Remember Britpop? That weirdly exhausting jingoistic 90s era which gave us Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Elastica etc. Then there’s Suede, who arguably started it all – infamously dubbed “the best new band in Britain” in 1992 and now nine albums in, they return to Wales on a co-headline tour with the Manic Street Preachers. Obviously, every self-respecting Welsh person knows them, but here are the top five songs from Suede, their London cohorts, chosen by Joshua Williams.
1. Animal Nitrate
One of the best guitar riffs ever, no two ways about it: as a showcase for Bernard Butler’s genius, Animal Nitrate combines with Brett Anderson’s brilliant lyricism to create one of the band’s most iconic songs. It was the third single from Suede’s self-titled debut album, which won the 1993 Mercury Prize and has been included on quite a lot of greatest albums ever lists: the likes of Metal Mickey, The Drowners, and So Young remain, like Animal Nitrate, live Suede mainstays.
2. New Generation
A dark, depressing, brooding masterpiece, Suede’s second album Dog Man Star is a classic, despite its fraught gestation: infighting reached a head when guitarist Butler left the band during recording. Some of Anderson’s finest lyricism is found herein, especially on New Generation: the line “And like all the boys in all the cities / I take the poison, take the pity” is a perfect example of its decadently depressed imagery. Dog Man Star also gave us singles We Are The Pigs and The Wild Ones, and some of the most iconic Suede B-sides – Killing Of A Flash Boy, Whipsnade – came from these sessions too.
3. Beautiful Ones
What do you do when your genius guitarist leaves? You get another one. Following an audition process, Richard Oakes – aged just 17 at the time – beat out 500 other applicants to replace Bernard Butler, with Neil Codling rounding off the band on rhythm guitar and keyboard. After the Dog Man Star tour, the band sat down to write and record the glam rock-inspired Coming Up. Another number one album, it yielded the likes of Trash and Filmstar, plus still more excellent B-sides (leading to 1997 compilation album Sci-fi Lullabies), but the catchy, sexy Beautiful Ones is arguably the quintessential Suede song.
4. It Starts And Ends With You
Following the release of the critically panned A New Morning in 2002, Suede called it a day. Reunion shows in 2010, though, were followed by 2013’s Bloodsports, the band’s first new material in over a decade. Whilst opening track Barriers first appeared as a free download from the band in January of that year, the first single from the album was the storming It Starts And Ends With You. Pretty much classic Suede at this point – certainly, it’s been a mainstay in the band’s sets ever since – Oakes’ riff combines once again with Anderson’s vivid lyrical imagery, making for one of the band’s best tunes.
5. She Still Leads Me On
Suede’s most recent album, 2023’s Autofiction, came off the back of Anderson’s two autobiographies Coal Black Mornings and Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn – the books’ content circle round to the vocalist’s lyrical themes on the album. Its first single, She Still Leads Me On, is about Anderson’s mother – who died in 1989, the same year Suede formed – and has a trademark Suede chorus: big and lifting, from the pre-chorus’ first line “But I loved her with my last breath / And I loved her with a love that was as strong as death”.
Suede / Manic Street Preachers, Royal International Pavilion, Llangollen, Fri 28 June; Cardiff Castle, Fri 5 + Sat 6 July.
Tickets: £59.50 (sold out). Info: Llangollen / Cardiff
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS
