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.
Wornin
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
within the baker's deadly toll
in the morning's dirty rash
the rush hours kissing a**
finger through the dirty things
inside and out of everything
skirmish on the outer edges
of every single body's mind
these vision makers only fail
the fear of god on high
I've been out, so out of it
I've been hiding out
I've been hiding out of it
hiding so far out.
This been toasted walk upon
then giving up what we've become
all cinders on this rocky road
melted ice cream over load
Jump the prison plan advised
we'll make you feel the jim jones' vibe
as if to drink their poison
somehow better than what we become
by vaporizing any of this wishful unsafe trip
catch the very essence draining
on this slowly sinking ship
moving on towards horizons
what's conceived will never be
I'm thinking of saying of anything
and clinging
I've been out, so out of it
I've been hiding out
I've been hiding out of it
hiding so far out.
Find a way back out
what a way back out...
The lyrics in "Wornin" depict a bleak and chaotic world that doesn't seem to have a way out. The opening lines "Linger tasting rotten soil, within the baker's deadly toll" creates a vivid image of decay and death. This imagery is continued with "in the morning's dirty rash the rush hours kissing ass" which seems to allude to the idea that everyone is just going through the motions, doing what they need to do to survive.
The lyrics reference feeling disconnected from the world with "I've been out, so out of it" and hiding out of sight. The verses keep coming back to this idea of being lost, disconnected and alone in an unwelcoming world. The line "all cinders on this rocky road, melted ice cream overload" is one of the few that implies something pleasurable, in the midst of all this chaos.
The chorus, "Find a way back out, what a way back out" denotes a hopeless search for an escape that may not exist. The closing lines "moving on towards horizons, what's conceived will never be, I'm thinking of saying of anything and clinging" suggest that perhaps the only hope is in the imagination, and to hold onto that tightly.
Overall, the lyrics of "Wornin" paint a bleak picture of a desolate world filled with hopelessness and disconnectedness.
Line by Line Meaning
Linger tasting rotten soil
Stuck in a bad situation that only causes suffering
within the baker's deadly toll
Caught up in a cycle that causes harm to oneself and others
in the morning's dirty rash
Existence is uncomfortable and unpleasant
the rush hours kissing a**
Submitting to societal expectations and demands
finger through the dirty things
Exploring aspects of life that are taboo or considered undesirable
inside and out of everything
Every aspect of life is touched by the effects of the aforementioned issues
skirmish on the outer edges
Fighting for one's own welfare on the fringes of society
of every single body's mind
A struggle that every individual faces internally
simmer on the holy scale
A feeling of unease and discomfort at being judged against religious standards
these vision makers only fail
The people in charge and their methods do not provide solutions
the fear of god on high
The fear of divine punishment or retribution for one's actions
I've been out, so out of it
A feeling of detachment and disconnection from society
I've been hiding out
Avoiding confrontations with the issues described earlier
hiding so far out.
Trying to distance oneself as much as possible from said issues
This been toasted walk upon
The path ahead is fraught with difficulty and hardship
then giving up what we've become
Realizing that progress in life has been negatively affected by the aforementioned issues
all cinders on this rocky road
Life is uncertain and difficult to navigate
melted ice cream over load
A feeling of being overwhelmed and helpless
Jump the prison plan advised
Taking a risk or going against societal norms to escape the cycle of suffering
we'll make you feel the jim jones' vibe
The people in power will manipulate and control you
as if to drink their poison
Submitting to the influence of those in power
somehow better than what we become
Giving in to the demands of those in power seems like an improvement over the current state of existence
by vaporizing any of this wishful unsafe trip
Trying to escape reality through drug use and other self-destructive behaviors
catch the very essence draining
Losing a sense of self and identity due to the cycle of suffering
on this slowly sinking ship
Life is like a sinking ship that is slowly going down
moving on towards horizons
Trying to move forward and find a way out of the cycle
what's conceived will never be
It seems impossible to escape and find a better way of life
I'm thinking of saying of anything
Expressing frustration and despair at the current state of affairs
and clinging
Holding on to hope despite the difficulties faced
Find a way back out
Searching for a way to break free from the cycle of suffering
what a way back out...
Expressing a sense of urgency and desperation in finding a solution
Contributed by Jordan H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Michael A
i love this song, and this is one of my favorite SP albums, but I giggle every time I hear this song and hear Ogre say "melted ice cream overload"
Neska Lapicki
that's kinda how i felt the first time i heard him sing "you and me and rainbows" (tear garden)
Kyle Olday
No matter what Puppy does, its Epic... the music is incredible... and the message within is something that keeps me striving each and every day... TO GET OUT, SO OUT OF IT... TO GET SO FAR OUT :)
fred handy
I like the sampling from the early days but this is still good stuff. I've heard that getting the rights to use samples has gotten too expensive and it just takes too long to get clearance that's why many bands don't use them anymore. Besides, finding all those cool Outer Limits/Twilight Zone/Horror samples was Dwayne's Goettel's job.
RLee Roberts
Nah...they just got lazy and irrelevant.
There are PLENTY of public domain movies available to sample from
Demetrios Pappas
The only way to use samples without having to pay royalties is you can only use up to 30 seconds of a sample
Saitove.Bg
+fred handy yeah to me this album got more of the sp old style than all the albums after the process.
Anthony Delucia
i have listened to this song regularly since this album dropped this album is fucking raw i love it.
Dario Palčić
Evolution... SP as it should sounds today... Really enjoying to pure industrial sound... Modern, simple and pure samples... OhGr finally has its own competition :-). Go on guys...
Kim Galle
Harsh vocals matched with melodic synths? Match made in heaven.