For a start, Suede are one of the only bands that can open a set with a B-side and have every single person in the crowd singing along. ‘Animal Nitrate’, ‘Trash’, ‘The Beautiful Ones’ all spring to mind when you think of Suede, but what about the rest of them?

May 1992 saw the release of their first single, ‘The Drowners’. This is what put Suede on the map, and Britpop was born. But don’t be fooled, this was not a group of pretty boys with perfectly messy, sandy blonde hair – they were much darker than that. It was Anderson’s alluring, androgynous image and sexually ambiguous lyrics that shocked and intrigued audiences. They soon became an unstoppable force, what with Anderson’s trademark pout and powerful shrieks sending shivers down your spine, along side the crunch of Butler’s guitar, spitting out riff after riff. This was when British music actually started to mean something again.

Their Mercury Prize winning debut was just the start, it paved the way to Suede’s masterpiece, the beautifully seedy Dog Man Star, which shows Anderson display the full spectrum of emotions. This is also Suede at their most experimental, a bold move for a second album. But what really makes Dog Man Star stand out from every other Suede album is the tension present between Anderson and Butler whilst recording; this is what gives it it’s emotionally raw edge.

Everyone remembers the passionate cries of “we are the pigs” and the gentle whales of ‘The Wild Ones’, but what about the heavily Bowie influenced ‘Daddy’s Speeding’, which shows off the band’s more experimental flare, driven by minimalistic piano and heavy, spacey guitar, whilst being held together by Brett eerily growling over it all as you sit on edge as it all unfolds. What about ‘The Asphalt World’? 9 minutes and 25 seconds of glamourous prog-rock bliss, that drags you in and demands your attention as you lose yourself within its many layers; as Anderson’s vocals float effortlessly over the psychedelic drug-fuelled twang of Butler’s guitar whilst the emphasis vigorously switches from Anderson to Butler right to the very end. This is the song that defines the album – this is the song that defines Suede.

In-fact, Suede have so many great B-sides, that they decided to release an album that consisted of nothing but them in 2013. Sci-Fi Lullabies consists of 27 of Suede’s best kept secrets; from glam anthem ‘Killing Of A Flashboy’ to ‘My Insatiable One’ which was so good that Morrissey decided to cover it. But there is one Suede B-side that stands out more than any other, and it has to be ‘Where The Pigs Don’t Fly’, which seems like more of a dream than a song. everything about it is just utterly stunning, from the tone of the guitar that brings you up and then just lets you fall right into Anderson’s alluring vocals.

Suede were and still are such an important band, They proved that “indie rock” didn’t have to be all macho, and that you can be on the fringes of the mainstream but still be successful and extremely relevant.

Abbi Parcell