‘Dog Man Star’ is often cited in the history of Suede as Bernard Butler’s Swan Song for the band, famously walking out before the album’s completion. The causes of the friction (the clash of egos, Butler’s personal grief and Brett’s self-exile into his own drug -fueled world) all seem to dominate the main themes of the album. As a result, one of Britpop’s most tortured albums was born out of the minds of men who were rapidly falling from grace.

Despite ‘Dog Man Star’ being their second album, Suede took upon a reinvention by taking a step back from the radio friendly hits of their debut and instead went in an opposite direction to the colourful chart hits of the time. This then meant that the band had to be introduced all over again, with their mantra of sex and violence preached to us unapologetically as an album opener.

Bernard Butler ominously eases the album into it’s central revolutionary theme, bringing a still eeriness to the intro of ‘We Are The Pigs’, which many may argue includes some of his best guitar work due to the ferocious riffs. The controversial video which accompanies the track gives us an indication of just how revolutionary ‘Dog Man Star’ was intended to be. A not so subtle reference to the works of Orwell, Anderson takes upon the role of ‘Big Brother’ as he dictates to the anarchists tearing through the cities.

As the rest of the album progresses, there are many direct references to obtaining this level of complete power, with the most obvious being the heartfelt ballad ‘The Power’. Was this an indication of the battle between Brett and Bernard? Coincidentally ‘The Power’ was one of the tracks of the album that Butler was not featured on. However, despite the call for dictatorship, ‘The Power’ contains an unspoken tenderness which softens the edges of such an emotionally fragile album. This ties in beautifully with the ode to misfits ‘Black or Blue’ which tackled racism head on.

One of the many influences for Brett behind his dramatic imagery was 19th Century poet William Blake. Much of this is brought forward and modernized within the psychedelia that is ‘The Asphalt World’  . Like the works of Blake, there is a tortured romanticism (‘with ice in her blood/and a Dove in her head/ well how does she feel when she’s in your bed?). Ironically, the song itself was another crack in the already fractured relationship of Brett and Bernard as an argument broke out as to how long the piece should run for.

As we celebrate 20 years of Dog Man Star we are reminded of the impossibly high standards that Suede strived to set. Closing the album with the operatic ‘Still Life’, which featured the Sinfonia of London orchestra, it demonstrates the risks which Suede were willing to take. This is shown in the fact that Dog Man Star failed to break into the mainstream and yet is still treasured as a masterful musical accomplishment. Brett Anderson still maintains that ‘If I could chose to be remembered for just one musical document, it would be this.’ It is just a shame that such a dynamic album is overshadowed by one of Britpop’s most famous and dramatic fallouts.

Nicky Lee Delisle