1989–1991: Formation and early years Brett Anderson and
Justine Frischmann met in 1988 while studying at
University College London and became a couple soon afterward. Together with Anderson's childhood friend
Mat Osman, they believed they had the foundation for a band and spent hours daily playing songs by
Roxy Music,
The Smiths,
David Bowie, and
The Cure. After concluding that neither Anderson nor Frischmann had the skills to be a lead guitarist, the band placed an ad in
NME They settled on the name Suede. Initially lacking a drummer, the band used a
drum machine. Despite Frischmann's efforts as the band's
de facto manager, they primarily played small-scale gigs around
Camden Town in London. Suede's first breakthrough came with their second demo,
Specially Suede, which they sent to compete in
Demo Clash, a radio show on
Greater London Radio hosted by DJ
Gary Crowley. "Wonderful Sometimes" won
Demo Clash for five consecutive Sundays in 1990, leading to a recording contract with the Brighton-based indie label RML. The song appeared on a cassette compilation in April 1990, representing Suede's first official release. After a series of performances with an unreliable drum machine, Suede decided to recruit a full-time drummer.
Justin Welch briefly filled the role, though he lasted only six weeks before joining the
Crawley band
Spitfire. However, he remained long enough to record two songs with the band, which were set to be released as the "Be My God"/"Art" single on RML Records. The band was dissatisfied with the result, and most of the 500 copies pressed were destroyed. Suede placed another ad seeking a replacement. To their surprise, it was answered by former Smiths drummer
Mike Joyce. Ultimately, he declined the job, feeling Suede still needed to forge their own identity and that his presence might hinder them due to their similarities to the Smiths. In June 1990, Suede found a permanent drummer,
Simon Gilbert, through
Ricky Gervais, who initially worked in the music industry and managed the band before turning to comedy. Both worked at the
University of London Union (ULU). After hearing the demo and realizing the band lacked a drummer, Gilbert asked to audition. By spring 1991, Anderson and Frischmann had broken up. Frischmann began dating
Blur frontman
Damon Albarn. She believed the band could adapt to the new situation. However, tensions grew. Butler recalled, "She'd turn up late for rehearsals and say the worst thing in the world – 'I've been on a Blur video shoot.' That was when it ended, really. I think it was the day after she said that Brett phoned me up and said, 'I've kicked her out.'" After Frischmann's departure, the character of the group shifted. "If Justine hadn't left the band," Anderson remarked, "I don't think we'd have got anywhere. It was a combination of being personally motivated and the chemistry being right once she'd left." Anderson and Butler became close friends and started writing several new songs together. Still, the band's music remained out of step with the prevailing sounds of London's music scene and the American
grunge movement. Anderson noted, "For the whole of 1991, A&R men wouldn't give us a second look." Through late 1991 and early 1992, Suede received a number of favorable mentions in the music press, landing slots at shows hosted by
NME and attended by prominent figures, including former Smiths singer
Morrissey. A gig at the ULU in October 1991, which caught the media's attention, marked Frischmann's final performance with the band.
NME journalist John Mulvey, the first to write about Suede, attended the show. He noted, "They had charm, aggression, and... if not exactly eroticism, then something a little bit dangerous and exciting."
1992–1993: Signing and early success After seeing the band perform at an
NME show in January 1992, Saul Galpern approached them about signing to his independent record label,
Nude Records. Suede eventually signed a two-single deal with Nude in February 1992 for £3,132. Following Nude's offer, Suede attracted further interest from
Island Records and
East West Records, both of which were eager to sign the band for a long-term deal. Suede were being hailed as "the next big thing" The band's first single, "
The Drowners", attracted attention for its sharp contrast to the fading
Madchester scene and the US grunge sound of the time. The band was then approached by
Geffen Records, and although the Geffen deal was very attractive (Galpern described it as "insane"), the band still had other offers to consider. In September 1992, Suede released their second single, "
Metal Mickey", which reached number 17 on the charts. It was the only Suede single to enter the US Modern Rock top 10, peaking at number 7. Shortly after the release of "Metal Mickey," Suede signed with Nude/Sony. Galpern was determined to sign the band for the long term and struck a deal with Sony, making the label a small independent with major company backing. The contract gave Suede creative control over aspects such as the artwork for their releases. Writing in 2005,
The Times' Victoria Segal reflected on the band's early career, noting that Suede's "sexually fluid lyrics made them a rallying point for the alienated, one of the few British bands since the Smiths who united as much as they divided." Anderson recalled, "I had always been fascinated by suburbia, and I liked to throw these twisted references to small-town British life into songs. This was before we had that horrible term Britpop." going gold on its second day. At the time, it was hailed as "the most eagerly awaited debut since
Never Mind The Bollocks by the
Sex Pistols." A notable moment in the press at the time was the front cover of the April 1993 issue of
Select, which is regarded by many as the start of Britpop. The album won the 1993
Mercury Prize. This was the only album released in the US under the name "Suede," where it remains the band's highest-selling release. Following the success of the album, the band toured extensively across Europe, receiving major coverage from MTV. In July, Suede held a benefit concert for the
Red Hot Organization at "The Grand" in London, inviting
Siouxsie Sioux to perform a version of Lou Reed's "Caroline Says" with Butler. Suede then prepared for an American tour in the summer of 1993. During the tour, tensions began to develop between Butler and the rest of the band. The tensions worsened on the second American tour, largely due to the death of Butler's father, which forced Suede to cancel the tour prematurely. Suede's American success was limited, as they had already begun to be overshadowed by their opening act,
The Cranberries, who received the MTV support that Suede lacked. Furthermore, a
lounge singer's
lawsuit forced the band to stop using the trademarked American name "Suede." For subsequent releases and shows in the United States, the band used the name "The London Suede." Anderson was not pleased about having to change the band's name for the U.S. market, stating, "The London Suede is not the name I chose for the band, I didn't change it happily, and I'm not going to pretend I did."
1994–1995: Butler's exit and Dog Man Star (shown here during a live performance with
the Tears in 2005), left Suede in 1994 due to growing tensions between him and lead vocalist
Brett Anderson, with whom he finally made amends in 2003 In February 1994, the band released the stand-alone single "
Stay Together", which became their highest-charting single at the time, reaching number three in the UK. The single was backed by a collection of strong B-sides. However, the new expansive sound fractured the band and led to the departure of Butler. Despite the success of the single, the band has since distanced itself entirely from the song, an aversion usually attributed to issues with Butler at the time. In the aftermath of "Stay Together," Anderson isolated himself in a house in
Highgate and began writing songs for Suede's next album. It was during this time that Anderson distanced himself from what was dubbed the "laddish Britpop movement", even as he was considered one of it leading figures. Bands such as
Blur,
Oasis, and
Pulp began to dominate the music scene, while Suede became more experimental and introverted. Tensions worsened during the recording of the album when Butler criticized Anderson in a rare interview, claiming that Anderson worked too slowly and was too concerned with rock stardom. Around this time, journalist
Neil Strauss wrote that Suede were a band "unafraid to be out of step with its peers." Anderson recalled that Butler had largely recorded his parts separately from the rest of the band. This was usually done in shifts, with Anderson coming to the studio in the evenings after Butler had recorded his guitar parts during the day. Butler then gave Anderson an ultimatum, demanding that the producer be fired or he would leave. "I called his bluff," said Anderson. Days after his wedding, Butler returned to the studio to find he was not being allowed in, and his guitars were left out on the street. According to
John Harris's Britpop history,
The Last Party, the last words Butler uttered to Anderson were "you're a fucking
cunt." Butler left the band with a quarter of the recording still to be completed. In the band's first interview as a three-piece, Anderson had foreseen the scenario, telling NME's Steve Sutherland: "I saw it coming two years ago. It was no shock, I don't think he ever really wanted to be in the band or anything that goes with it." Led by the single "
We Are the Pigs", Suede's second album,
Dog Man Star, was released in October 1994. The album was very well received by critics in the UK, who praised the band's new experimental direction. It entered the
UK Albums Chart at number three, The singles from the album performed poorly. Reviews in the US were more mixed, with some critics comparing it unfavorably to the singles from the first album and several labeling it as pretentious and using other synonyms to that effect.
Rolling Stone described it as "one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label." Nevertheless, despite not gaining mass exposure at the time, it steadily developed a legacy throughout the decade and beyond as one of rock music's great albums. When Gilbert heard Anderson playing back the tape while going through audition tapes, he mistakenly believed it to be an early Suede demo. Oakes' first official duty as a member of Suede was an appearance in the "We Are the Pigs" video. He then co-wrote his first music with Suede, the B-sides for the "
New Generation" single, "Together" and "Bentswood Boys". Suede embarked on a long international tour during late 1994 and spring 1995, before disappearing to work on their third album. In 1995, the band contributed a track to
The Help Album charity compilation, covering
Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding".
1996–2000: New line up and continuing success ,
Richard Oakes,
Mat Osman,
Neil Codling, and
Brett Anderson In the autumn of 1995, the band was joined by new member
Neil Codling, a cousin of Gilbert who played keyboards and second guitar. His first appearance was at a fanclub gig at the Hanover Grand on 27 January 1996, which turned out to be one of Suede's most important performances. A short set, devoid of Butler's songs, was well received by critics. "A set that says, 'No need,'" observed Steve Sutherland in
NME. Even before
Dog Man Star was released, bassist Mat Osman told
Select magazine in September 1994 that he wanted to move on from the regimented recording process and expansive, multi-layered guitar sounds of that era and focus on more radio-friendly pop music, citing "
Losing My Religion" by
R.E.M. as a song that "doesn't show off in the slightest and is still brilliant." Anderson shared a similar outlook, saying that, in contrast to the band's previous albums, which he felt "suffered at certain times from being quite obscure," he intended the forthcoming album to be "almost like a 'greatest hits.'" Nevertheless, the album topped the UK chart and became the band's biggest-selling release, By the time the compilation was released in 1997, the Britpop movement was clearly losing momentum, and the band had chosen to part ways with their longtime producer, Ed Buller, before beginning work on the follow-up to
Coming Up. Prior to focusing on their next album, the band recorded a version of "Poor Little Rich Girl" for
Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward in 1998. Despite being backed by their second-highest-charting single, "
Electricity", Suede's fourth album,
Head Music, failed to generate the same critical and listener enthusiasm as their previous records, though it once again topped the UK Albums Chart. Moreover, many critics felt the record's lyrics were too shallow and lacking in substance. Though others praised the album, feeling that the band were again taking a different direction and charting new territory. The next three singles released from the album failed to enter the top 10, breaking a streak that had lasted since the 1996 single "Trash". Anderson also faced increasing criticism from fans for his frequent use of redundant vocabulary and limited lyrical themes. The track that received the most attention and criticism was "Savoir Faire". Speaking of his addiction, which plagued him for two and a half years, Anderson said, "Anyone who has ever tried crack will know exactly why I took it. It's the scariest drug in the world because the hit you get from it is so, so seductive. I wanted to experience that, and I did – repeatedly." For the entirety of 2000, Suede retreated from the public eye, playing only one gig in
Reykjavik, Iceland. The band premiered several new songs that would eventually appear on the final album.
2001–2003: Commercial disappointment and break-up Not long after the release of
Head Music, Nude Records effectively ceased to exist. Like many of their labelmates, Suede ended up signing to Nude's parent company/distributor
Sony to record the band's fifth album,
A New Morning. Between the release of
Head Music and
A New Morning, Suede wrote and recorded "Simon" as the title theme for the film
Far From China. The long and troubled gestation of the new album saw keyboard player Codling leave the band, citing
chronic fatigue syndrome, to be replaced by Alex Lee, formerly of
Strangelove. In concert, Lee played keyboards, second guitar, backing vocals, and occasionally harmonica. The album title, according to Anderson, referred to "a fresh start, a new band, and a new fresh outlook" – the singer had been addicted to heroin and
crack cocaine, which was having an increasingly deleterious effect on his health. Anderson claimed that
A New Morning "was the first-ever Suede record that wasn't influenced in its making by drugs". Although the band initially worked with
Tony Hoffer as the producer, the album was ultimately produced by
Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur). A total of seven different recording studios and four producers were involved in the two-year recording process for
A New Morning, with the costs estimated at £1 million. The album was a commercial disappointment, failing to chart in the top 20 and never being released in the United States.
A New Morning sharply divided the band's fanbase, even more so than
Head Music, and the critical response was decidedly lukewarm. Additionally, mainstream public interest had long since faded. Only two singles, "
Positivity" and "
Obsessions", were released—the fewest singles from any of the band's albums—and neither performed particularly well on the charts. Anderson has since expressed his disappointment with the record, stating, "We made one Suede album too many. 'A New Morning' is the only one I don't believe in as much as the other Suede records, and I totally believed in the first four, even 'Head Music', which divided the fans." Mat Osman told journalist Jon Cronshaw in October 2013, "It sounded like a Suede album that had been made by a committee—it was quite bland. We're all quite ashamed of it." Anderson further criticized the album in 2016, saying, "It's a poor record, and we should never have released it." In September 2003, Suede played five nights at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, dedicating each night to one of their five albums and performing an entire album per night in chronological order, with B-sides and rarities as encores. In October 2003, Suede released a second compilation album,
Singles, along with the accompanying single "
Attitude", which charted at number 14 in the UK. The band had also begun work on a follow-up album to
A New Morning, which was planned for release after the
Singles compilation. Anderson stated, "Most of the new material is more aggressive and less song-based than
A New Morning." He added, "We're spending a lot of time working on tracks that sound nothing like traditional Suede." Jeremy Allen was the last person to interview the band just before the Norton appearance. As they walked down the corridor to the studio set, Anderson whispered into Osman's ear, "Let's not do this anymore." Less than a week after the decision to call an end to Suede, the band's biography,
Love and Poison, was released on 3 November. On 5 November, the band announced there would be no more projects under the Suede name for the foreseeable future—effectively announcing the end of the band, as stated on their website: "There will not be a new studio album until the band feel that the moment is artistically right to make one." Anderson also made a personal statement, saying, "There has been speculation about record sales and chart positions, but the bottom line is I need to do whatever it takes to get my demon back." Suede's last concert at the
London Astoria on 13 December 2003 was a two-and-a-half-hour marathon show, split into two parts plus encore. Anderson made an announcement, saying, "I just want you to know. There will be
another Suede record. But not yet."
2010–2013: Reunion and Bloodsports Following persistent rumors, Saul Galpern, the boss of the band's former label, Nude Records, officially announced on 15 January 2010 that Suede would be playing together again. "It's a one-off gig," he explained about the show, which featured the band's second incarnation. The band performed at the
Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the 2010 Teenage Cancer Trust shows on 24 March 2010. Anderson described the comeback show as his favorite gig and the pinnacle of his 20-year career. The band subsequently announced two UK "warm-up" gigs prior to the Royal Albert Hall show, at the
100 Club in London and
The Ritz in Manchester. The three gigs were well received by critics from various newspapers. In August, the band performed at the
Skanderborg Festival in Denmark and Parkenfestivalen in Bodø, Norway. In September, the band announced that they would release
The Best of Suede on 1 November 2010. The two-disc compilation, put together by Anderson, featured 18 of the band's 20 singles on disc one and a mix of album tracks and popular B-sides on disc two. Shortly after the release, Suede embarked on a short European tour from late November into December, covering Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany. The band concluded the tour on 7 December at the
O2 Arena in London. The band went on to perform at several festivals in 2011, including their first appearance at the SOS 4.8 Festival in Murcia, Spain in May. Other notable events included the Blackberry Live & Rockin' Festival at the
Jakarta International Expo in Indonesia in March 2011, and the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2011, marking their first American performance since 1997. The band also performed at the
Latitude Festival in Suffolk on 17 July 2011, with their final performance of the year at the Berlin Festival on 9 September 2011, following their August tour of Asia. In June 2011, capitalizing on the success of their compilation album, the band released remastered and expanded editions of all five of their studio albums. In May 2011, they performed their first three albums—
Suede,
Dog Man Star, and
Coming Up—in full across three nights at the O2 Brixton Academy in London on 19, 20, and 21 May, followed by similar performances at the
Olympia Theatre, Dublin on 24, 25, and 26 May. Suede also performed at the Lokerse Festival in Belgium in 2012. Suede embarked on a full Asian tour, which began in late July at the
Jisan, South Korea, and concluded at the
Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo, Japan, on 14 August 2011. The band performed in Athens on 11 September 2011, and wrapped up their touring commitments in Russia on 16 and 18 December 2011, where they showcased new songs such as "Falling Planes," "The Only," "Someone Better," "I Don't Know Why," "Cold War," "Future Nightmare," and "Sabotage." In 2012, Suede began recording a new album with Ed Buller, and Brett Anderson stated that of the songs showcased in Russia, only "Sabotage" was under consideration at that point. On 7 January 2013, the band announced that their sixth studio album,
Bloodsports, would be released in March. The announcement was accompanied by "Barriers," a song from the album, available as a free download. The band released their first single in a decade, "It Starts and Ends with You," on 4 February.
Bloodsports was well received by critics and became their best-reviewed album since the band's 1996 album
Coming Up. On 12 April, Suede announced the dates for their upcoming European tour on their website. The tour began on 26 October 2013 at the
Leeds O2 Academy and ended on 23 November at the
Paradiso in Amsterdam. The band later added three more shows at the beginning of the tour, playing additional dates in Southampton, Southend, and Bristol on 22, 23, and 24 October.
2014–2016: Night Thoughts In late January 2014, Anderson announced that Suede were working on a new album and estimated that it would be released in 2015, as the band were still in the writing stage for the album. On 7 September 2015, the band announced that their new album,
Night Thoughts, would be released on 22 January 2016, alongside a feature film directed by photographer Roger Sargent. On 24 September, the first single from the album, "Outsiders," was released. The band performed the album in full on 13 and 14 November at the
London Roundhouse.
Night Thoughts was well received by both fans and critics, receiving widespread press coverage upon its release. Following the success of
Bloodsports, Night Thoughts charted at No. 6 in the UK. A series of concert dates in the UK and Europe followed to support the album. The first half of each show featured the band playing the album tracks in sequence, with the movie projected onto a gauze screen behind them. The second half included a mix of back-catalogue material, including several b-sides and obscure songs. The band also held a number of in-store acoustic appearances in HMV stores to promote the release, including Q&A sessions and movie screenings. in London in 2015 During the period when the band wrote and toured
Night Thoughts, they also commemorated some of their earlier releases. Once again, the band performed as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March 2014. This time, the band performed
Dog Man Star in full to mark its 20th anniversary. The set was followed by b-sides from that era, and then a greatest hits finale, which included the new song "I Don't Know How to Reach You". Additionally, to celebrate the actual 20th anniversary release of the album, Suede released a limited edition box set in October 2014. A similar 20th anniversary reissue was released for
Coming Up in September 2016.
2018–2020: The Blue Hour On 28 April 2018, Suede announced their upcoming eighth studio album. Two days later, on 30 April 2018, they officially revealed the title,
The Blue Hour, which was released on 21 September 2018. On 4 May 2018, Suede announced the dates for their European tour, which were scheduled to begin shortly after the album's launch. The tour started on 29 September in
Berlin, at the Columbiahalle, and finished on 13 October at the
Eventim Apollo in London. A final show was added to the tour on 14 October at the
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in
Dublin. On 5 June 2018, the band shared the first single from the album, "The Invisibles," along with an accompanying video. Five singles were released from the album, matching the number of singles from
Night Thoughts, with the latest single, "Wastelands," released on 29 October. The album was met with generally favorable reception and became their highest-charting album since
Head Music in 1999. Suede announced their first 2019 show as Friday night headliners at Pennfest,
Penn, Buckinghamshire. In November 2018, the band released a documentary titled
Suede – The Insatiable Ones, directed by
Mike Christie. The feature-length documentary delves into the highs and lows of Suede's career, offering unprecedented access, new interviews, and unseen footage from the band's archive. It aired as part of a 'Suede Night' on 24 November on
Sky Arts, along with the band's 2010 comeback gig at the Royal Albert Hall. On 10 December, the band announced new dates for their 2019 UK tour. The tour began at Newcastle's O2 Academy on 15 April and concluded on 28 April at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge.
2020–present: Autofiction and Antidepressants In November 2020, an announcement on the official Suede Facebook page revealed that the band was currently recording a new album. The post also invited fans to contribute vocals for some as-yet-untitled tracks. In a BBC interview, Anderson suggested that the record would be "nasty, brutish and short." On 23 May 2022, eighteen months after the band first announced they were recording a new album, Suede revealed the title of their ninth studio album as
Autofiction, which was released via BMG on 16 September. In an interview with
Billboard, Anderson further explained: "Our intention was also to recover certain aesthetic lines in the sound ... [the] post-punk sound is back very strongly in the limelight". The latter, he explained, "[is] about persona. It's about the people we become." On 12 September, the band announced the dates for a March 2023 UK tour. The 2023 tour was scheduled to begin at Bath's Forum on 3 March, concluding at O2 Academy Brixton on 25 March, marking 30 years since the band made their debut performance at the London venue in May 1993. On 13 September, the band announced their first United States concert tour since 1997, a co-headlining North American tour with
Manic Street Preachers. Both bands were scheduled to play ten shows in the US and two shows in Canada throughout November. Suede also performed at the 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix. Additionally, Suede and the Manic Street Preachers performed a series of double-header concerts in the UK in 2024, alternating who performed first. During these gigs, Anderson announced that Suede was working on a new album, with the working title *X*, which in 19 May 2025 they announced
Antidepressants as their official title for their upcoming tenth studio album, which is scheduled to be released on 5 September 2025. The band revealed that they took some inspiration in the post-punk genre once again. Oakes explained: "My teenage influences –
Keith Levene [of
Public Image Ltd],
John McGeoch [of
Siouxsie and the Banshees],
the Fall,
Wire – didn't really have a place in the writing in the early years" but "suddenly I felt it did have a place" in
Autofiction and
Antidepressants. ==Legacy and influence==