How Punk and Peter Hammill Pushed Pink Floyd into the Gritty Sound of 'Animals'

The shift into the snarling, guitar-driven sound of Animals wasn’t just a reaction against the polished surfaces of Wish You Were Here — it was a deliberate move to match the raw energy of the punk and post-punk scene that was exploding in 1976-77. Roger Waters was particularly fascinated by the stripped‑back anger of bands like the Sex Pistols, but he also admired the stark, emotionally volatile solo work of Peter Hammill (especially Nadir’s Big Chance), which proved you could be both jagged and intellectual. The band started cutting long jam sections shorter, and David Gilmour’s guitar tone became more aggressive and less sweet, mirroring the directness Hammill and punk were championing.

The long instrumental sections on Animals – think the extended slide‑guitar battles in “Dogs” – came from a different place than the dreamy expanses of *Wish