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.
Survivalisto
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Depleted, uranium, flower with power of sun
Complex, militant, woven ingrained us all
Time-bomb, elegant, cast system done
I want a way out to get out fast
Before it becomes too real
They want a war in this futures mess
I want a way out to get out fast
Before it becomes too real
They want a war in this futures mess
Instinction I think is for real
Living grade, construct
Feeds on reconstruction
Mercenary, contracts
Nothing lay under the sun
Six-gun, neighbors, watch, villages slide
Uni-bombed, contracts, surf the system unfettered
I want a way out to get out fast
Before it becomes too real
They want a war in this futures mess
Instinction I think is for real
I want a way out to get out fast
Before it becomes too real
They want a war in this futures mess
Instinction I think is for real
Jimmie's clearly out of luck, time is gone logic is lost matters haven't
Vanished what is here has been un-done, soaking in the aftermath, hollow
Breathing in the bed, Mezame sheets of rotting things, the best kept
Secrets pillowing, divine host, kill the ghost, target faced with
Shadowed-voice, keeping massive overflow from sweeping in the way
The lyrics to Skinny Puppy's song "Survivalisto" are rich in imagery and meaning, reflecting the band's signature style of mixing industrial, techno, and darkwave sounds with socially conscious and often cryptic lyrics.
The first verse speaks of an "armed race" that has begun, and references the use of depleted uranium, a material that is commonly used in military weaponry and has been linked to serious health and environmental consequences. The lyrics suggest that this race is "complex" and "militant," woven into the fabric of society itself, leading to a "cast system" in which power and privilege are distributed unequally. The chorus expresses a desire to escape this reality, to find a way out before things become too real. The use of the word "instinction" is likely a play on the word "instinct," indicating that the threat of extinction is real and looming.
The second verse offers further commentary on the state of society, with references to "mercenaries" and "contracts" that suggest a culture in which everything has a price and nothing is sacred. The lyrics touch on themes of surveillance and destruction, with "neighbours watch[ing] villages slide" and "uni-bombed contracts surf[ing] the system unfettered." The chorus repeats the desire for escape, reflecting a sense of hopelessness and desperation.
The final lines of the song are particularly cryptic, speaking of someone named Jimmie who is "clearly out of luck," with "matters [that] haven't vanished" and a sense of being "soaking in the aftermath." The use of the phrase "Mezame sheets of rotting things" is particularly evocative, as the word "mezame" can translate to "awakening" or "enlightenment," suggesting a sense of disillusionment or despair despite a desire for change.
Overall, "Survivalisto" is a powerful reflection on the state of the world, with lyrics that are both vivid and obscure, inviting multiple interpretations and demanding active engagement from listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
Serving, testing, armed race begun
The competition to develop and test weapons has started and everyone is involved.
Depleted, uranium, flower with power of sun
Weapons made of depleted uranium have a tremendous capacity to destroy, like the power of the sun.
Complex, militant, woven ingrained us all
Militarism has become a deeply rooted, complicated part of our society.
Time-bomb, elegant, cast system done
The sophisticated, elegant weapons being developed are a ticking time bomb, and the old social hierarchy is coming to an end.
I want a way out to get out fast
Before it becomes too real
They want a war in this futures mess
Instinction I think is for real
The artist wants to escape from the impending conflict and believes that human extinction is a possibility.
Living grade, construct
Feeds on reconstruction
Mercenary, contracts
Nothing lay under the sun
The military-industrial complex thrives on destruction and rebuilding, mercenaries are hired to do the dirty work, and there is nothing beyond their reach.
Six-gun, neighbors, watch, villages slide
Uni-bombed, contracts, surf the system unfettered
Violence is spreading and becoming more common, and people are taking advantage of the chaos to do whatever they want.
Jimmie's clearly out of luck, time is gone logic is lost matters haven't
Vanished what is here has been un-done, soaking in the aftermath, hollow
Breathing in the bed, Mezame sheets of rotting things, the best kept
Secrets pillowing, divine host, kill the ghost, target faced with
Shadowed-voice, keeping massive overflow from sweeping in the way
This section is difficult to interpret, but it seems to describe a sense of hopelessness and despair in the face of destruction, decay, and secrets.
Contributed by David H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
PSA69Charizard
This song puts me in a coma. I can listen to it over and over and I don't want to do anything else.
Jeffrey Brooks
The new album is outstanding. For me, the rebooted SP's music has been a bit uneven...some good and some weak. This album is both unexpected and a wonderful return to form. Great stuff.
loculi
Did you know they used the same gear they used for Rabies to produce this album? It's no wonder it's a banger.
Mickey Romeo
nothing is uneven or weak, except you
Hifi Symphony
I'm 46 years of age, just like this guys. Skinny Puppy first albums and styles where the best. The last nice album IMO was Too Dark Park. Everything else that came after that was not as good as the begning. My favorite album was "Mind the Perpetual Intercourse."
And my favorite song from Skinny Puppy is " One time one place"
eric bryant
+martin lopez I have to say last rights, then again its sp so I like all of there stuff still definitive sp without d.r. goetell
Dario Palčić
pure energy... drives me high...
justiceleague3000
Wow, I must buy this. Sounds like classic SP.
ValekHalfHeart
Probably my favorite off of weapon.
SuperCrazyBecca
great song!