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.
Antagonism
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Livid fear, our time has come about what was believed now turned inside out
Drastic hate, frantic air growing up while inching near a reason no throwing
Back down in it's place cutting in with open space cancer in each new cell
Rotting food left on the shelf
Alive yet unaware asking do you really care
Nivek, regard with care witness our philosophy
Melting features came to the light remains burn out comes rushing back again
Cold claws lifeless abject hate power unleashed a vagrant mind in bits
Grasping for warm embrace detest all views of place remember...
Alive yet unaware asking do you really care alive alive
Exiting crystal set view left below no truth now burning bright inside
Absinthe grows cold open scar on the wall disregarded no bitter rotten
Flames rip and follow break through never saw this inching near enough
Fleeting, the image cracks ripping past the frame love's never came
Wrapping the face dripping blade in love receding wrenching the image cell
Who will decide what goals we set
Alive yet unaware asking do you really care
Listen as the hours pass back on the bridge again rebuild
Nothing's quite the same slipped poison cancer central brain retracing
He steps so easily mislaid knife in my hand so don't you make demands
Discourse at times or is it just in my mind
Alive yet unaware asking do you really care
Oh my god my god help me god help me
Witness eyes eyes reveal witness eyes eyes quickening
The lyrics of "Antagonism" by Skinny Puppy seem to be a commentary on society and the human condition. The song opens with "Flesh makes a stretch through the hoop again no faults nothing ever gained," which could be interpreted as a critique of consumerism and the rat race that people often get caught up in. The next line, "Livid fear, our time has come about what was believed now turned inside out," suggests that people may be realizing that the beliefs and values they held may not have been accurate or helpful.
The following lines, "Drastic hate, frantic air growing up while inching near a reason no throwing/Back down in its place cutting in with open space cancer in each new cell/Rotting food left on the shelf," could be interpreted as commentary on the negative effects of hatred and the neglect of one's own physical and mental health. As the song progresses, the lyrics become more surreal and abstract, with references to "melting features," "absinthe," and a "dripping blade in love."
Overall, "Antagonism" seems to be a commentary on the state of society and the human experience, with a focus on negative aspects such as consumerism, fear, hatred, and neglect. The lyrics are poetic and abstract, leaving room for a variety of interpretations.
Line by Line Meaning
Flesh makes a stretch through the hoop again no faults nothing ever gained
The body continues to go through the motions without learning anything new or making any improvements.
Livid fear, our time has come about what was believed now turned inside out
Overwhelming fear has finally caught up to us, and we realize that everything we thought we knew was actually wrong.
Drastic hate, frantic air growing up while inching near a reason no throwing
Intense hatred and panic are building up inside as we try to approach a reason for our situation, without giving up.
Back down in it's place cutting in with open space cancer in each new cell
Returning to a place of despair that creates more emptiness, leading to the growth of internal decay and destruction.
Rotting food left on the shelf
Things that were once valuable to us are deteriorating and going to waste.
Alive yet unaware asking do you really care
We are still alive, but we wonder if anyone actually cares about our well-being and struggles.
Nivek, regard with care witness our philosophy
Addressing someone named Nivek, asking for them to carefully observe and understand their way of thinking.
Melting features came to the light remains burn out comes rushing back again
Aspects of oneself that were once hidden are exposed, but are quickly disappearing and returning to their former state of decay.
Cold claws lifeless abject hate power unleashed a vagrant mind in bits
Feelings of lifelessness and intense hatred have caused a wandering and unsettled mental state to emerge.
Grasping for warm embrace detest all views of place remember...
Struggling to find comfort or affection, while simultaneously hating any situation or environment they are in. The ellipsis at the end suggests a deeper, unexpressed thought or memory.
Exiting crystal set view left below no truth now burning bright inside
Leaving a clear and defined perspective or belief system behind, but feeling unsure about what the truth really is, as an intense feeling is growing inside.
Absinthe grows cold open scar on the wall disregarded no bitter rotten
The mind-altering effects of absinthe are fading, revealing a neglected wound that was previously ignored or pushed aside, leading to feelings of resentment and decay.
Flames rip and follow break through never saw this inching near enough
Chaos and destruction are spreading rapidly, and although it was coming, it was still unexpected and difficult to comprehend.
Fleeting, the image cracks ripping past the frame love's never came
The image that was previously held dear is starting to fall apart and come apart at the seams, showing that love had never actually existed in the first place.
Wrapping the face dripping blade in love receding wrenching the image cell
Covering the face with a weapon that symbolizes love, as an image that was previously held is being ripped apart and torn away.
Who will decide what goals we set
Questioning who has the power to determine what someone's goals or purpose are in life.
Listen as the hours pass back on the bridge again rebuild
Taking the time to sit still and observe the passage of time, while also trying to rebuild and start anew.
Nothing's quite the same slipped poison cancer central brain retracing
Things have changed, but not necessarily for the better, as a damaging force has worked its way into the very core of the brain and consciousness.
He steps so easily mislaid knife in my hand so don't you make demands
Someone is easily stepping into the role of power or control, causing the singer to become violent or hostile in response.
Discourse at times or is it just in my mind
Wondering if the arguments or turmoil that are happening are actually real, or just figments of their imagination.
Oh my god my god help me god help me
Pleading for divine intervention or assistance during a time of need or desperation.
Witness eyes eyes reveal witness eyes eyes quickening
Calling attention to the act of observing, as the eyes reveal and perceive more quickly than other senses.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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