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.
Sore in a Masterpiece / Dead of Winter
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never in fear
Redder roar flare
Follow round
I'm sore in a masterpiece
And I creep creep creep
Creep creep creep for a solid place
Ooh, you're frightened of reality
Insomnia stands by me with glee
Oh, sore in a masterpiece
And I creep creep creep
Creep creep creep for a solid place
Urchin legion
In the night time
Fortune all (off?) feasts
Faschists for peace
That's reason I fashioned darkness
I'm sore in a masterpiece
Lot of love lost over all costs
And I creep creep creep
Creep creep creep for a solid place
Ooh, you're frightened of reality
Insomnia stands by me with glee
(shot?/shock?)
I'm sore in a masterpiece
And I creep creep creep
Creep creep creep for a solid place
Ooh, you're frightened of reality
Insomnia stands by me with glee
(I'm all better?)
Forget it forget it
Cry (for sanity?yourself to sleep?us inbetween?your savage way?)
I'm sore in a masterpiece
It's not my fault
(stuff in background distorted)
"watch closely"
"closer (closer, closer,...)"
It's Christ
It's Christmas eve
October bleak and desolate
There's frost murder in my (???) room
And still the pennies earned
The blood stained windows of night
It's always Christmas here for my dead of winter
I gaze into the [nursery?/rosary?]
I speak where is the vision
[decost?] and pray to priests in the dead of winter
The heart is [felt a?/smelt a?/smells of?] birds out of place
A paradise to call perfection
Theatre, intrigue all fair in the dead of winter
A place to hold you in disguised to live a shack
A memory that's what comedians are for
Reflection, reflection in my heart
The river of (???) swallow them?
To melt them enters love
Dead head don't worry
Become submerged repression [surge?/serve?] the church dead of... winter, winter ...cold
Here sauce is cold cold again again again I
(???)
They think the hot spot [?sent here and then?]
They don't know what its like to live fuck
I'm not against (???) priest (???) hollow (???) dead don't (???)dead love(???)
The lyrics to Skinny Puppy's "Sore in a Masterpiece / Dead of Winter" contain vivid and haunting imagery that reflects the band's usual style of creating unconventional and unsettling music. The intro starts with an unclear phrase that introduces doubt about whether something has been sorted out. Then the song transitions to phrases that create visual and emotional effects by describing various types of distress, such as fear, being sore, and insomnia. The singer repeatedly encounters obstacles and seeks a "solid place" to escape to. The lyrics convey a sense of being trapped in a cold and oppressive environment where there is little hope for relief. The song's chorus repeats the phrase "sore in a masterpiece," which can be interpreted as an ironic twist to describe the singer's painful and lonely existence as part of a larger artistic creation that they do not understand.
A significant part of the song's lyrics is devoted to describing the "dead of winter," which appears to represent a symbolic reference to a hopeless and lifeless state of being. The imagery in these sections of the song includes references to murder, pennies earned, blood-stained windows of night, and a river that swallows life. The lyrics connect with the theme of the band's criticism of oppressive social structures and the human cost of living in a desensitizing society. The end of the song mentions priests and reflects an anti-religious sentiment that was common in many of Skinny Puppy's tracks, as they often criticized institutionalized religion's role in promoting fascism and oppression.
Line by Line Meaning
Never in fear
I am not afraid
Redder roar flare
There is something dangerous going on, something that could lead to injury or death
Follow round
I must keep track of what's happening
Lock 'em in sight
I need to pay attention to everything around me
I'm sore in a masterpiece
I'm feeling a lot of pain and I'm trapped in this beautiful place
And I creep creep creep
I'm trying to move slowly, cautiously
Creep creep creep for a solid place
I need to find a safe place where I can hide and rest
Ooh, you're frightened of reality
You're scared of what's actually happening, you prefer to hide from it
Insomnia stands by me with glee
I can't sleep because of how worried I am, but this makes me feel more aware and focused
Urchin legion
There are many people around, some of them are unfriendly or dangerous
In the night time
During the dark hours
Fortune all (off?) feasts
The lucky ones who are still around can enjoy what they have
Faschists for peace
Those who oppress others make a show of wanting peace to keep their power
That's reason I fashioned darkness
I embrace darkness because it keeps me hidden and safe
Lot of love lost over all costs
There has been much pain and suffering in the past because of love, so I'm wary of it now
Forget it forget it
I don't want to think about the past anymore
Cry (for sanity?yourself to sleep?us inbetween?your savage way?)
I'm feeling so sad and overwhelmed I almost want to cry, but I'm holding it all in
It's not my fault
I'm not to blame for any of this
"watch closely"
Pay attention to what's happening
"closer (closer, closer,...)"
Get even more focused
It's Christ
There's a religious theme here
It's Christmas eve
It's that time of year once again
October bleak and desolate
It's a cold, barren time of year
There's frost murder in my (???) room
It's so cold that even indoors, frost is damaging things
And still the pennies earned
Even in a dire situation, people are able to scrape together money
The blood stained windows of night
The dark time is a reminder of all the tragic events that took place
It's always Christmas here for my dead of winter
The cold and empty winter is a depressing time
I gaze into the [nursery?/rosary?]
I stare into the abyss
I speak where is the vision
I'm asking for clarity
[decost?] and pray to priests in the dead of winter
I find solace in religion
The heart is [felt a?/smelt a?/smells of?] birds out of place
There is a sense of alienation and discomfort
A paradise to call perfection
I dream of a perfect world
Theatre, intrigue all fair in the dead of winter
There can be a lot of drama and excitement in the bleak winter months
A place to hold you in disguised to live a shack
A place to keep you safe, even if it's not perfect
A memory that's what comedians are for
Comedians use laughter to help people cope with past traumas
Reflection, reflection in my heart
I am thinking deeply about everything that's happened
The river of (???) swallow them?
There is a sense of danger and menace
To melt them enters love
Perhaps love can help heal wounds
Dead head don't worry
Don't worry about the dangers around you
Become submerged repression [surge?/serve?] the church dead of... winter, winter ...cold
I'm trying to not let myself be overwhelmed
Here sauce is cold cold again again again I
This place is so cold and unforgiving
They think the hot spot [?sent here and then?]
They don't understand how cold things really are
They don't know what its like to live fuck
They don't know how bad things can get
I'm not against (???) priest (???) hollow (???) dead don't (???)dead love(???)
I'm not sure what the point of religion is anymore
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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