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.
Daddyuwarbash
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Flames inspires ugly traits sanitize creepy ills to keep
The fear in line is it wrong to let the liar lie creepy ills
To keep the fears in line more acquired is disease the souls
State I am a god I am a faceless warrior lost leaders wins
The glorious growing stocks of used up people life is
Rape empire takes control of fate I am dying I am dying is
Wrong to call a spade a spade popping pills will ease the
Daily pain bombing peace back up into the stoned state I am
Not living here I have got much left to fear in the place of
Safety I am fortunate to be alive with all these distant
Rich things around me I am left to realize its not the blood
In me it's not the hate it's just the simple things that I
Relish I am a god I am a face less warrior we remove
Ourselves from the war looking from a distance sanitized wash
Your hands an feel it the dirt is down the drain. enough
The lyrics of Skinny Puppy's song Daddyuwarbash are a commentary on the destructive nature of power and empire. The first verse alludes to the way that the ruling elite manufacture hate and fear in order to control the masses. The line "flames inspire ugly traits" suggests that those in power deliberately fan the flames of discord and division to further their own agenda. However, despite their efforts to sanitize and suppress dissent, the truth will eventually come to light, as the line "is it wrong to let the liar lie creepy ills" suggests.
The second verse expands on this theme, highlighting the way that the state positions itself as a divine figure, exerting control over people's lives and reducing them to "used-up people." The lyric "twisting all the words to shun life worth less than corporate rape" speaks to the way that corporations and governments exploit and oppress people in pursuit of profit and power. The final verse is a reflection on the human cost of this system, as the singer grapples with the tension between their own desires and the reality of the world around them. The line "I am a god I am a faceless warrior" suggests a desire for power and control in the face of an overwhelming and oppressive system, but ultimately the singer recognizes the value of the "simple things" in life that cannot be bought or sold.
Line by Line Meaning
Empire sews the seed of hate we remove ourselves passing
The powerful in society spread hate while we try to detach ourselves from it.
Flames inspires ugly traits sanitize creepy ills to keep
The violence and chaos around us causes negative behaviors, but we try to clean ourselves and maintain order.
The fear in line is it wrong to let the liar lie creepy ills
We question if it's ethical to let those in power lie so that our fears are kept in check.
To keep the fears in line more acquired is disease the souls
However, suppressing our fears through deceit only worsens our mental and spiritual health.
State I am a god I am a faceless warrior lost leaders wins
The government and those in power see themselves as all-powerful and warlike, leaving the common people to suffer.
The glorious growing stocks of used up people life is
The wealthy thrive on the exploitation of the working class.
Twisting all the words to shun life worth less than corporate
The media and those in power twist words and manipulate us into believing our lives are only worth what we can produce for corporations.
Rape empire takes control of fate I am dying I am dying is
The powerful take away our control and agency in life, leading many of us to feel trapped and hopeless.
Wrong to call a spade a spade popping pills will ease the
Our society considers it taboo to speak the blunt truth, causing many to turn to drugs to suppress their frustration and pain.
Daily pain bombing peace back up into the stoned state I am
The constant suffering and violence in our society leads many to turn to drugs for an escape.
Not living here I have got much left to fear in the place of
Many don't feel like they truly belong in this world, and fear the unknown.
Safety I am fortunate to be alive with all these distant
While grateful for safety and stability, we feel disconnected from the reality around us.
Rich things around me I am left to realize its not the blood
We have material possessions, but come to realize that our happiness and worth comes from within.
In me it's not the hate it's just the simple things that I relish
We discover that true contentment comes from appreciating the simple joys in life.
I am a god I am a face less warrior we remove
We detach ourselves from the violence and chaos in the world.
Ourselves from the war looking from a distance sanitized wash
We try to maintain our cleanliness and order while observing the madness of the world from a distance.
Your hands an feel it the dirt is down the drain. enough
We attempt to wash away the grime of society, but eventually recognize that enough is enough.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Christiaan Van den Akker
IMO this is the closest the new incarnation of the band has come to capturing the feel of the old Puppy. Love this track.
Cynthia Novoselsky
It's not hitting me
Milker Yan
I get shivers starting at the end of the song when it starts to climax around "I am fortunate to be alive..." Awesome stuff.
quantafunk
was able to see these guys in concert twice this year! A MIND bending experience, to say the least...
DJ Mithril
this is simply a great peace of electronic music..very well done. loved their old stuff...and love this album (especially this song) very much :)
Joshua Ream
skinny puppy has been my favorite band since i was in 7th grade and still is, 19 now
shaz92
You are 29 now heh , you comment this 10y ago...hows life going ?
Deville
I am a God I am a faceless warrior
XC2long4u
This song is amazing. It's a sonic masterpiece.
Plaguuuu
WoW Perkulator Video, talking about a long ass trip down the memory lane. Awesome song.