English indie band, which broke up in 2003, led by
Brett Anderson on vocals, with
Simon Gilbert on drums and
Mat Osman on electric bass. The original line-up comprised these three and
guitarist Bernard Butler. These four produced the albums
Suede, a raw. emotive LP dealing with the finer aspects of Englishness, failure and depression (which won them a
Mercury Music Award) and the seminal
Dog Man Star, which ranks among the finest albums ever to come out of the UK. During the preparations to tour after the release of
Dog Man Star, Bernard Butler left the band, citing the usual
excuse of "
creative differences". In order to complete the tour, Bernard was replaced by
Richard Oakes on guitar. For example, the single
New Generation was one of the last 45s taken from
Dog Man Star, but the
b-sides Together and
Bentswood Boys are co-written by Anderson and Oakes.
After the tour was completed, the band took some time off, recruited a new member - Neil Codling on keyboards - and eventually produced the 1996 album Coming Up: a real electro-rocker of an album following the principle that short is sweet and sweetness always ends up bitter. Following that came the b-sides collection Sci-fi Lullabies and then in 1999 they produced the slightly disappointing but still streets-ahead Head Music.
Suede have been credited with kicking off the Britpop movement, the more famous practitioners of which were Blur, Oasis and Pulp. A short-lived member of the embryonic Suede line-up was Justine Frischmann, guitarist and lead vocalist in another Britpop combo, Elastica, and one-time girlfriend of Blur's Damon Albarn. At the time of writing this, Suede are working on their fifth studio album.
Suede was their first album and was released in March 1994. Here is the track listing:
- So Young
- Animal Nitrate
- She's Not Dead
- Moving
- Pantomime Horse
- The Drowners
- Sleeping Pills
- Breakdown
- Metal Mickey
- Animal Lover
- The Next Life
Singles taken from the album are as follows (b-sides in brackets):
- The Drowners (To The Birds, My Insatiable One)
- Metal Mickey (Where The Pigs Don't Fly, He's Dead)
- Animal Nitrate (Painted People, The Big Time)
- So Young (Dolly, High Rising)