The Pink Floyd pig is the name given to the ‘flying pig’ depicted on the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals album. On the album cover, the Pink Floyd pig flies over Battersea Power Station, a London power station. The pig iconography was taken up several times during Pink Floyd’s shows, becoming a constant since the 1980s. The band’s agreed name for the pig is Algie, named after the first balloon used for the cover of Animals.
The original inflatable pig was designed by Roger Waters and built in December 1976, during preparation for the photo session that would lead to the Animals cover. Waters wanted a helium inflated balloon thirteen metres long, which would be lifted into the air between the two chimneys of Battersea Power Station, an old industrial complex.
During the first day, weather conditions did not allow the flight to take place. The next day another attempt was made, but a strong gust of wind caused the anchor ropes to break. The marksman (visible in the photos in the album booklet taken on the first day) in charge of shooting the pig in the event of an ‘escape’ had not been hired for the second day so it was not possible to shoot down the pig, which flew away and even got in the way of the flight corridor to London-Heathrow airport.
In 1985 Roger Waters left the group, taking the rights to the pig design with him. The group, in order to avoid copyright issues, modified the pig’s design, adding testicles and thus changing its sex.
01 - Cover of “Animals”, 1977.
02 - 05 - Algie in concerts.
