English indie band, which broke up in 2003, led by Brett Anderson on vocals, with Simon Gilbert on drums and Mat Osman on electric bass. The original line-up comprised these three and guitarist Bernard Butler. These four produced the albums Suede, a raw. emotive LP dealing with the finer aspects of Englishness, failure and depression (which won them a Mercury Music Award) and the seminal Dog Man Star, which ranks among the finest albums ever to come out of the UK. During the preparations to tour after the release of Dog Man Star, Bernard Butler left the band, citing the usual excuse of "creative differences". In order to complete the tour, Bernard was replaced by Richard Oakes on guitar. For example, the single New Generation was one of the last 45s taken from Dog Man Star, but the b-sides Together and Bentswood Boys are co-written by Anderson and Oakes.

After the tour was completed, the band took some time off, recruited a new member - Neil Codling on keyboards - and eventually produced the 1996 album Coming Up: a real electro-rocker of an album following the principle that short is sweet and sweetness always ends up bitter. Following that came the b-sides collection Sci-fi Lullabies and then in 1999 they produced the slightly disappointing but still streets-ahead Head Music.

Suede have been credited with kicking off the Britpop movement, the more famous practitioners of which were Blur, Oasis and Pulp. A short-lived member of the embryonic Suede line-up was Justine Frischmann, guitarist and lead vocalist in another Britpop combo, Elastica, and one-time girlfriend of Blur's Damon Albarn. At the time of writing this, Suede are working on their fifth studio album.

Suede was their first album and was released in March 1994. Here is the track listing:

  1. So Young
  2. Animal Nitrate
  3. She's Not Dead
  4. Moving
  5. Pantomime Horse
  6. The Drowners
  7. Sleeping Pills
  8. Breakdown
  9. Metal Mickey
  10. Animal Lover
  11. The Next Life

Singles taken from the album are as follows (b-sides in brackets):

  1. The Drowners (To The Birds, My Insatiable One)
  2. Metal Mickey (Where The Pigs Don't Fly, He's Dead)
  3. Animal Nitrate (Painted People, The Big Time)
  4. So Young (Dolly, High Rising)

Leather that has been napped, that is, abraded gently to create a raised, fuzzy, finegrained texture. Dyed suede is a popular material for shoes (Elvis sang a song about Blue Suede Shoes), but because it is a thick leather, real suede is seldom used for other articles of clothing. Fake suede, thinner fabric that has been napped, is more commonly used for overshirts, pants, etc. A new napped synthetic called microsuede is popular these days.

It should be noted that in the states Suede is known as "The London Suede". This is because a little known American folk singer who calls himself/herself Suede became a little miffed regarding the English band's name when they were to begin releasing albums in the U.S. Mr./Mrs. Suede decided to get pissy about it and asked Columbia—Suede's record label in the states—to change the band's name.

Suède (swAd or swad), n. [F., Sweden.]

Swedish glove leather, -- usually made from lambskins tanned with willow bark. Also used adjectively; as, suède gloves.

 

© Webster 1913

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