24. ‘Suede’

 

“We shake, shake, shake to the trumpet and through the slippery city we ride”.

 

“We are the pigs, we are the swine”

 

“She sells heart, she sells meat, oh dad she's driving me mad, come see”

 

“There's a song playing on the radio, sky high in the airwaves on the morning show”

 

‘Suede’ came along at an important time in my life, the time when I was finishing my A-levels and was looking for a University place to go to. It was also the time when I was moving away from pop music and getting more into all the ‘student’ music styles, reading ‘Select Magazine’, ‘Melody Maker’ and the ‘NME’ regularly; and wanting to be part of the ‘alternative’ lifestyle. Prior to this point in time I had been unsure about ‘indie’ music, and actually had avoided buying any ‘Smiths’ albums because I thought I would be getting just a wail of unlistenable guitar noise on the tracks that were not the pop singles (on the other hand Morrissey was good because he was ‘EMI’).

 

I think ‘Suede’ were the first ‘new Smiths’ of the 1990s and Brett Anderson had come to be the new messiah of indie-pop. This was mostly because all the ‘Madchester’ bands had either imploded or had become stadium rockers, and because the original messiah, Morrissey, had gone off with Mark E. Nevin and had developed into a kind of Northern ‘Madness’.

 

I cannot remember where I first heard ‘The Drowners’ but it was one of those amazing records that ‘stops you dead’ in your tracks. I was listening to a lot of night-time ‘Radio One’ by that point and watching ‘the Chart Show’ religiously, so it is either of these that I have to thank for introducing me to this band.

 

The next single ‘Metal Mickey’ was even better, even though I was at the age where I would not want it being associated with Mr. Dolenz’s long lost robot friend, as that was the 1980s that was my past. Actually, even though I was moving away from all my 1980s pop records and getting into bands like ‘Suede’ ‘the Auteurs’ and ‘Tindersticks’, there was one 1980s pop act that Brett Anderson managed to change my opinion about, but this time the act was not Morrissey, this time the act was David Bowie.

 

Having grown up in the 1980s, I had loved all those ‘Twin White Duke’ hits such as ‘China Girl’ and ‘Let’s Dance’ as well as ‘critical disasters’ like ‘Time Will Crawl’, though I did not really know that much about his earlier records. Thanks to the glam styling of ‘Suede’ and the journalists who always mentioned ‘Ziggy Stardust’ around this time in connection to the band, I became more interested in David Bowie’s brilliant earlier works.

 

However, even though ‘Suede’ had ‘resurrected’ Bowie’s career after the critical shame of the ‘Tin Machine’ years, the band would not have the equal respect that Bowie would command for rest of the 1990s, due to the events of 1994 and the emergence of ‘Britpop’.

 

As a pre-‘Britpop’ glam indie band ‘Suede’ were the most amazing band, an act with no equals, critically adored and even though I loved what Luke Haines was doing it was obvious that he was not in the same league. Morrissey’s career had his own problems too, including declining record sales and those allegations of NF flirtation, though Morrissey solo had always been second best to ‘Morrissey and Marr’ in the eyes of the press. Similarly, as ‘Suede’ had been hyped up as ‘the new Smiths’, it was the ‘relationship’ between their ‘Morrissey and Marr’, the ‘Brett and Bernard’ partnership, that the press had focused on; and this is what had made the band the success it was. With Butler leaving in the midst of massive band arguments, and not forgetting to some amazing records with the vocalist from ‘Thieves’, ‘Suede’ were never the same again as some of the ‘magic’ seemed to have been lost.

 

It also did not help that one of the most successful bands ever were to launch around this time and living not too far away in the suburbs of Manchester, it was a band that could not be ignored.

 

Even though ‘Oasis’ were not really part of the baggy ‘Madchester’ scene (notwithstanding the ‘Inspirals’ link), ‘Blur’ were, and whereas once they were just an other dodgy ‘baggy’ band to rank alongside ‘the Poppy Factory’, ‘Top’ and ‘Candy Flip’ in the affections of the music press, it now turned out that ‘Blur’ were very good indeed, so good in fact that maybe they could become ‘the new Madness’ or ‘the new Kinks’.

 

With the ‘Britpop’ of ‘Blur’ and ‘Oasis’, it seemed that ‘Suede’ had dropped down a level to join ‘the Charlatans’ as one of those bands that you always liked well enough to buy, but ones who seemed to be just under that premier division of ‘Britpop’. They were now one of those bands which always seemed to be around in the charts for a few weeks with each release rather than having the long-runners or major tabloid attention.

 

a nice account there m m..

 

suede never really interested me though, again like with others here (in this seriese) it was at a time when i didnt like the current music, prefering to update my back catalogue of 60's and 80's music.

Yeah, I always had conflicting feelings towards Suede myself MM, mainly because I was more into the experimental stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc or else the US Indie Rock of bands like Dinosaur Jr, Slint, Pavement, Sebadoh, Throwing Muses, Mudhoney, Pixies, etc... But they were a good band, they were certainly instrumental in kickstarting the whole "Britpop" thing and were pretty much the prototype "Britpop" band in a lot of ways... The Auteurs were another band I quite liked as well, particularly the first two albums...

They were the first Britpop band. Way before Blur. I loved them when they first came out but lost interest as soon as Bernard Butler left. I think magazines championed them because finally here were some people who were quite good looking and had a sense of style for their front covers.

 

No more 'ugly' Carter in shorts, Frank and Walters with flares and 'bowl' haircuts or Shaun Ryder peeping out at you in the newsagent.

They were the first Britpop band. Way before Blur.

 

In some ways they were, but I don’t think the term ‘Britpop’ was invented that early on in 1992. I think that comes afterwards. There were still loads of ‘grunge’ bands that the press were focusing on and ‘Suede’ came in during that period of transition. I think this was the same period when ‘Blur’ stopped doing the ‘baggy’ stuff and had evolved into doing the brilliant ‘power-punk’ of ‘Popscene’.

Popscene actually predated The Drowners by about a month and a half. It's just that because of the baggy connection Popscene was seen as a bit of a failure from a bunch of also rans while The Drowners was lauded all over the place, especially the Melody Maker and Vox.

They were the first Britpop band. Way before Blur. I loved them when they first came out but lost interest as soon as Bernard Butler left. I think magazines championed them because finally here were some people who were quite good looking and had a sense of style for their front covers.

 

No more 'ugly' Carter in shorts, Frank and Walters with flares and 'bowl' haircuts or Shaun Ryder peeping out at you in the newsagent.

 

Great words there mate ^_^ Suede were a really great band, just like Reef :arrr: From Suede my favourite track will always remain "Saturday Night" :w00t: xox.

Yup, Britpop wasn't invented back then, but Suede did pave the way for a change in music which led to Britpop. Then Oasis took the baton and Britpop morphed into Dadrock faster than Chris Evans on one of those rubbish Ocean Colour Scene scooters.

 

I'm not one for labelling times but it works here.

Popscene actually predated The Drowners by about a month and a half. It's just that because of the baggy connection Popscene was seen as a bit of a failure from a bunch of also rans while The Drowners was lauded all over the place, especially the Melody Maker and Vox.

 

 

I think that and ‘Weirdo’ can not be considered to be ‘Britpop’ at all. They are done by bands which became linked to ‘Britpop’ but the sound is something else, something still great, or perhaps greater.

 

In fact, the first ‘Britpop’ band might be actually ‘Cud’ as they had their own take on a ‘British Pop’ genre within the indie scene in about 1991, though they had been on a local label a few years before that. You may also remember Carl Puttnam’s take on Martin Fry’s famous shirt from the ‘Asquarius’ promotional photographs, which is a link to another era of classic British pop.

 

Suede remain my favourite band of all time :yahoo:

 

I was lucky enough to see them live a dozen or so times in 1992 another twenty or so times before their last ever gig. In the early days it was still possible to turn up on the night and pay your fiver on the door. Then first time I saw themn (a couple months before The Drowners), they were supporting The Heart Throbs so they played to fewer than 100 people.

 

BTW, a good commentary from Mr. Mondo

I think that and ‘Weirdo’ can not be considered to be ‘Britpop’ at all. They are done by bands which became linked to ‘Britpop’ but the sound is something else, something still great, or perhaps greater.

