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.
Choralone
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Rotates spitting toxins
Time to destroy
A balance not unlike
Rotates farther changing
Directs
And wins each vision
Each vision blurred
Linking
That shape unknown
Linking
Progress
Undermine
Basic
Binary
Off
On
Off
On
Breathe
Exhale
Exhale lungs
Green shudders
Camera fixed
Over exposed
Skin burns
Rage
The amber
Violent
Tempered
Tension
Surface stoned
Water
Paper
To air
Dry cracks
Growth denied
The lyrics of "Choralone" by Skinny Puppy depict a bleak and desolate world, where an unfurnished, treeless and barren ball - presumably the Earth - rotates and spits toxins. The singer calls for destruction, as he sees no hope for balance or progress in this world. As the ball rotates, it changes and directs, winning each vision, but each vision is blurred, and no one has any idea what shape this world is taking. The singer observes that people undermine each other, sticking to basic, binary on-and-off mentalities. The song ends with an image of growth being denied, as the land is dry and cracked, and the camera fixed over-exposed and burning.
The lyrics of "Choralone" can be interpreted as a commentary on the environmental degradation caused by human activity. The unfurnished treeless barren ball could represent the Earth, which has been stripped of natural resources and polluted with toxins. The call to destroy could be seen as a call for radical environmental action to address the crisis. The imagery of growth being denied and the land being dry and cracked evoke the consequences of environmental destruction, such as droughts and famine.
Line by Line Meaning
Unfurnished treeless barren ball
A lifeless, desolate planet with no trees or signs of life
Rotates spitting toxins
The planet's rotation causes it to release poisonous substances into the air
Time to destroy
The planet is beyond repair and needs to be destroyed
A balance not unlike
The planet was once balanced, but now it's the opposite
Rotates farther changing
The planet's rotation continues to worsen the situation
Directs
The planet's destiny is set and cannot be changed
And wins each vision
The planet's inevitable destruction is the only outcome
Each vision blurred
Any hope or possibility for a better outcome is unclear and unattainable
Not ever thinking
No one considered the consequences of their actions regarding the planet
Linking
Making a connection between the planet's state and humanity's actions that led to it
That shape unknown
The planet's future is uncertain and unpredictable
Progress
Advancement and improvement were not priorities during the planet's development
Undermine
Actions were taken to harm or weaken the planet's stability
Basic
The planet's situation is fundamental and unavoidable
Binary
There are only two possible outcomes for the planet
Off
One of the outcomes (positive) is not possible
On
The only outcome left is negative and destructive
Breathe
The planet's air is toxic and difficult to breathe
Exhale
The planet's inhabitants must constantly release toxins from their bodies
Exhale lungs
Breathing is a painful and dangerous process
Green shudders
The few remaining plants on the planet are suffering and dying
Camera fixed
Humans are observing the planet's destruction without taking action
Over exposed
The planet is vulnerable to harmful elements in its surroundings
Skin burns
Even simple physical contact with the planet is damaging
Rage
The planet's inevitable destruction stirs up feelings of anger and frustration
The amber
The planet's future is bleak and hopeless
Violent
The planet's destruction will be brutal and unforgiving
Tempered
The planet's inhabitants have been pushed to their breaking point
Tension
The situation is highly stressful and unstable
Surface stoned
The planet's surface is hard and lifeless
Water
The planet's waters have been rendered toxic and poisonous
Paper
The planet's resources have been depleted and used up
To air
The planet's resources have been polluted and made unusable
Dry cracks
The planet's surface is parched and unable to support life
Growth denied
No new life or development is possible on the planet
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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