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.
Grave Wisdom
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wasted greed taints water thirst dream
The asphalt burial daylight meltdown long
Gone death grabs at stillborn child another
Low test pesticide not until they are dead
Believe in words ataching dread no meaning
Color world of different levels no chance
Tower boil black water tea contagious
Waste disposal growing blind faith a tragedy
Propigate safe history
Creatures running underground all the
Cages rusted displaced food bowls empty now
Fit for the licking faces form memory
Blind faith stupidity races run secretly
Blind faith a tragedy not until they are
Dead stop breathing fleas attach themselves
Biting bits of flesh consuming ?
Once hated words are shit contract ? we disease
The lyrics of "Grave Wisdom" by Skinny Puppy paint a bleak picture of humanity's impact on the environment. In the first verse, the dry wind and wasted greed have left the land barren, while tainted water leaves people thirsty for a dream that may never come true. The asphalt burial and daylight meltdown highlight the destructive impact of industry and pollution on nature, while death grabs at a stillborn child, symbolizing the loss of innocence and potential. The second verse continues in this vein, with the use of low test pesticide, blind faith, and the propagation of a safe but distorted history contributing to the nightmare that runs races skyward. The tower boil, black water tea, and contagious waste disposal all suggest a world gone wrong, where even creatures are forced to run underground in cages rusted and food bowls empty.
The lyrics of "Grave Wisdom" suggest a deep sense of disillusionment with modern society and our inability to truly understand or appreciate the world around us. The repeated theme of blind faith highlights the dangers of relying on preconceived notions and beliefs rather than objective observation and analysis. The focus on environmental degradation and pollution also speaks to a growing awareness of the impact of human activities on the planet, and hints at the need for a more sustainable, responsible approach to our daily lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Dry wind chars human storm lies barren
The harsh, dry wind has sucked out all the moisture from the land making it a wasteland.
Wasted greed taints water thirst dream
Human greed has rendered the drinkable water undrinkable, and the dream of a life with unlimited resources is now nothing more than an unattainable aspiration.
The asphalt burial daylight meltdown long
The once bright, sunny, and hopeful world has been replaced by the cold, grey concrete jungle, and the hope for a better future has long since melted away.
Gone death grabs at stillborn child another
Death, in the form of tragic deaths of children and the miscarriages, is rampant, and it seems to grab hold of one after another.
Low test pesticide not until they are dead
The pesticide use is prevalent, and the authorities only step in after they have already poisoned and caused harm to the people.
Believe in words ataching dread no meaning
The people blindly believe in words that feel empty, and it creates a sense of fear and dread that is hard to ignore.
Color world of different levels no chance
The world is segregated and divided into different levels and classes, and there is no chance of improving conditions for anyone.
To rectify nightmare running races skyward
The only way to escape the horrors of the current situation is to look up at the sky and hope for a better future.
Tower boil black water tea contagious
The tower boils the polluted water from which people make their tea that spreads diseases and infections.
Waste disposal growing blind faith a tragedy
The waste management is not properly done, and the people's faith in those in power is misplaced, which is a recipe for disaster.
Propigate safe history
It's important to learn from the past and to propagate the lessons learned.
Creatures running underground all the
Animals and insects are forced to live in the underground tunnels and sewers to avoid the devastation on the surface.
Cages rusted displaced food bowls empty now
The animals in captivity are being neglected as the cages are rusted and their bowls are empty.
Fit for the licking faces form memory
The animals are dying due to the lack of care, and their memories are all that is left behind.
Blind faith stupidity races run secretly
The blind faith in those in power is idiotic, and there are those secretly working to take advantage of such naivete.
Blind faith a tragedy not until they are
The tragedy of the consequences of blind faith is not realized until it's too late.
Dead stop breathing fleas attach themselves
Even after death, the people are not left in peace as the parasites and fleas attach themselves in a somewhat horrific manner.
Biting bits of flesh consuming ?
The blood-sucking fleas and insects are consuming the people's flesh of the dead bodies.
Once hated words are shit contract ? we disease
The once-loathed words are now contractable diseases that have become pervasive in the society.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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