 

In fact, the first ‘Britpop’ band might be actually ‘Cud’ as they had their own take on a ‘British Pop’ genre within the indie scene in about 1991, though they had been on a local label a few years before that. You may also remember Carl Puttnam’s take on Martin Fry’s famous shirt from the ‘Asquarius’ promotional photographs, which is a link to another era of classic British pop.

 

Sorry I don't understand the point you're trying to make. Who said anything about The Charlatans. BTW Cud were $h!te anyway and certainly nothing to do with Britpop. Just another boring early 90s indie band. You could pluck any band out of the hat from the late 80s and early 90s indie scene and say oh yeah they influenced Britpop.

Can't agree with that. Cud weren't $h!te at all.

 

I truly believe that only Suede remained the same as they'd been prior to Britpop when Britpop came around even if they did lose a member. Blur became big through disco bass riffs and 'whoops Mrs Worthington' mockney jibber-jabber. The Verve became famous by becoming derivative and diluted. The Charlatans adapted and lost their baggy sound which made them likable in the first place. Bands like Carter, PWEI and the Inspiral Carpets kept doing roughly the same thing but weren't big during britpop anyway.

 

There's my logic, even if it is a pointless argument.

I was being slightly ironic there. Of course you couldn't really take any band out of the early 90s. I meant you might as well pick a name at random and say yeah they really influenced Britpop. And Cud were bloody ordinary. And what is so special about staying the same any way. Suede really didn't progress at all and hence their albums became progressively less interetsing. Blur did make it big on the Parklife shtick but then had to change to Pavement inspired rock. The Charlatans released North Country Boy far and away their best single in the middle of Britpop. The Verve changed after they split up the first time and Urban Hymns should really have been an Ashcroft solo record. Doesn't take away that Bittersweet Symphony is one hell of a good record.

 

Carter and the other t-shirt bands like PWEI and Ned's were more or less over by 1994.

Edited October 17, 200717 yr by grebo69

Sorry I don't understand the point you're trying to make. Who said anything about The Charlatans. BTW Cud were $h!te anyway and certainly nothing to do with Britpop. Just another boring early 90s indie band. You could pluck any band out of the hat from the late 80s and early 90s indie scene and say oh yeah they influenced Britpop.

 

I mentioned the band in the last paragraph of the ‘main text’ and so that comment relates back to that part of the conversation. I thought everyone here might know that they did ‘Weirdo’ and felt that I did not need to mention them again by name. Actually, I think that song is my favourite record by them, whilst ‘Popscene’ is my favourite single by ‘Blur’.

 

‘Rich and Strange’ and ‘Purple Love Balloon’ are great records as well.

'Weirdo' is the best single the Charlatans ever did I reckon. 'North Country Boy' to me was awful.

I do not mind it, even though it is not a record I would search out in my collection. On the other hand hearing ‘One to another, sister and a brother’ always makes me nostalgic for ‘50p a pint night’ at ‘the Venue’ and so this is a record that I like to hear.

Yup, reminds me of my student days too...probably why I don't like the later 90s Charlatans songs - they played them to death at the indie discos.

Yes, at some student clubs, the playlist was so static from week to week that you could know it was nearly drinking up time when ‘the Monkees’ came on. I think enough time has passed to re-visit all those old records now, and think of all the places you used to go that are not there any more.

Suede were a fantastic band at the dawn of the Britpop movement.

 

I bought & still have all their CD singles from their first two albums including the non-album Stay Together. As many of their B-sides were as good as the A-sides and better than many of their album tracks.

 

For me their second album "Dog Man Star" (and last with Bernard Butler remains their definitive album), by the time of their 4th album "Head Music" they were heading into a sharp decline.

 

Suede - My Insatiable One (B-side of The Drowners)

 

Suede - The Wild Ones

 

Suede - The Power (acoustic live from the album Dog Man Star)

Ahh, Dog Man Star. That's still my all-time favourite album. The whole album just works so well as a brilliant piece of music. One of the few albums which wouldn't sound right if it was played in random order. Pretentious, moi? :lol:

 

You're right about the b-sides. Not many bands can release an album of b-sides which rank alongside their other albums but Sci-Fi Lullabies is an excellent album in its own right. Not that I'm biased of course :P