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.
TFWO
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Paradise two explains your head deranged time
Spun web deluded of life wicked black witch lady
Localize intelligensia go write a book to cry in
Face it lost that look survivals hard enough fading
Fire climbing higher time to realize that I'm on
Fire patience sun the lord looks over who
Covers in the watchtower freeze arm scraping
Metal point a scraping hole forever breaking
In out temper test bottom so vile
Faded higher why you liar
The lyrics of "TFWO" by Skinny Puppy convey a sense of chaos and confusion. The opening line, "Treason trapping animal hide in the vision of paradise," suggests a sense of betrayal and concealment. The next line, "Two explains your head deranged time," is cryptic, but it could be interpreted as referencing the duality of the self and the sometimes confusing passage of time. The line "Spun web deluded of life wicked black witch lady" paints a picture of entrapment and darkness, possibly referencing a toxic relationship or a sense of being trapped by one's self-destructive behavior.
The theme of delusion continues in the next line, "Localize intelligensia go write a book to cry in," which could be interpreted as a critique of intellectualism as a means of avoiding personal and emotional growth. The line "Fire climbing higher time to realize that I'm on fire" suggests a sense of urgency and a need to confront one's own destructive tendencies. The refrain of "faded higher why you liar" demands honesty and authenticity.
Overall, "TFWO" is a complex and intense song that grapples with themes of betrayal, delusion, and self-destruction. The lyrics are abstract and esoteric, but they suggest a sense of urgency and a need to confront one's own demons and destructive tendencies.
Line by Line Meaning
Treason trapping animal hide in the vision of
A sense of fear and paranoia caused by those in power who are betraying and manipulating society
Paradise two explains your head deranged time
The portrayal of a utopia or 'paradise' used to control and manipulate people's thoughts and actions, leading to a distorted reality
Spun web deluded of life wicked black witch lady
A metaphorical 'witch' representing societal institutions such as religion, politics, etc. that have a hold on people and deceive them, leading to confusion and cynicism
Localize intelligensia go write a book to cry in
The marginalized and oppressed are encouraged to express their views and experiences through artistic or intellectual means, even if it may not lead to immediate change
Face it lost that look survivals hard enough fading
The struggle to maintain one's identity in a world that constantly tries to erase or change it, leading to a feeling of despair
Fire climbing higher time to realize that I'm on
The realization of being trapped in a dangerous situation or environment, and the need for action and escape
Fire patience sun the lord looks over who
A plea for help and guidance from a higher power or entity, in the face of chaos and destruction
Covers in the watchtower freeze arm scraping
The isolation and detachment felt from being constantly surveilled and controlled, leading to inner turmoil
Inches the vein blind distracted the worshipping
The addiction or blind faith in something that harms oneself or others, leading to obsession and self-destruction
Metal point a scraping hole forever breaking
The destructive force of industrialization and technology that is eroding the natural world and society, leading to irreversible damage
In out temper test bottom so vile
The anger and frustration that arises from being pushed to one's limit, exposing the ugliness and darkness within oneself
Faded higher why you liar
Questioning those who claim to have power and knowledge, and the need to seek the truth and break free from deception
Contributed by Emily O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.