Pigs flew once before and once again a pig flies over Battersea power station. And of course there are rumours flying around… well erm, like pigs I guess?
This of course marks the 35 years since Pink Floyd released their album Animals, which, has given them a great excuse to recreate the landmark iconic cover from their 1977 album.
The cover, by Storm Thorgeson’s company Hipnogsis , is more iconic than the album itself.
Animals lacks the beauty of 1975’s Wish You Were Here and is, more, a step towards the sound of The Wall, as it's more of a Waters album.
Inspired by Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which human beings are characterised as pigs, dogs and sheep.
It’s not awful but it never seems like a whole album, more an album of parts. But whilst the album may be unloved by many, the gorgeously odd image of a flying pig has become a symbol of the band.
These days, if you wanted to put a flying animal on your album cover, you’d just do it all in Photoshop and nobody would blink an eye.
However in 1977, Hipgnosis favoured “stripping in” the pig over a photo of the Power Station.
The band, however, insisted the pig had to fly for real.
So Hipgnosis built a forty-foot pig shaped zeppelin at great expense and launched it over Battersea Power Station.
After much pig related huffing and puffing, they did get some lovely pics of the Power Station in the sunlight.
11 photographers, eight men in the film crew plus a helicopter returned the next day. But as the zeppig reached the top of the towers, the wind got up and caused it to break free...
See, PIGS DO FLY!!
Sadly for our inflated hog friend a marksman had been employed with a telescopic rifle to gun to bring him down in case of accident,
WAS THIS THE END FOR OUR CAPITOL
SWINGIN’ SWINE!??
Luckily nobody had asked the marksman for a second day’s filming.
So the pig sailed away and disappeared into the clouds, the helicopter gave up chase after five minutes…
well it was the 70s after all.
The pig came in to land finding a more traditional residence that evening on a farm in Kent, where the farmer described the descent of a forty foot farm animal as “a bit unusual.” (god bless British farmers...)
The crew recovered and repaired the zapping, and finally got their photo on the third day.
But the band stepped in and announced they preferred the shots of the sky from day one, so the design team ended up stripping in the pig from day three and retouching the photograph anyway.
For me this is one of the best stories that sums up the money and madness in Seventies rock.
However, the original pig is no longer airworthy, so a new dirigipig had to be made for today’s hog launch.
Also; on the press release it said none of Floyd will be able to attend the event.” This, as we know, is because two are dead, and the rest are barely talking to one another.
Or are they?
Gossip from one of last weeks music industry bashes, when a well-connected friend of Nick Mason said the band have ''been in discussions'' about one last tour??
Of course they did manage to previously bury the hatchets and reunite for Live 8 in 2005, and, though they insisted it was a never-to-be-repeated charitable one-off, and David Gilmour looked like he had had a better time with tooth ache… there has been some indication of mutual respect between David Gilmour and Roger Waters, who usually never have a kind word for the other did guest appearance at each other's shows last year.
As for the underrated Nick Mason, I believe he has always been up for it!!
But of course Rick Wright has shuffled off to the great pig in the sky, along with maverick Syd Barrett.
So will it happen?
EMI are releasing ALL the albums AGAIN!!... and this littlle stunt is tied into this.
We may not say it, but I'm sure many of us are thinking it?....
Well, pigs have flown … haven't they. ;)
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