View source for Testure

{{Short description|Song by Skinny Puppy}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = Testure
| cover      = Testure_(1988)_cover.png
| alt        = A collage of contrasting fabrics (black and red) and a cat's skull
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Skinny Puppy]]
| album      = [[VIVIsectVI]]
| released   = 1989
| recorded   = Mid-1988
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Synth-pop]]|[[electro-industrial]]|[[industrial dance]]}}
| length     = 23:35 <small>(vinyl and CD versions)</small><br />20:51 <small>(mini CD version)</small>
| label      = {{hlist|[[Nettwerk]]|[[Capitol Records|Capitol]]/[[EMI]]}}
| composer   =
| lyricist   =
| producer   = {{hlist|[[Dave Ogilvie]]|[[cEvin Key]]}}
| prev_title = [[Censor (single)|Censor]]
| prev_year  = 1988
| next_title = [[Tin Omen (single)|Tin Omen]]
| next_year  = 1989
| misc       = {{Audio sample
 | type        = single
 | file        = Testure (1988) clip.ogg
}}
}}
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="allmusic1">{{cite web|title=Skinny Puppy – Testure|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/testure-mw0000845580|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|accessdate=May 13, 2018}}</ref>
}}

'''"Testure"''' is a song by Canadian [[electro-industrial]] band [[Skinny Puppy]], taken from its 1988 album ''[[VIVIsectVI]]'' and released as a [[single (music)|single]] in 1989. "Testure" was the group's first and last song to chart on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboards's]]'' [[Dance Club Songs]], and it was accompanied with a controversial music video.

==Content==
===The song===
Three primary versions of "Testure" exist, two of which appear on the single. The album version of "Testure" is a five-minute track with smooth electronics, [[fretless bass]], and a profusion of [[sampling (music)|samples]] from [[Martin Rosen (director)|Martin Rosen]]'s 1982 film ''[[The Plague Dogs (film)|The Plague Dogs]]''.<ref name=sample>{{cite web|last1=Cigéhn |first1=Peter |title=The Top Sampling Groups List: Skinny Puppy |url=http://www.sloth.org/samples-bin/samples/group?entry=Skinny+Puppy |website=Internet Archive: Wayback Machine |accessdate=19 July 2016 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041030150321/http://www.sloth.org/samples-bin/samples/group?entry=Skinny+Puppy |archivedate=October 30, 2004 }}</ref> Its lyrics contain both the title of its host album, ''[[VIVIsectVI]]'' (1988), and the album's main themes: [[animal rights]] and [[animal testing|testing]].<ref name="exclaim1">{{cite web|last1=Wolanski|first1=Coreen|title=Skinny Puppy: Every Dog Has Its Day|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/skinny_puppy-every_dog_has_its_day|work=[[Exclaim!]]|accessdate=May 11, 2018}}</ref><ref name="SM1">{{cite web|title=Skinny Puppy Biography|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/bands/Skinny-Puppy/2633/|publisher=Sputnikmusic|accessdate=May 11, 2018}}</ref> ''[[See Magazine]]'' considered "Testure" to be ''VIVIsectVI'''s "centerpiece".<ref name="SEE1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.seemagazine.com/Issues/2005/0811/mus7.htm|title=Infectious Bite|accessdate=May 11, 2018|work=[[See Magazine]]|date=August 11, 2005|author=See Staff|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223033702/http://www.seemagazine.com/Issues/2005/0811/mus7.htm|archivedate=2007-02-23}}</ref>

"Testure (S.F. Mix)" shortens the song to four minutes and introduces a greater emphasis on samples from ''The Plague Dogs''. The fretless bass, played by Dale Plevin, is also featured more prominently than on the album version.<ref name="notes1" /> This mix went on to appear on the band's 1999 compilation album, ''[[The Singles Collect]]'', and was used in the song's music video. "Testure (12" Mix)" acts as an extended version of the song, clocking in at eight and a half minutes. This version, remixed and re-edited by Skinny Puppy's own [[cEvin Key]] and [[Dave Ogilvie]],<ref name="notes1" /> also begins with a protracted series of samples from ''The Plague Dogs''.<ref name="sample" /> The song's main [[synthesizer]] riff does not begin until nearly two minutes in, and [[Nivek Ogre]]'s vocals are not introduced until the three minute mark. This extended mix appeared on 1990's ''[[Twelve Inch Anthology]]'' compilation.

"Testure's" title is most likely a [[Word play|play]] on the words "test" and "torture" intended to equate live animal experimentation to torture.

===The single===
Prompted by airplay and club attention,<ref name="videoint">{{cite interview |last1=Key |first1=cEvin |subject-link1=cEvin Key|last2=Goettel|first2=Dwayne|subject-link2=Dwayne Goettel|interviewer= |title=City Limits Interviews Skinny Puppy |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y8NT5uONEc  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110052730/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y8NT5uONEc |archive-date=2018-11-10 |url-status=dead|publisher=[[MuchMusic]]|location=Toronto |date= |work=[[City Limits (TV series)|City Limits]] |access-date=May 13, 2018}}</ref> "Testure" was released as a single in 1989, a year after the release of ''VIVIsectVI''.<ref name="disco1">{{cite book|last=Kern|first=Jay|title=Skinny Puppy – Synthesis|date=January 2014|publisher=Mythos Press|pages=83, 239}}</ref> It charted at place nineteen and spent five weeks on ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboards's]]'' [[Dance Club Songs]],<ref name="billboard1">{{cite magazine|title=Hot Dance Music|magazine=Billboard|date=March 25, 1989|volume=101|issue=12|pages=30|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/80s/1989/BB-1989-03-25-OCR-Page-0028.pdf#search=%22skinny%20puppy%22|accessdate=19 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="billboard2">{{cite magazine|title=Skinny Puppy Chart History – Dance Club Songs|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/skinny-puppy/chart-history/dsi/|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|accessdate=May 11, 2018}}</ref> making it Skinny Puppy's most successful single.<ref name="SEE1" /> Two variations of the release's track listing exist: one with the song "The Second Opinion", and one with "Cage". All versions feature the S.F. and extended mixes of "Testure", and all versions feature "Serpents", a [[B-side]] unique to this single.<ref name="disco2">{{cite web|title=Brap...The Skinny Puppy Discography|url=http://www.prongs.org/brap/SP.html|work=Prongs|accessdate=May 11, 2018}}</ref><ref name="disco1" />

{{Listen|filename=Serpents_(1989)_clip.ogg|title="Serpents"|description="Serpents" showcases Skinny Puppy's percussive experimentation.}}

"The Second Opinion", which also appeared appended to the end of ''VIVIsectVI's'' CD release,<ref name="notes2">{{Cite AV media notes |title=VIVIsectVI |type=CD liner notes |others=Skinny Puppy |year=1988 |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/vivisectvi-mw0000202094/credits |access-date=May 10, 2018 |publisher=[[Nettwerk]] |id=NET 021 CD}}</ref> includes the line "that machine has got to be destroyed" from [[Stuart Gordon|Stuart Gordon's]] 1986 adaptation of [[H. P. Lovecraft|H. P. Lovecraft's]] ''[[From Beyond (film)|From Beyond]]''.<ref name="sample" /> The song itself is built around a repeating [[drum machine]] loop interspersed with modulated and distorted vocal samples. "The Second Opinion" began as a live jam titled "Snub" and was later refined and mixed in studio.<ref name="lit1">{{cite web|last1=Key|first1=cEvin|author-link=cEvin Key|title=Topic: ViViSectVi last 5 tracks|url=http://litany.prongs.org/index.php?topic=5664.msg328807#msg328807|publisher=Litany.net|accessdate=May 17, 2018}}</ref><!--note, this citation is for the comment by the user Subconscious Studios, who is cEvin Key--> "Cage", which originally appeared on Skinny Puppy's 1987 single "[[Chainsaw (Skinny Puppy song)|Chainsaw]]", concludes with the line "It's just a little blood... it'll wash out" from [[William Lustig]]'s 1980 horror film, ''[[Maniac (1980 film)|Maniac]]''.<ref name="sample" /> "Serpents" is percussion-focused song that blends programmed [[industrial music|industrial]] beats with tribal drums.

The single's artwork was designed by [[Steven R. Gilmore]], and the back features a large syringe provided by his friend from the [[University of British Columbia]], who also supplied the X-ray images used on ''VIVIsectVI's'' artwork.<ref name=pod1>{{cite podcast |url=http://www.idieyoudie.com/2016/03/we-have-a-technical-94-cocktails-with-cockroaches/ |title=We Have a Technical Interviews Steven R. Gilmore |work=I Die: You Die |host=Alex and Bruce |date=March 10, 2016 |time=30:29 |access-date=May 13, 2018 }}</ref>

==Music video==
"Testure's" music video, directed by Ogre and produced by Gary Blair Smith,<ref name="disco1" /> begins with a definition of the word [[vivisection]]. What follows is the story of a dog-abusing man who, in turn, becomes a test subject operated on and caged by surgeons.<ref name="tamp5">{{cite journal |last=Carey |first=Jean |title='Park' Outing Is No Picnic |journal=[[Tampa Bay Times]] |date=November 9, 1990 |page=99}}</ref> Interspersed with the narrative sections are shots of actual animal testing footage from the 1981 documentary ''[[The Animals Film]]'' and the 1984 [[PETA]] film ''[[Unnecessary Fuss]]''.<ref name="disco1" /> According to Ogre and Key, the video was pulled from airplay following an internal poll by [[City (TV network)|Citytv]], an associate of Canada's [[MuchMusic]].<ref name=ipso>{{cite news|last1=Gilmore|first1=Steven R.|author-link=Steven R. Gilmore|title=The Peril's of Puppy|url=http://litany.net/interviews/ipso89.htm|work=Ipso Facto Magazine|issue=7|date=1989}}</ref> The poll came out nearly split, but, regardless, the video was ultimately banned by "the powers that be".<ref name="ipso" /> The video, despite depicting vivisection in "vivid detail", was broadcast on [[Gorizont|Horizon]], the [[Soviet Union]]'s primary satellite channel, as a critique on materialism.<ref name="SEE1" />

==Track listing==
{{tracklist
| all_writing     = 
| headline        = 12-inch and CD release
| title1          = Testure 
| note1           = 12" mix
| length1         = 8:34
| title2          = Testure
| note2           = S.F. mix
| length2         = 4:04
| title3          = The Second Opinion
| length3         = 5:00
| title4          = Serpents
| length4         = 5:55
| total_length    = 23:35
}}

{{tracklist
| all_writing     = 
| headline        = Mini CD release
| total_length    = 20:51
| title1          = Testure
| note1           = S.F. mix
| length1         = 4:03
| title2          = Testure 
| note2           = 12" mix
| length2         = 8:32
| title3          = Serpents
| length3         = 5:58
| title4          = Cage
| length4         = 2:18
}}

==Personnel==
All credits adapted from liner notes<ref name=notes1>{{Cite AV media notes |title=''"Testure"'' |type=CD liner notes |others=Skinny Puppy |year=1989 |publisher=[[Capitol Records]] |id=V-15439}}</ref>

'''Skinny Puppy'''
*[[Nivek Ogre]] – vocals
*[[cEvin Key]] – synthesizers, programming, engineering
*[[Dwayne Goettel]] – synthesizers, programming, engineering
*[[Dave Ogilvie]] – production, editing

'''Additional personnel'''
*Dale Plevin – [[fretless bass]] <small>(tracks 1 and 2)</small>
*Sir Arthur – editing <small>(track 1)</small>
*[[Steven R. Gilmore]] – artwork

== Chart positions ==
{| class = "wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Chart (1989)
! Peak<br/>position
|-
| {{singlechart|Billboarddanceclubplay|19|artist=Skinny Puppy|accessdate=May 13, 2018}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.discogs.com/Skinny-Puppy-Testure/master/3844 "Testure"] at [[Discogs]] (list of releases)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLm9mhh7gvg "Testure"] official music video

{{Skinny Puppy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1989 singles]]
[[Category:Animal testing]]
[[Category:Skinny Puppy songs]]
[[Category:Nettwerk Records singles]]
[[Category:Capitol Records singles]]
[[Category:EMI Records singles]]
[[Category:1989 songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by cEvin Key]]
[[Category:Songs written by Nivek Ogre]]
[[Category:Songs written by Dwayne Goettel]]
[[Category:Songs written by Dave Ogilvie]]
[[Category:Songs about animal rights]]