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 Choke
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
brutalize the half red eyes decide
which side whose side you're in the middle of the fire
a scythe and smock is sharp so sharp
no conscience such confidence a crooked ear so insincere
a glue on smile your social style tyrants rule is such a fool
superior good advice it's so nice from you
arguments so hideous they're heaven sent you can't repent
christ why did you die
superior good advice blood red and arguments
heaven sent torment my stench putrefy putrefy
wise so wise you're not so wise
shadow shadow shadow shadow why?
The lyrics of Skinny Puppy's "The Choke" are as enigmatic as they are disturbing. Inspiration for this song was drawn from a mixture of personal traumas and socio-political themes. On the surface, the lyrics seem to form a torrent of abstract images, but a closer look reveals a thread of meaning that connects them. The song speaks of torment, stench, and brutality, making it clear that there is something wrong with the world. The words describe a sense of being caught in the middle of a raging fire, unable to escape the violence that surrounds. The lines "words like ice cut and slice announce my demise" depict the overwhelming sensation of being attacked and immobilized by a barrage of verbal abuse.
At the same time, the lyrics evoke a sense of cynicism and a deep mistrust of authority. The lines "superior good advice it's so nice from you, tyrants rule is such a fool" describe the sense of superiority that some people feel when they have power over others, and how their advice can be both patronizing and insincere. The final lines of the song are "wise so wise you're not so wise, shadow shadow shadow why?" which seem to be questioning the very idea of wisdom, suggesting that those who claim to have all the answers are often those who know the least.
Line by Line Meaning
torment a stench one side inside no doubt lost count
The feeling of torture is accompanied by a strong and unpleasant smell emanating from within. It's hard to determine which side of the conflict to choose when the counting of losses has become overwhelming.
brutalize the half red eyes decide
The act of causing someone extreme physical pain has resulted in reddened, injured eyes. It is time to choose which side to take despite the ongoing suffering.
which side whose side you're in the middle of the fire
Amidst all the chaos and destruction, it has become difficult to differentiate between sides of the conflict and one is caught in the middle of it all.
a scythe and smock is sharp so sharp
The person causing harm is equipped with a sharp tool used to harvest crops, which is a metaphor for the act of inflicting pain. The tool itself is described as sharp, emphasizing the danger it poses.
no conscience such confidence a crooked ear so insincere
The perpetrator of the violence is completely devoid of moral principles, yet has an unwavering sense of self-assuredness. They also have a deceiving nature, often pretending to listen intently, but with a dishonest motive.
a glue on smile your social style tyrants rule is such a fool
A fake, insincere smile is plastered on the face of the violent individual, who appears affable on the surface. The tyrant's authority is shown to be foolishness.
superior good advice it's so nice from you
The violent individual arrogantly offers advice that is believed to be helpful, but in reality is not. The person being advised may perceive the message at least initially as kind words.
arguments so hideous they're heaven sent you can't repent
The arguments put forth are so malicious that they might as well be divine in their pure evilness. There's no backing out from the harm that has resulted from these arguments.
words like ice cut and slice announce my demise
Cold, sharp words are being used to inflict pain that gradually wears down the victim, ultimately leading to their demise.
christ why did you die
The singer cries out in reference to Jesus Christ asking why he was allowed to die; the violence around them is so intense it brings them to question the Gospel.
superior good advice blood red and arguments
Once again highlighting the arrogant and cruel nature of the violent individual, they offer some supposedly superior advice that rapidly leads to arguments and a bloodbath.
heaven sent torment my stench putrefy putrefy
The agony inflicted by the perpetrator is so intense that it almost seems like divine punishment. The stench mentioned earlier has become overwhelmingly unbearable.
wise so wise you're not so wise
The singer sarcastically tells the violent individual that they are not really wise, contrary to their own belief.
shadow shadow shadow shadow why?
The singer is confronted by a menacing, sinister presence that is represented by a shadow, and is questioning why such an entity exists.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MAGNUS SVENINGSSON, PETER ANDERS SVENSSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind