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.
Inquisition
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Addicted romance love tested
Bonding cement no longer holds
Failing from substance abuse
Parting fits too young to grow old
Wicked resenting never faces itself
Torturer taints animal waits
No evironment torturer loving
righteous real-time intrusion
Cancer attack bleaching desserts so sweet
Fears filtered for reasons unknown
Torturer taints animal waits
Leaves bitter taste in the mouth forever
Corners creeping fear
Tasting force fed lies of the wicked
Acting out fears false truth turned around
Wicked torture wicked wicked
The wicked words of the torturer
Abusing and controlling anyone that's useful to him
Wicked waits the torturer
Wicked waiting of the torturer
reads story truth seething
Swallows turning away
Torturer taints animal with hate
Believed poison eaten
Controls turning away
Enlightenment turned away
No change the wicked not facing hisself
Wicked torturer
Force fed torment
Animal torture
Wicked not facing hisself
Torturer turning away
Wicked turning away
Wicked torturer
Wicked turning away
Turning away disappears from himself
Tortures the animal
Tortures the animal
The song "Inquisition" by Skinny Puppy appears to deal with themes of addiction and abuse. The lyrics suggest that the singer is in a relationship that has become toxic and destructive due to substance abuse. The "bonding cement" of the relationship is no longer holding, and the two are beginning to experience "parting fits" despite being too young to "grow old." The abuser is described as "wicked" and "tainting" everything around him or her, including the "animal" waiting to be tortured. The torture and abuse in the relationship are causing the singer to turn away and swallow their fears, unable to face the truth of what is happening. The abuser is seen as refusing to face themselves or change their behavior, even as they continue to inflict torment on their victim.
The song's lyrics are somewhat ambiguous and open to interpretation, which is typical of Skinny Puppy's music. However, there are several possible themes and ideas that can be gleaned from the song. It may be seen as a commentary on the destructive nature of addiction and the difficulty of breaking free of abusive relationships. It may also be seen as a critique of society's willingness to turn a blind eye to violence and abuse, particularly when it is perpetuated by those in positions of power or authority. The repeated references to the "torturer" and the "animal" waiting to be tortured suggest a broader critique of the way in which humans treat other living beings, including animals and even each other.
Line by Line Meaning
Blatant manner speak parting
Speaking out bluntly while leaving
Addicted romance love tested
Romantic love that has been put to the test and has become addictive
Bonding cement no longer holds
The connection between two people is no longer strong enough
Failing from substance abuse
Failing as a result of drug abuse
Parting fits too young to grow old
Breaking up too soon to age gracefully
Wicked resenting never faces itself
An evil resentment that never confronts itself
Torturer taints animal waits
A torturer corrupts and waits for its prey
No evironment torturer loving
A torturer does not discriminate in the environment it selects
Righteous real-time intrusion
A just and timely invasion
Cancer attack bleaching desserts so sweet
A destructive force attacking the innocent
Fears filtered for reasons unknown
Fears are being processed without clear motives
Torturer taints animal waits
A torturer corrupts and waits for its prey
Leaves bitter taste in the mouth forever
Leaves a lasting negative impression
Corners creeping fear
A lurking sense of dread
Tasting force fed lies of the wicked
Experiencing lies that have been forcefully imposed by the evil ones
Acting out fears false truth turned around
Behaving in a manner that is contrary to the true facts
Wicked torture wicked wicked
Evil torture from the same source
The wicked words of the torturer
Unpleasant words from an oppressor
Abusing and controlling anyone that's useful to him
Abusing and manipulating individuals who can be useful to the oppressor
Wicked waits the torturer
A sadistic torturer patiently waits
Wicked waiting of the torturer
An evil waiting game for the oppressor
Reads story truth seething
Examines the truth with anger
Swallows turning away
Suppresses the urge to react
Torturer taints animal with hate
A sadistic torturer corrupts its prey with hate
Believed poison eaten
Having imbibed poison through belief
Controls turning away
Having control and suppressing the urge to react
Enlightenment turned away
Having left the path of illumination
No change the wicked not facing hisself
A lack of change from the evil person who refuses to confront oneself
Wicked torturer
An evil torturer
Force fed torment
Being made to endure unfathomable pain by an oppressor
Animal torture
Torture inflicted upon innocent creatures
Wicked not facing hisself
An evil person not confronting oneself
Torturer turning away
A sadistic torturer who refuses to face the facts
Wicked turning away
Refusal to acknowledge the wrongs committed by an evil person
Turning away disappears from himself
The act of turning away causes loss of self
Tortures the animal
Sadistically inflicting pain on innocent creatures
Lyrics © APM MUSIC ASSOCIATED PRODUCTION MUSIC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
lee daniels
This album is incredible.
Vincent Sander
Yup, arguably in their top 3
Doom Squirrel
top one becuae I was tripping balls when I litestened to it to it early in on in the 90s, but man I love everything from bites to the process...I don't go beyond Gotel...I'm old I suppose 48 yr old what do I know?
deedee daltka
Hells yes! Great 'til this day
My favourite album by SP.
🖤
PositiveLastAction
Brings me back to not only a glorious period for SP, but for music in general.
Night Mike
Thought provoking track that really hits the mark everytime it's heard, it's a highlight off the masterful Last Rights album, not to mention I think some of their finest lyrics.
Robert Miller
i concur
Thetruesithis
holy crap I was not expecting the pure essence of incredible that this song presented
Eric Otto
Sublime beauty beyond what words can describe.
Bridget Woody
Masterpiece!