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.
Icebreaker
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Talk of nothing matters most
Urban fracture what's the matter
Only I am lost
Rip blade doomsday cut string
Way they go away
Die love
Are words misused
Enough those shameless view
Icebreaker
Shall sail right through
Cold mirror
Gives icy clues
Notice shells ails the well
Smell of hell dosed phantoms will
Future answer does it matter
Deaths the only thrill
In these lyrics to Skinny Puppy's song Icebreaker, the singer seems to be reflecting on the meaninglessness of life and the urban decay that surrounds them. The lines "Passing ghosts here's the host, Talk of nothing matters most" suggest a sense of isolation and detachment from the world around them. The phrase "Urban fracture what's the matter, Only I am lost" conveys a feeling of being lost in a world that has become fragmented and broken.
The chorus, "Die love, Icebreaker" has an almost nihilistic feel to it, as if the singer is resigned to the inevitability of death and sees it as the only escape from the pain of life. The lines "Are words misused, Enough those shameless view, Icebreaker Shall sail right through" suggest a need to break through the facade of society and the meaningless wordplay that dominates it.
The verse "Cold mirror Gives icy clues Notice shells ails the well Smell of hell dosed phantoms will" suggests a reflection on the shallowness of modern life and how it leaves people feeling empty and unfulfilled. The phrase "Future answer does it matter, Deaths the only thrill" further conveys a sense of hopelessness and despair.
In summary, the lyrics to Icebreaker by Skinny Puppy convey a sense of alienation and detachment from the world, and a recognition of the emptiness and shallowness of modern life. The chorus suggests a hopelessness and nihilism that sees death as the only escape from the pain of existence.
Line by Line Meaning
Passing ghosts here's the host
Amidst the spirits wandering, the lead singer welcomes them to the song
Talk of nothing matters most
In the grand scheme of things, trivial discussions hold little value
Urban fracture what's the matter
An urban divide is causing a disturbance that needs addressing
Only I am lost
Lost in thought, the lead singer reflects on his own struggles
Rip blade doomsday cut string
A sharp blade cuts through the metaphorical string of life, symbolizing impending doom
Way they go away
As life slips away, people continue with their own affairs
Die love
With the end near, the love that once existed fades
Icebreaker
An icebreaker is needed to move past the emotional stagnation
Are words misused
Words have lost their value and meaning has been distorted
Enough those shameless view
Those who lack shame in their views have taken up enough space
Icebreaker
To break the silence, an icebreaker is necessary
Shall sail right through
With determination, the artist will push through the obstacles holding them back
Cold mirror
A reflection that shows nothing but coldness
Gives icy clues
This reflection offers hints that mirror the emotionally frigid speaker's indignant rage
Notice shells ails the well
The problems run deep and the signs are impossible to miss
Smell of hell dosed phantoms will
The scents of trapped and tortured spirits envelop the environment
Future answer does it matter
The question raised is whether learning from past mistakes will make a difference in the end
Deaths the only thrill
The only exciting aspect of life is the approaching inevitability of death
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RYAN ADAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind