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.
The Centre Bullet
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bored you full of holes, Lucretia, saw you crease up in a ball, as if you
Swallowed your own poison followed as you crawled up to the altar.
I watched the tabernacle choir bawling in a bath of sacramental wine...
You laced it, but it tastes just fine to me!
Yes, it's 89 - 's' a good year... Let's hear it now for good old (bittersweet)
'89... Let's hear it now for good old '89.
We took our seats, we watched them stringing up a chicken (kept on
On staring, sick and sordid, as you pulled another bullet from my belt and
Fired! Count to nine... (ninety nine)... count to nine.
I caught it in my teeth, I licked it clean, I chewed it, I chewed it, struck a
Match... I flew a dozen stories to my stool behind a widow. Sure I'm small,
But big enough (I'm big enough), to send a bullet through your head. A
Bullet through the center of your head! I'll send a bullet through the center
Of your head. Center bullet... Rent a bullet...
The lyrics to Skinny Puppy's "The Centre Bullet" paint a vivid, disturbing picture of a violent scene unfolding within a religious setting. The first two lines describe someone being shot in the head ("Dead shot through the temple in the temple"), with the preacher reacting in horror. The next few lines detail another person being shot, with the singer describing how they "watched the tabernacle choir bawling in a bath of sacramental wine." The song also contains a number of references to bullets, ranging from the titular "centre bullet" to the phrase "count to nine" (which could be interpreted as a countdown before a shot is fired).
One possible interpretation of the lyrics is that they are commenting on the intersection between violence and religion. The setting of a church or temple suggests that these acts are being committed by people who are supposed to be peaceful, but instead they are using violence to assert their power or beliefs. The reference to the choir drinking sacramental wine could also be seen as a commentary on how deeply embedded violence is in some religious traditions, even going so far as to be celebrated or glorified.
Overall, "The Centre Bullet" is a highly metaphorical and disturbing song that deals with violence, religion, and power. Its lyrics are open to interpretation, but they suggest a deeply cynical view of human nature and the ways in which we use violence to assert our beliefs or gain control over others.
Line by Line Meaning
Dead shot through the temple in the temple heard the preacher screech! I
I heard the preacher screech upon seeing me getting shot in the temple.
Bored you full of holes, Lucretia, saw you crease up in a ball, as if you
I shot you several times, Lucretia, and saw you curl up into a ball as if in agony.
Swallowed your own poison followed as you crawled up to the altar.
As you crawled to the altar, you looked like you were in agony because you had consumed poison earlier.
I watched the tabernacle choir bawling in a bath of sacramental wine...
I observed the tabernacle choir, heavily intoxicated with sacramental wine, singing loudly.
You laced it, but it tastes just fine to me!
Even though you poisoned the wine, I could not distinguish it from the taste.
Yes, it's 89 - 's' a good year... Let's hear it now for good old (bittersweet)
1989 was a notable year; let's commemorate it for good (even though it was bittersweet).
89... Let's hear it now for good old '89.
Let's continue to remember the importance of 1989.
We took our seats, we watched them stringing up a chicken (kept on
We sat down and watched as someone hanged a chicken (which was still alive)
Kicking) as they kicked away the chair... They fed it strychnine! We kept
While it was still kicking, they proceeded to feed the chicken some strychnine!
On staring, sick and sordid, as you pulled another bullet from my belt and
I sickeningly stared as you retrieved another bullet from my belt and
Fired! Count to nine... (ninety nine)... count to nine.
And then fired it. Whoever you are, count to nine... ninety-nine... count to nine.
I caught it in my teeth, I licked it clean, I chewed it, I chewed it, struck a
I caught it in my mouth with my teeth, licked it, chewed it repeatedly, and then lit a
Match... I flew a dozen stories to my stool behind a window. Sure I'm small,
match, after which I travelled several stories upwards to my seat - perched on a stool behind a window. Though I'm small,
But big enough (I'm big enough), to send a bullet through your head.
I'm big enough, capable of shooting you in the head.
A bullet through the center of your head! I'll send a bullet through the center
I'll aim for the center of your head and pull the trigger!
Of your head. Center bullet... Rent a bullet...
Right in the center of your head! Center-shot... Rent a bullet (maybe?).
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: EDWARD SHARP, KEVIN CROMPTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@powerlinemisfortune
This track was obscenely way ahead of its time, it's beautiful.
@BeckinsteinShinn
I've of course heard this album countless times, and have been a puppy fan for 20 years.. But I've somehow never had this song hit me like it did today. Damn! I love how years and years later, whats old is still new for me. Thanks for posting this one, and thanks to SP for still remaining my favorite, no matter how my musical tastes change and mutate.
@ericbryant6097
+Beckinstein Shinn yep 20 yrs for me as well how time goes...got into them back junior year in H.S.
@ReptilianLatitudes
This song is seriously underrated. Just listen to how beautifully composed it is! Simply enchanting.
@dieandereseite
It's not a Skinny Puppy track, it's from Tear Garden, a collaborative project between Skinny Puppy and Legendary Pink Dots. "Centre Bullet" features Edward Ka-Spel on vocals. It was first published on Tear Garden's first full-length album, "Tired Eyes slowly burning". If you loved this track, you'll love most of what LPD and Edward Ka-spel have been recording for the last 30 years.
@performz28
I'm a S.P. fan & heard both versions, the vocals suck. I prefer this version instead. To each it's own.
@gnarkill87
Love this track. It's like Skinny Puppy does Tangerine Dream.
@niveknomad2008
So true. Its kind of like throbbing gristle's dream machine.
@heathershuler3774
I've been a Puppy fan since my youth and this song by far is the most beautiful song they ever produced......
@mindmy609
that and blood on the brap release