Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. The group is widely considered to be one of the founders of the electro-industrial genre. Initially envisioned as an experimental side project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie). Over the course of a dozen studio albums and many live tours, Key and Ogre have been the only constant members.

Skinny Puppy is noted for theatrical and controversial live performances which blend performance art with music, especially in an ambitious period that spanned their Head Trauma (1987-1988), VIVIsectVI (1988), Too Dark Park (1990), and Last Rights (1992) tours. Ogre has been critical of the bands early performances, telling Spin magazine in 1992 that "I would do things on stage that would blow-they just wouldn't work". Live performances involved periods of musical improvisation, film projections, and elaborate stage props and machines, many of which are designed and built by Ogre himself. While discussing Skinny Puppy's performances, Ogre once remarked that "our shows combine images with theater. It works better than just coming out and doing a horror magic routine".  On-stage theatrics included Ogre being suspended from racks and cables, play with a hangman's noose, Key cutting steel with an angle grinder, and mock executions of Ogre and George H.W. Bush. Following the 2004 Presidential Election in the United States, promoters began to ask the band to refrain from using fake blood during their performances. This reaction was prompted by the performance of a mock execution on stage, during which Ogre was decapitated by actors dressed as then U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The band was also asked by Samsung (who had been asked by Ogre to sponsor the band with a large flat screen) to "not insult the president" while performing on stage. In a 1987 television interview with Kim Clarke Champniss, Key explained that while Ogre follows a "rough guideline" during a live performance, a majority of his on-stage theatrics are thought up of spontaneously. Key told Champniss that Ogre's demeanor on stage could "range from just a sort of laid back kind of lurking to a rampant psycho". Ogre once remarked that touring was, for himself, like "dating hydrogen peroxide", referencing the numerous injuries which he would acquire over the course of touring.  Though Ogre and Key have remained the only constant members of Skinny Puppy's live act since the death of Dwayne Goettel, several other musicians have been hired to accompany the pair since 2004. They include drummer Justin Bennett, guitarist William Morrison, and guitarist Matthew Setzer.

Ask a question about this article.
what time period did they begin to get big