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.
Who's Laughing Now?
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
way back she whispered lizard kiss rhtetoric bitch pass on answering psycho
babble with no security power escapes to the toilet room in the
lew of its own reflection she really knocks me out she sits she pukes her
point whoever will listen paranoid doubts she's really rocked out
she moves her mouth fault pat on the back and back and pat on the back
and force it she sits she listens she moves her mouth she sits she
pukes its her fault whatever intelligence fault push down with the purest
invoke she mixes knowing that all won't upset herself lizard kiss strung
out break mutilate all they see on the neck in and over top of what
appears to be real chill and tempt eye no time to see reality broken alice
The lyrics in Skinny Puppy's song "Who's Laughing Now?" are typical of the band's style of combining dark and cryptic words with a haunting and eerie sound. The first verse describes a broken and unstable woman named Alice, who is seeking approval from someone (possibly the singer) through physical touch ("pat on the back and back and back"). However, she is also desperate to break free from her current situation ("force open wide no way back"), possibly referring to a trapped or abusive relationship. She whispers a "lizard kiss," which is a metaphor for deceitful or manipulative behavior, and avoids answering questions with nonsensical "psycho babble."
The second verse delves deeper into Alice's mental state, as she becomes more paranoid and doubtful of those around her. She is described as sitting and puking, possibly a result of substance abuse or emotional distress. Despite her instability, she is still seeking attention and validation ("whoever will listen"). The chorus contains the repeated phrase "pat on the back and back and pat on the back and force it," which could refer to the pressure to conform to societal expectations or the feeling of being trapped in a cycle of self-destructive behavior.
Line by Line Meaning
broken alice
Alice, who is shattered or fragmented, possibly a reference to a character in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland"
holy pat on the back and back and back
Repeated praise or encouragement
force open wide no way back
A sense of no escape and being trapped
she whispered lizard kiss
A subtle or manipulative expression of affection or attraction
rhtetoric bitch pass on answering
A dismissive, confrontational response to a question or statement
psycho babble with no security
Unreliable or meaningless language or ideas, lacking in a sense of support or protection
power escapes to the toilet room
A desire for control or influence that is difficult or impossible to attain
in the lew of its own reflection
In the shadow of its own image or identity
she really knocks me out
She is impressive or captivating
she sits she pukes her point
A way of expressing oneself that is forceful or provocative, but perhaps also uncontrolled or excessive
whoever will listen paranoid doubts
A tendency to be suspicious or mistrustful of others, even when receiving attention or validation
she's really rocked out
She is fully committed or invested in something, possibly to an extreme degree
she moves her mouth fault pat on the back
Continuing to speak or act with praise, despite a lack of genuine support or success
and back and pat on the back and force it
Repetition of insincere encouragement or praise, possibly to try to influence or control
she sits she listens she moves her mouth she sits she pukes
Continuing to express oneself, even if it is uncomfortable or unpleasant for others to hear or witness
its her fault whatever intelligence fault
Blaming oneself for perceived failures or shortcomings, even if it is not entirely justified
push down with the purest crystal around push it in
A possible reference to drug use or addiction, with the imagery of injecting a pure substance
whisper name feel it a double weighed out
A sense of secrecy or hidden meanings, possibly related to personal or emotional struggles
games invoke she mixes knowing that all won't upset herself
Engaging in manipulative or deceptive behavior to try to control or protect oneself
lizard kiss strung out break mutilate all they see
Possibly violent or destructive behavior, possibly related to the use of drugs or other stimulants
on the neck in and over top of what appears to be real
A sense of confusion or distorted perception of reality
chill and tempt eye no time to see reality
Being too caught up in immediate pleasure, distraction, or temptation to see things clearly or objectively
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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