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.
Sleeping Beast
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The finest creative loss of grace
At a parlor shop with no hope
Meet the people try to cope
Nod the head with distraction
Faces flirt for your reaction
With a grin over again
Start the day another whim
Lie the same dear anguish is your feast
Frighten the peaceful powerless thought in the head
With decree attorney singe my dread
In the darkness know it well
Siege of face love to tell
How and why its indecision
Notice change by shape shifting from the real
Sacred seal rip with sex intelligent sneer
Resist the useless aggravation kicked in teeth
The blankness created forms a wreath
Slap the coffin hear no shout
Feel the courage seeping out
Plunge the knife with no reason
Slash the name within season
Slump retreat run again
Ride the pain going insane
Very same morning shattering life in the face
The finest creative loss of grace
Find the truth far to down
Bring it up sense will drown
Inside review sense elation
Can't regain the motivation
Piercing probing is disturbing
Prove to me I'm not worth knowing
The lyrics of Skinny Puppy's song "Sleeping Beast" speak to the chaos and confusion that can arise from living in a world that is constantly bombarding us with stimuli. The song begins with a powerful image of "shattering life in the face," setting the tone for the rest of the lyrics. The loss of creative grace is presented as a central theme, as is the attempt to cope with this loss through distraction and the search for reaction from others.
The line "nice to nightmare she's a sleeping beast" suggests a sense of unease with the idea of sleeping, with the peacefulness of slumber potentially masking something more sinister. The subsequent lines speak to the powerlessness of the mind in the face of fear and anxiety, represented here by the "powerless thought in the head." The idea of being "singed by dread" furthers this sense of anxiety, suggesting a feeling of being burned or scorched by one's own fears. The lyrics also touch on themes of change and transformation, with the suggestion of shape-shifting and the "sacred seal" being ripped away.
Overall, the lyrics of "Sleeping Beast" paint a bleak picture of the struggle that many of us face when trying to navigate our own inner worlds in a complex and confusing external environment.
Line by Line Meaning
Early one morning shattering life in the face
Life feels like it's falling apart, with sudden and severe changes happening
The finest creative loss of grace
A reference to losing creative talent or inspiration
At a parlor shop with no hope
Being in a hopeless and depressing environment
Meet the people try to cope
Being surrounded by people who are struggling to deal with the situation
Nod the head with distraction
Putting on a façade of being present and attentive, but not truly engaging
Faces flirt for your reaction
People are looking for a reaction from you, and may manipulate or play games to get it
With a grin over again
Despite the difficult situation, people put on a false front of happiness and positivity
Start the day another whim
Living day to day, with no clear direction or plan
Nice to nightmare she's a sleeping beast
Referring to a person who is often pleasant but can become quite scary when pushed to their limits
Lie the same dear anguish is your feast
Being stuck in a cycle of pain and suffering, with no apparent escape
Frighten the peaceful powerless thought in the head
Feeling helpless and scared, with negative thoughts taking over
With decree attorney singe my dread
Feeling like someone is punishing you or seeking to gain power over you
In the darkness know it well
Feeling stuck in a dark and hopeless situation, with no clear way out
Siege of face love to tell
People put on a false front of love and affection, but it's not genuine
How and why its indecision
Feeling unsure about what to do or where to go, with no clear answers
Notice change by shape shifting from the real
Feeling like reality is constantly changing, and it's hard to keep up
Sacred seal rip with sex intelligent sneer
A reference to someone who is using sex or intelligence to gain power over others
Resist the useless aggravation kicked in teeth
Feeling like things are constantly going wrong, with no real purpose or explanation
The blankness created forms a wreath
Feeling empty and numb, with no real emotions or connections
Slap the coffin hear no shout
Feeling like you're trapped or helpless, with no way to escape
Feel the courage seeping out
Feeling like you're losing your strength and bravery, and becoming more helpless
Plunge the knife with no reason
Feeling like you're lashing out or acting without reason, with no clear purpose
Slash the name within season
Trying to harm someone or something, for reasons that may not seem clear
Slump retreat run again
Feeling like you're constantly running away or trying to escape, without actually finding a permanent solution
Ride the pain going insane
Feeling like the pain and suffering is never-ending, and it's driving you crazy
Very same morning shattering life in the face
Repeating the earlier sentiment that life feels like it's falling apart suddenly and severely
The finest creative loss of grace
Repeating the earlier sentiment that losing creative talent or inspiration is a major loss
Find the truth far to down
Feeling like the truth is hard to uncover, and it may require digging deep or doing a lot of work
Bring it up sense will drown
Feeling overwhelmed by the truth, and like it's too much to handle
Inside review sense elation
Going through an internal struggle and review, with some sense of joy or positivity
Can't regain the motivation
Feeling stuck and unable to find the motivation needed to make things better
Piercing probing is disturbing
Feeling like people are asking too many questions or probing too deeply, which is uncomfortable and frustrating
Prove to me I'm not worth knowing
Feeling worthless and like you're not worth other people's time or attention
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: John Norton
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind