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.
Testure
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
cage eyes tear less filled with contempt clinic mask experiment with
life and death smell lingering noxious mixed scent anxiety omnipotent doctor
grinds the cage door revealing loves primal instinct taken away the tiny
face terrified rant and rave smash your head against the cage vacuum
clicks on high conscious of the pain pass off as humane white coat seems
so clean most dirt bleached out of greed force the point of habit eyes burn
in a rabbit push the pain test button spines cut trip mucous inflection
the brain break the skull again smash price research rat lab rent pain
in flesh more ill drug store sales sharpen the knife emphasis on money
new disease everyday end is seen and coming reseach turns it's back
to gain crush the spine genocide kitten drags its dead limb continuing
all suffering it will come back and win shock paralyse turn trauma
burns out the will to live the lying message 5 year genocide 1945 suicide
vivisect vi
The lyrics of Skinny Puppy’s song, Testure, vividly illustrates the pain and suffering that animals go through in the name of scientific experiments, all for the sake of advancing human knowledge. The lyrics describe the deplorable conditions in which caged animals are kept, where they convulse in fear and distress, deprived of love, care, and their primal instincts. The animals become victims of heartless scientists who experiment with their lives, testing their reactions to different stimuli, drugs, and torture, pushing them to the brink of physical and mental collapse. The lyrics suggest that the animals are subjected to such abhorrent conditions for the sake of human greed, monetary gain, and to deal with new diseases. The message of the song is a powerful indictment against animal experimentation and the unethical practices that it encompasses.
The lyrics of Testure are a cry against the inhumane treatment of animals in scientific experiments, highlighting the futile and cruel process that they must endure. The lyrics criticize the falsity of the message that animals are used in experiments for the betterment of humanity, when in reality, it is a cold, calculated method of selfishly furthering human gain. In conclusion, the song Testure is a powerful anthem that seeks to enlighten listeners about the inherent cruelty in animal experimentation, hoping to raise awareness and calling for a better, more humane approach to scientific discovery.
Line by Line Meaning
in nervous convulsion crouches infant ape trembling in mothers shit
A young ape, in a state of extreme anxiety, huddles in a confined space surrounded by filth.
cage eyes tear less filled with contempt clinic mask experiment with life and death
The ape's resigned and hostile expression is noticed behind a facade of clinical detachment as doctors conduct dangerous tests.
smell lingering noxious mixed scent anxiety omnipotent doctor
The doctors carry themselves with an arrogant sense of power and disregard for the pain inflicted by the experiments and their noxious smells.
grinds the cage door revealing loves primal instinct taken away the tiny face terrified
The monkey is shown a glimpse of freedom and love, but its natural instincts have been corrupted by the experiments, leaving it terrified.
rant and rave smash your head against the cage vacuum clicks on high conscious of the pain pass off as humane
The monkey in agony lashes out and injures itself, while the scientists attempt to appear as if they care by switching on a vacuum to drown out the noise.
white coat seems so clean most dirt bleached out of greed
The clean white coats of the doctors are a mere facade, hiding their greed and lack of empathy.
force the point of habit eyes burn in a rabbit push the pain test button spines cut trip mucous inflection more die.
The scientists continue to habitually inflict pain on animals, ignoring the searing agony, the violent reactions and the inevitable deaths.
pills each day what goes around comes back stronger tap into the brain break the skull again smash price research rat lab rent pain in flesh more ill drug store sales
Pharmaceutical companies continue to profit from animal testing, breaking animal skulls and inflicting pain to develop new medicines that can cause even more harm to humans.
sharpen the knife emphasis on money new disease everyday end is seen and coming research turns it's back to gain crush the spine genocide kitten drags its dead limb continuing all suffering it will come back and win
The endless pursuit of profit and new treatments, often at the expense of animal welfare and human well-being, only serve to ensure that suffering and negative consequences will continue.
shock paralyse turn trauma burns out the will to live the lying message 5 year genocide 1945 suicide
The constant trauma, abuse and deceit inflicted in the name of science have a soul-destroying effect on all involved, and represent a continuation of horrific events such as the holocaust.
vivisect vi
The final line, a shortened version of the word 'vivisect', is a call to action to end this cruel and unnecessary practice of animal experimentation.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ZeroThepainter
The first part is about animals in labs :( they drugged the mother apes to see how the infants reacted to non affect or no emotion . Mothers dropped the babies and tried to sober up . Some stepped on the babies . The “scientists “ could be seen laughing at the atrocities. Then every one was dissected .
In nervous convulsion crouches infant ape
Trembling in mother's shit
Caged eyes tearless, filled with contempt
Clinic mask experiment with life and death
Smell lingering noxious mixed scent anxiety
Omnipotent doctor grinds the cage door
Revealing love's primal instinct taken away
Tiny face, terrified
Rant and rave, smash your head against the cage
Vacuum clicks on high
Conscious through the pain, pass off as humane
White coat seems so clean
Most dirt bleached out
Out of greed
Force the point of habit eyes burn in a rabbit
Push the pain test button
Spine's cut
Trip mucous inflection more die
Pills each day
What goes around comes back stronger
Tap into the brain, break the skull again
Smash price research rat lab rent paid in flesh
More ill drug store sales sharpen the knife
Emphasis on money
New disease everyday
End is seen and coming, research turns its back to gain
Crush the spine, genocide
Kitten drags its dead limb
Continuing all suffering
It will come back and win
Shock paralyze
Turn trauma
Burns out the will to live
The lying message
Five year genocide
1945
Suicide
Vivisect VI
@etainafuzz
I created an animal rights presentation for school back around 1990 and I made my entire class sit through and watch this entire video. Haha...I probably wouldn't have forced them to watch all of it end to end except two jocks in my class took my Rabies cassette tape and strung it from the balcony and ruined it. This was my way of getting them back for that.
@Angel_xmusic
That's awesome. \the fact that you played it in class, I mean.
@Canadian_duck31
I would love to know the classrooms reaction if you can remember it?
@TheAnalPunisher
Jocks deserve to be on that table
@keithmcgrath687
This song isn't on Rabies tho.
@etainafuzz
@@keithmcgrath687 Correct! It is not. I did the presentation about the time Rabies came out but made my class watch the Testure video at that time. Sorry for the confusion.
@MetalPatrick93
Thank you Skinny Puppy for introduceing me to The Plague Dogs. What an absolutely heartwrenching movie.
@kennethsooley9938
Read the book.
@73dustpan
I can’t watch it without balling my eyes out 😢
@TheNotSoGreatBeast
That bass is so funky. I'm all about it....Might even say I Dig It.