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.
shore line poison
Skinny Puppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Base the fire gold pouring mercury life
Given river deformed in amongst patient
Building raise an urgent call reformation
Strike the picking miners claw kick my ass
Waste the given gift the natural cure
In the age of reason gone bad morning in
Between the cold stone ashes fall upon the
Wretched chosen ones 100 megatons evaporate
Those chosen vaporize case in point and
Deserving it vaccinate all stranger than whispering
Crushed velvet corpse grind awaiting
Underneath mask unneeded decisions come
From one side of the brain insolent dented
Fibers optic looks the world of growth
Fleeting image ghost destruction t.v.screen
The song "Shoreline Poison" by Skinny Puppy is a commentary on the destructive impact of humankind's actions on the environment. The lyrics describe the various ways in which we have polluted and poisoned the earth, and how this is leading us towards our own destruction. The line "Trials administer tidal oil that suffocating" speaks to the many oil spills and the resulting damage they have caused to the oceans, including the suffocation of marine life. The line "Base the fire gold pouring mercury life" refers to the practice of using mercury to extract gold from ore, which is highly toxic and has led to serious environmental and health problems.
The lyrics also touch on the theme of greed and the destructive impact it can have on society. The lines "Waste the given gift the natural cure" and "Strike the picking miners claw kick my ass" describe how we have exploited natural resources without regard for the long-term consequences. The song suggests that we have reached a point where urgent action is needed to address the damage that has already been done, and to prevent further harm. The line "Building raise an urgent call reformation" calls for a fundamental change in how we approach environmental issues.
Overall, "Shoreline Poison" is a powerful commentary on the dangers of human activity on the environment. It urges listeners to consider the impact of their actions, and to work towards a more sustainable future.
Line by Line Meaning
Trials administer tidal oil that suffocating
The trials are administering a poisonous substance that is suffocating.
Base the fire gold pouring mercury life
The foundation of the fire is liquid gold pouring into a life of mercury, creating something dangerous.
Given river deformed in amongst patient
There is a river that has been deformed and it is causing problems amongst patients.
Building raise an urgent call reformation
The building is creating a sense of urgency and a call for change.
Strike the picking miners claw kick my ass
The picking miners claw is striking and causing harm.
Waste the given gift the natural cure
The gift of a natural cure is being wasted.
In the age of reason gone bad morning in
Reason has fallen and things are getting worse.
Between the cold stone ashes fall upon the
Ashes are falling upon the cold stone.
Wretched chosen ones 100 megatons evaporate
The chosen ones are wretched and 100 megatons are being evaporated.
Those chosen vaporize case in point and
Those chosen to be vaporized are a clear example.
Deserving it vaccinate all stranger than whispering
Everyone deserves to be vaccinated, even those who are stranger than whispers.
Crushed velvet corpse grind awaiting
There is a crushed velvet corpse awaiting something.
Underneath mask unneeded decisions come
Unnecessary decisions are being made underneath a mask.
From one side of the brain insolent dented
One side of the brain is showing insensitivity and damage.
Fibers optic looks the world of growth
The fiber optic is looking at the world of growth.
Fleeting image ghost destruction t.v.screen
The fleeting image of a ghost is causing destruction on a TV screen.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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