AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Suede

Artist:Suede

Song:Animal Nitrate

Album:The Best of Suede: Beautiful Ones 1992-2018

Suede was successful in their native England in the 90s. The 1993 single Animal Nitrate was their first top ten hit in England. They were known as The London Suede in the US and they weren't as successful there. Lead singer and main songwriter Brett Anderson and guitarist Justine Frischmann met in 1988 while studying at University College London and soon became a couple. They started jamming with Anderson's childhood friend Mat Osman on bass. They placed an ad in NME for a lead guitarist. That brought them 19 year old Bernard Butler. They decided on the name Suede. There was no drummer. They used a drum machine. Suede was influenced by The Smiths and The Cure among others including 70s glam rock. They started playing gigs. A demo was sent to the BBC radio show Demo Clash. They won five straight weeks and that got them a record deal with the small label RML. They weren't happy with the drum machine and placed an ad for a drummer. They ultimately hired Simon Gilbert who spoke to their manager at the time Ricky Gervais. Anderson and Justine split up and she started dating Blur lead singer Damon Albarn. She thought she could stay in the band. But there was tension so she was kicked out. Anderson and Butler started writing songs together. They had trouble getting a record deal because they sounded too much like The Smiths and grunge was popular at the time. They finally signed with Saul Galpern's Nude label for two singles. That's when the buzz started and record companies offered to buy their contract from Galpern. Instead he signed a distribution deal with Sony that gave Suede creative control. Their debut album Suede was released in 1993. Animal Nitrate was the third single and it reached #7 on the British Singles chart. The album topped the charts. Anderson and Butler wrote all the songs and former Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Ed Buller produced the album. Not surprisingly, Animal Nitrate was about drugs. Suede still sounded like The Smiths but that didn't matter anymore. When the album was released in the US, some lounge singer threatened to sue about the name. So they were forced to call themselves The London Suede. Meanwhile, Anderson and Butler weren't getting along and Butler left in 1994. A lot of the 1994 album Dog Man Star had already been recorded. Anderson continued to write on his own. Richard Oakes was the new guitarist. They also added Gilbert's cousin Neil Codling to play keyboards. Suede continued to have success in England until Nude closed in 2001 and Sony stopped promoting them. Anderson decided to disband Suede in Oct. 2003. Suede reunited for one time only in 2010. But they decided to make it permanent and they have released three albums. This 2CD budget comp covers Suede's entire career. Suede toured with the Manic Street Preachers in 2022 and they are currently on tour with them again. Here's the video for Animal Nitrate by Suede.