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The history of Skinny Puppy begins in the summer of "1983", when Cevin Key: "distorted synths, metallic percussion" and Nivek Ogre: "vocals, and horn treatments" discovering a similar taste for the bizarre and mutant in music, joined forces and recorded the "Back & Forth" cassette. This cassette, now a treasured rarity amongst S.P. fans, drew the attention of Nettwerk Productions to the band. Skinny Puppy eventually agreed to record two albums upon the Nettwerk label.

Soon after this, Skinny Puppy's Remission EP, produced by Cevin Key and David Ogilvie, was released by Nettwerk, and the band jumped out of the dungeon shadows and into enigmatic notoriety.

The crushing combination of percussive keyboard and rhythm work and malignant, cryptic vocals, have surprised and disturbed ears throughout North America. With Remission now licensed to Play it Again Sam Records in Brussels, listeners in Europe are being exposed to the same treatment. Skinny Puppy was joined by synth-man Wilhelm Schroeder shortly after the release of Remission.

In October "1985", with synthesist Wilhelm Schroeder in the ranks, Skinny Puppy released their debut LP, Bites. Production was once again handled by Cevin Key and Dave Ogilvie, with the exception of "Assimilate", which was produced by Tom Ellard of Severed Heads. Bites quickly received critical acclaim in North America and Europe and charted higher than an other Canadian independent release in recent memory on charts like CMJ, Rockpool, and U.S. Rock.
Songs like "The Choke" and "Assimilate" laid waste to dance floors on both sides of the Atlantic. In the summer of "1986" Wilhelm Schroeder left the band to pursue solo work and was replaced by Dwayne Goettel, formerly of the band Psyche.

In September, "1986", Skinny Puppy's second LP, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse was released. Boiling over with fresh sounds and rhythms, Mind: T.P.I. remains an expedition into a nether world of sonic, seething emotion. The first single, "Dig It", shot to the #10 position on the Rockpool/Rolling Stone dance chart and the LP reached #17 on CMJ's chart. "Stairs and Flowers", remixed from Mind: T.P.I. by New York DJ's Justin Strauss and Murray Elias, expanded on the mutant hip hop beat of "Dig It". Combined with the new track, "Chainsaw", the single summed up Skinny Puppy's psycho-dance strategy and it reached #8 on the Rockpool/Rolling Stone chart.

Cleanse Fold And Manipulate, Skinny Puppy's third full length LP, was released worldwide in October, "1987". The LP contained some of their most coherent, powerful material to date. Tracks such as "Anger", "Tear or Beat", and "Shadow Cast", with their heavy rhythms, balanced perfectly with the more atmospheric feel of "The Mourn" and "Epilogue". The 12" single of "Addiction" and "Deep Down Trauma Hounds", remixed by British noise-supremo Adrian Sherwood, was simply one of the most intense moments in Skinny Puppy's vinyl history.

Cleanse Fold and Manipulate marked a crossover of sorts for Skinny Puppy. The public was finally coming around to Skinny Puppy's nightmarish world on a larger scale. They could no longer be dismissed as a cult phenomenon, and when People magazine reviewed the LP, their popularity was undeniably confirmed.

Said David Hildebrand.... (People Magazine):

"Skinny Puppy craft what they call audio sculpture. Of course, listeners might have other names for it. Like Insanity. Strange random sounds and echoes ricochet through the mix. Dialogue drifts in and out, like sounds from a TV set in an adjoining hotel room. The effect is like stepping into a nightmare being experienced by the Phantom of the Opera."

"Even the ever-fickle British press succumbed to Skinny Puppy's aural onslaught".....

(Melody Maker):

"Skinny Puppy" are unspeakable. They hurt and they exhilarate. Skinny Puppy do what the greatest do - "they determine mood."

(New Musical Express):

"Like the best horror books and films, Skinny Puppy take one into one's darkest dreams and never let up the pressure". The irony is the dream they are dealing with is the reality we experience everyday we wake up. "Extraordinary in every way."

VIVIsectVI, released in October, "1988", was the long awaited follow up. The LP and the first single, "Censor" (alternately titled Dogshit), were characterized by both brutal, relentless rhythms and strangely accessible melodic lines. "Testure", the next single, was the band's most approachable song since "Dig It". To many people's surprise, it cracked the Billboard Dance Chart Top 20.

In support of the LP, Skinny Puppy undertook their most ambitious tour to date, the infamous "Head Trauma Tour". The trademark mind-bending live show had evolved to more powerfully reflect the band's ongoing concerns for animal rights. Throughout the show, the audience witnessed a transformation. Ogre became the laboratory vivisectionist, the enlightened man, and finally the tortured test subject himself.

Skinny Puppy have become the premier practitioners of punishing, ultra-aggressive, no-holds-barred electronic music. Skinny Puppy create the ultimate sonic, aural goosing.