{"id":424,"date":"2017-10-31T09:26:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T09:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=424"},"modified":"2017-10-31T09:27:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T09:27:45","slug":"echoes-of-floyd-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/assignments\/music-power-politics\/echoes-of-floyd-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Echoes of Floyd: Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixty years after the Russian Revolution and thirty-two years after the publication of George Orwell\u2019s Animal Farm<\/a>, <\/i>Pink Floyd released the politically charged album Animals<\/i>. Whereas Orwell\u2019s novel critiqued Stalinist corruption and the exploitation of the Soviet proletariat class through allegory, Animals<\/i>, primarily written and sung by Roger Waters, criticized the economic and social conditions of Britain in the 1970s. The cohesive five track album\u2019s primary message is to expose the negative effects of capitalism and social repression on inter-human connection and empathy. Although Pink Floyd\u2019s music and George Orwell\u2019s novel were written about different societies in very different historical contexts, both make similar overall points about social and political revolution. The only revolutions that can effect real change must be led by an aware populous. As long as the \u201csheep\u201d of a society are at least partially ignorant to their exploitation, they are doomed to continue suffering at the hands of the ruling \u201cpigs\u201d. Animals<\/i> remains just as relevant today as it was in 1977 as Roger Waters just completed a four month North American tour in which he performed the song \u201cPigs\u201d to demeaning images of Donald Trump. Concerned now, as always, for the fate of humanity, Waters continues to use his music to alert the masses to their exploitation in search of true social and political change.<\/span><\/p>\n