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.
Icktums
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The sea of hates
Our miss
Items charged items charged
More more more more more more
More more more and more more no more
(Piece of shit)
Piece of pipe
(Always the rich)
Noticed baby's dead
(Baby's dead)
Never said never said
(No more no more)
Market shine
As he speaks
Usury shift
Adjusted from the rape of man
Rape of man
Plastic card bait and switch
Inner demon selling souls
Cryptic lie left alive
Buildings fall watch them fall
(Down down)
All the tricks
(Piece of shit)
In the books
(Always the rich)
Deep inside
(It seems fair)
A voice is screaming
(Take them down)
No more no more no more no more
Market slides
Deep inside
As he speaks
Something died
I'll say no money worship nothing
Worship money worship nothing
Worship money worship nothing
Worship money worship nothing
Nothing nothing nothing
System's overloaded now
We're all involved in
We are nothing
(We're all involved in)
You got nothing
The lyrics to Skinny Puppy's song "Icktums" are a commentary on the corrupt and greedy nature of modern society. The opening lines "Burned in rates, the sea of hates, our miss" suggest that society has been consumed by hate and that we have lost our way. The line "items charged, items charged" further reinforces the idea that we are only concerned with material possessions and that we have become slaves to consumerism.
The chorus "More more more and more more no more" suggests that we can never be satisfied and that our thirst for material goods will never be quenched. The next verse continues with the theme of greed and corruption, as the lyrics describe how the rich get richer while the poor are left to suffer. The line "adjusted from the rape of man" is particularly striking, as it suggests that the entire system is rigged against ordinary people.
The song's bridge contains some of the most sinister lyrics, as it describes the way that the ruling elites manipulate and control the masses. The lines "Plastic card bait and switch, inner demon selling souls" suggest that we have been seduced by false promises of prosperity, and that we are willing to sacrifice our souls for the sake of material wealth. Despite this bleak portrait of modern society, the song ends on a note of defiance, with the repeated exhortation to "worship nothing".
Line by Line Meaning
Burned in rates
Charging high fees that cannot be avoided
The sea of hates
A vast expanse of negative emotions
Our miss
A mistake that has been made by us
Items charged items charged
Constantly being charged for things
More more more more more more
Excessive desire for more things
More more more and more more no more
Desire for more, but realizing there is a limit
All the freak
People who do not conform to societal norms
(Piece of shit)
Insulting name-calling
Piece of pipe
A crude object
(Always the rich)
The wealthy always having an advantage
Noticed baby's dead
Seeing a lifeless infant
(Baby's dead)
Pointing out a tragic loss
Never said never said
Regret for not speaking up sooner
(No more no more)
Refusing to allow this to happen again
Market shine
Bright appearance of the market
As he speaks
While the artist talks
Usury shift
Unscrupulous financial practices
Adjusted from the rape of man
Changing things to benefit those who have taken advantage of others
Rape of man
Exploitation and mistreatment of humankind
Plastic card bait and switch
Tricking people with credit cards
Inner demon selling souls
Negative impulses causing people to make bad decisions
Cryptic lie left alive
A hidden untruth that persists
Buildings fall watch them fall
Structures collapsing, observe the destruction
(Down down)
Emphasizing the failure happening
All the tricks
Deceptive actions taken by others
(Piece of shit)
Insulting name-calling in response to these actions
In the books
Recorded in official documents
(Always the rich)
The wealthy always having an advantage
Deep inside
Within oneself
(It seems fair)
The belief in something being just
A voice is screaming
A resounding cry for action
(Take them down)
Demanding that those in power be brought to justice
Market slides
A decline in the market's performance
Something died
A loss has occurred
I'll say no money worship nothing
Rejecting the idea of worshiping wealth
Worship money worship nothing
Calling attention to society's fixation on wealth
Worship money worship nothing
Suggesting that worshiping wealth is empty
Worship money worship nothing
Repeating the message that money should not be worshipped
Nothing nothing nothing
Emphasizing the importance of having nothing
System's overloaded now
The system is failing under pressure
We're all involved in
Everyone is a part of this flawed system
We are nothing
Humanity is helpless in the face of this injustice
(We're all involved in)
Acknowledging again how everyone is affected
You got nothing
Reminding that having everything does not guarantee happiness
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ryan Moran
Many industrial bands lost their "sound" over the years and went stagnant. SKINNY PUPPY continues to KICK ASS!!!!!! They have something special.
twofreek
just one of the many who STILL gets goosebumps when that old Skinny sound starts comin' around...
suizadeamerica
Ogre is out of question, he is the sweetest person in the whole wide world
Kory Kane
@Hericium Coralloides everyone in the room laughed at everything he said like silly fans and I was the only one talking to him like a real person which I think he appreciated. We talked about since Ogre was making films would Cevin follow and we spoke about them filming Doom Generation. But he was nothing but kind to me and very appreciative that it was my 38th birthday. Very much one of the best bdays I've ever had
Kory Kane
Should read smoked out with Cevin not ace
Hericium Coralloides
@Kory Kane Not my experience. Was invited by a friend to smoke with Key at a show in Montreal about 10 - 12 years ago. There I was, in my twenties with this dude who was like a musical hero to me and I was trying not to sound like a fan, but did want to talk about music and ask questions. All he did was answer sarcasticly and tease me about my lack of knowdledge of music production. Wasn't a dreadful experience or anything terrible, but it was kind of lame.
Kory Kane
Should read smoked out with Cevin
Kory Kane
Ogre and Cevin are both 2of the nicest famous musicians I’ve ever met. Smoke d out with ace in on my 38th birthday 9yrs ago.
Model Human
This album never fully got the kickoff it deserved.
martins adins
like dozens of others