Aaron Matthews prefers Suede to White Denim. 

Fusing the catchy leer and guitar heroics of 70s glam rock with the grim crooning of Scott Walker, and the melodic melodrama of the Smiths, Suede was the first Britpop band. They formed in London in 1989, comprising singer Brett Anderson, bassist Matt Osman and Anderson’s then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann (future frontwoman for Elastica) on rhythm guitar. Lead guitarist Bernard Butler was later conscripted through an ad in music rag Melody Maker. For a few years, they played local shows, shopped around demos and released one single, “Be My God”/”Art”, on the indie label RML Records; the single was later destroyed after the band felt unsatisfied with it. In ’91, Frischmann left Suede and began dating Damon Albarn of Blur, and the band started to attract attention in NME and Melody Maker. One year later, they signed to the independent Nude Records and released their first single, “The Drowners”; the band released their self-titled debut in 1993. Produced by future Pulp soundsmith Ed Buller, Suede would go on to debut at #1 on the U.K. album charts and win the coveted Mercury Music Prize.

The band’s greatest innovation was teaching a generation of U.K. bands the significance of a skilled guitarist. Butler’s crunchy guitar riffs channel both Mick Ronson and Johnny Marr without approaching pastiche, thanks to Ed Buller’s layered yet crisp production. Anderson’s lyrics largely chronicle the youthful indiscretions that came to define early 90s London youth, experiments conducted with needles (“So Young”), medication (“Sleeping Pills”) and bisexuality (“The Drowners”, “Moving”). The gentler numbers tackle more universal topics: Breakdown” is a tribute to a friend dealing with depression, while album closer “The Next Life” is a piano-led ode to an imagined escape from everyday drudgery. Suede’s best songs combine Morrissey’s emotional theatricality with the unapologetic catchiness of glam: single “Animal Nitrate” is easily the catchiest song on the album, a stark account of incest and physical abuse brilliantly disguised as an upbeat hip shaker, complete with handclaps. “Pantomime Horse” is a drifting ballad with the cosmic-hippie feel of early Bowie, culminating in Butler’s most brazen soloing, while “Metal Mickey” is glam tribute played straight, raucous and absurdly catchy riffs backing incomprehensible lyrics.

Admittedly, Brett Anderson’s squeal takes some getting used to, but c’mon, it’s not half as headache-inducing as 90% of grunge’s hoary bellowing. Suede is a tremendously important record that set the blueprint for future British rock bands to establish an artistic reputation through singles and touring. And while Suede’s musical DNA is largely missed in the current U.K. music scene, the hype that Anderson’s ensemble generated before dropping a single record pre-empted an entire generation of short-lived buzz bands (anyone remember The View? Thought so). Even beyond the album’s abstracted historical significance, Suede remains a compulsively replayable journey through the seedier side of British youth culture.

Download:
MP3: Suede - “The Drowners”
MP3: Suede - “So Young”

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