band reacted when the musician brought the first drafts for the monumental concept album, Mason said: “In a way, it was terrific. The story was that he actually brought two things: ‘The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking’ [Waters’ debut solo album], he more or less put that together at the same time. He more or less said, ‘One’s going to be my solo album. You choose which you think would make the best band album.’ We all went for ‘The Wall’. We felt the other one was far more autobiographical. I think that was the right decision.”
The official 2018 remix of “Animals” is out now, and you can check out the new version of “Dogs” below:
