Inspired by the groundbreaking music of Chrome, Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Portion Control, The Legendary Pink Dots, and others, Skinny Puppy experimented with electronic recording techniques and methods. the band composed multi-layered music generally using keyboards, synthesizers, found sounds, drum machines, live percussion, tape splices, samplers, and conventional rock music instruments. Whereas many contemporary remixes and re-edits of songs were created in order to make a song more suitable for dancing or different radio formats, Skinny Puppy approached remixing and re-editing as an artistic process of reinterpreting compositions, often using remixes to push their sound into styles of ambient, dub and techno. Skinny Puppy's often informal, improvisational approach to musical composition is indicated by use of the term brap, coined by them and defined as a verb meaning "to get together, hook up electronic instruments, get high, and record".
Skinny Puppy's first two proper releases, Bites and Remission, fall somewhere between the found-sound chaos of early Cabaret Voltaire and the abrasive, futuristic synthpop of the Units or Crash Course in Science. While the intense synth programming, abstract rhythms, and surreal samples--all Puppy trademarks--are present here, the albums owe as much to new wave as to industrial.
A subsequent EP, Chainsaw, featured a remix of Bites's "Assimilate" that earned the band some attention from club DJs. 1986's Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse earned Skinny Puppy greater attention, as "Dig It" and "Stairs and Flowers" became alternative club and college radio hits; the video for the former was played occasionally on MTV. The album is arguably less club-friendly than its predecessors, as the band continues to refine a claustrophobic, almost surreal sound that buries rhythm and melody. The follow-up, Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate treads similar territory.
VIVIsectVI was a breakthrough for the band, with "Testure" becoming their biggest club hit to date, and the album itself was received warmly by college radio. The title of the album was a pun intended to associate vivisection with Satanism (ie. the "666 sect"). The album shows SP integrating more political and social themes: "Testure" is an animal rights song; "VX Gas Attack" concerns the use of chemical weapons; "State Aid" promotes sexual abstinence to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV.
Ogre had become very interested in Ministry and Al Jougensen's side projects, and he persuaded the rest of the band to allow Jourgensen to produce Rabies. While "Worlock" (a track Jourgensen didn't produce) remains an industrial club classic, the album was received coolly, as many thought Jourgensen's heavy metal guitar-based signatures did not compliment SP's more complex, intricate sonic sculptures. The band briefly disbanded afterward.
They reformed and returned to their electronic roots with Too Dark Park, a hallucinogenic album that owes as much to psychedelia as industrial music. Two years later, "Last Rights" covered similar territory, culminating in the epic sound sculpture "Download." Although their sound had moved away from industrial dance, these albums expanded the band's audience, and provided the template for many industrial bands of the 1990s.
Following "Last Rights", the band, poised for a major breakthrough in the wake of Nine Inch Nails' commercial success, left their longtime label Nettwerk for American Recordings. Their highly anticipated followup was unfortunately marred by personal tragedy - the death of Dwayne Goettel - and the band's inability to agree on a direction for the record. Numerous producers, including Martyn Atkins (PigFace/Invisible Records founder) and Roli Mosimann (Swans), came and went without success; finally the band regrouped with longtime collaborator Dave "Rave" Ogilvie to finish "The Process". The band expanded their range, working with gothic pop and heavy metal, alongside their familiar electronic textures. While seemingly rushed to completion following Goettel's death (it sounds half-finished in parts), it is an interesting change for the group. Unfortunately American Recordings, tired of waiting for the record, did little to promote it. Skinny Puppy broke up afterward.
With interests in filmmaking, they made a number of music videos, each attempting to further the theme and concept of the composition at hand. Most of these videos received little air play by major music video networks such as MTV (USA) and MuchMusic (Canada) and some were outright banned. For example the video for "Worlock" was universally banned because it is a "non stop gore fest" of clips from various horror movies. Because none of these clips were authorized for usage in the video it has never been commercially available.
Their concerts have been marked by their bizarre and bloody conceptual performance art, which for every concert was planned with the intention of challenging the notions of all who observed. Their music had some acceptance in dance clubs because of its danceable beats, but had little play on commercial radio. Skinny Puppy had little commercial success outside of Canada, but their influence on industrial music is immense.
The band began with the intention of doing something "raw" and "real." Ogre's vocals, one of Skinny Puppy's most recognizable features, are typically roughly growled snarls of half-sentences and fragmented stream of consciousness. Lyrical themes included animal rights, politics, religion, horror, drug abuse, disease, and environmental degradation; these themes were often lyrically and conceptually intertwined. Other core aspects of the Skinny Puppy sound include the mixture of heavy sampling and experimental noise with softer musical styles sometimes approaching synthpop.
Post-punk politics are a recurring theme utilised by Skinny Puppy. Some say the meaning of their name is that their music and lyrics give a view of the world from the eyes of a starving animal. They have long had an interest in animal rights; this is most obvious in their song Testure, which is about vivisection and other animal testing being scientific fraud. During many of their concerts Ogre would take the role of "scientist" and experiment on a stuffed animal. In 1988 they were arrested for their mocked-up vivisections, and found it ironic to be arrested for a parody of what was happening for real across the street from their concert. During their TGWOTR tour, criticism of the Bush regime was a recurring theme, particularly during their performance of VX Gas Attack, a song about atrocities perpetrated by Saddam Hussein, originally released while he was still considered an ally of the United States.
The last two studio albums are points of contention for old school Puppy fans. During the recording of The Process, the band broke up. Even more tragically, Dwayne Rudolph Goettel died, from an apparent heroin overdose at his parent's home, soon afterwards. Some people say that cEvin, Nivek, and Dwayne didn't connect as well on this album as they had earlier because their respective musical interests were diverging at the time, others claim it was the heroin.
Key and Ogre later reunited as Skinny Puppy for a one-off concert in Germany in 2003. Afterwards, they decided Skinny Puppy should continue as an ongoing project. The newly reconstituted Skinny Puppy released The Greater Wrong of the Right in 2004, their first studio album in 8 years, and have been continuing since, constantly evolving their sound.
There have been a number of Skinny Puppy side projects, both before, and after the breakup in 1995. The Tear Garden is a collaboration between cEvin and Edward Ka-Spel (and later most band members) of The Legendary Pink Dots. Other noteable side projects include Download, Hilt, Plateau, Cyberaktif (a collaboration between Key & Goettel and Bill Leeb, a.k.a. Wilhelm Schroeder), Rx (one-off collaboration between Ogre and Martin Atkins), ADuck (Goettel's side project), A CHUD Convention (one-off collaboration with a;GRUHM...), Ogre's contributions to Pigface, Ogre and Mark Walk's band ohGr and solo releases from cEvin Key.
Ambiantz
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You were dickin' semination
In your words you're vile nation
This oil tug of war of promptness taking back(hollow point?)
There's nothing you peek undecided
Watching you as you talk burned
Ambiantz (given me a house too?)
Ambiantz given up hope
Ambiantz giving up the bum of you seat
Cheeks burning, upon my breath is turning, your voice in my mind
Take what you can find on beeper
You wake up feeling blind
There all over the back of your employee
Ah my is my M.O
Our side your time this will be how
Ambiantz (given me a house too?)
Ambiantz (show you beam house?)
Your game gets up too dark hear up
(Team nine in throw team number see?)
Give a spot on the back of a shark
Give a spot on my back of your back
Give a spot of my back on your head
Give the shark your brains out
Until a tester
Until a tester desease a leprosy, desease a leprosy
Take what you want, shake what you can
Beepers, you wake up beeping
Ambiantz (given me a house too?)
Ambiantz (show you beam house?)
Ambiantz given up hope
Ambiantz giving up the bum of you seat
Ambiantz (given me a house too?)
Ambiatnz Love is faces_________
Ambiatnz Is this what you wanted
The lyrics of Skinny Puppy's song "Ambiantz" are cryptic and often nonsensical, creating a surreal and disjointed mood that reflects the band's industrial and avant-garde musical style. The opening lines seem to reference political power and corruption, with a mention of a "politician" and a "tug of war" over resources. The line "a worm in a fist" could suggest a metaphorical struggle over control or ownership, while the phrase "dickin' semination" is likely a deliberate misspelling of "discrimination," emphasizing the idea of unfair treatment or bias.
The second verse is even more abstract, with references to cheeks burning and beepers. The lines "There all over the back of your employee" and "my is my M.O" further confuse the meaning, leaving the listener to guess at what might be happening in the song's strange narrative. The chorus repeats the phrase "Ambiantz" several times, possibly referring to a location or state of mind that the singer either desires or fears. The final lines about a "tester" and "leprosy" add a disturbing and macabre element, suggesting that the singer may be imagining a apocalyptic or dystopian future in which disease and chaos reign.
Overall, the lyrics of "Ambiantz" are deliberately opaque and open to interpretation, inviting the listener to construct their own meanings and images from the cryptic and discordant words. The song's title is likely a reference to the ambient music genre or style, but it is unclear if the song actually seeks to create a relaxing or atmospheric mood or if it is meant to be unsettling and abrasive.
Line by Line Meaning
A politician, a worm in a fist and a wish of admision
Referring to corrupt politicians who manipulate the system to gain advantage, and who hold the power to control and exploit the vulnerable masses.
You were dickin' semination
You were spreading false propaganda and manipulating information to mislead the masses and control their thoughts and emotions.
In your words you're vile nation
Your words and actions are creating a toxic, destructive environment for the people, and further fuelling the corruption and exploitation in the society.
This oil tug of war of promptness taking back(hollow point?)
Referring to the greedy and violent competition for oil and other natural resources, which is leading to destruction of the environment and causing human suffering.
There's nothing you peek undecided
Implying that your intentions and actions are clear and not ambiguous, and you are not hesitant or unsure about manipulating and exploiting the masses for your own benefit.
Watching you as you talk burned
Referring to the disgust and anger that one feels while witnessing the corrupt and manipulative actions of such politicians.
Ambiantz (given me a house too?)
Sarcastically referring to the false promises made by politicians to provide basic necessities of life to the masses, like housing, which are never fulfilled.
Ambiantz (show you beam house?)
Further highlighting the empty promises of politicians to show the masses a better future, but never actually taking any concrete steps to achieve that future.
Ambiantz given up hope
Referring to the despair and hopelessness of the masses who have been manipulated and exploited by politicians for a long time, and who have given up on ever having a better life.
Ambiantz giving up the bum of you seat
The masses are tired of waiting for change to come from corrupt politicians, and are taking matters into their own hands by standing up and demanding their rights and dignity.
Cheeks burning, upon my breath is turning, your voice in my mind
Referring to the anger and frustration that one feels while witnessing the corrupt actions of politicians, and the feelings of powerlessness in the face of such systemic manipulation.
Take what you can find on beeper
Referring to the use of technology and social media to spread false information and manipulate public opinion, and how easy it is to be misled in today's world.
You wake up feeling blind
Implying that the masses are not aware of the true intentions and actions of politicians, and are being misled and manipulated on a large scale.
There all over the back of your employee
Referring to the exploitation and mistreatment of workers and employees by corrupt corporate and political entities, who use their power and influence to get what they want at any cost.
Ah my is my M.O
Implying that corruption, manipulation and exploitation are the modus operandi of corrupt politicians and corporations, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Our side your time this will be how
Referring to the inevitable downfall and demise of corrupt entities, who will eventually be held accountable for their actions and punished for their crimes.
Your game gets up too dark hear up
Referring to the covert and sinister tactics used by corrupt entities to manipulate and exploit the general public, who are often unaware of what is really going on behind the scenes.
(Team nine in throw team number see?)
Unclear meaning, likely indicating some kind of code or hidden message.
Give a spot on the back of a shark
Referring to the willingness of corrupt entities to use and exploit even the most dangerous and predatory creatures (like sharks) for their own benefit.
Give a spot on my back of your back
Implying that the corrupt entities have already taken advantage of the masses, but now even the masses are getting ready to fight back and take revenge.
Give a spot of my back on your head
Further emphasizing the idea of retaliation and revenge against corrupt entities who have taken advantage of the masses for a long time.
Give the shark your brains out
Metaphorically implying that the corrupt entities will eventually be defeated by the masses who will be more clever and strategic in their actions, just like a shark who uses its intelligence to survive.
Until a tester desease a leprosy, desease a leprosy
Unclear meaning, likely indicating some kind of code or hidden message.
Take what you want, shake what you can
The corrupt entities are driven by greed and self-interest, and will stop at nothing to get what they want, regardless of the consequences for others.
Ambiatnz Love is faces_________
Unclear meaning, could be seen as an ironic comment on the meaninglessness of love in a society where greed and corruption reign supreme.
Ambiatnz Is this what you wanted
Referring to the failure of corrupt entities to achieve their goals, despite all their manipulations and exploitation. It's a rhetorical question, implying that those who seek power and control will never be truly satisfied or fulfilled.
Contributed by Sarah M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.