Manic Street Preachers and Suede

Manic Street Preachers are probably the biggest politically-charged rock band of their generation; during their heyday, in the nineties, they released a series of records that were characterized both by their fierce social commentary and the aggression of their sound. They made their name with their 1992 debut ‘Generation Terrorists’, and followed it up with ‘Gold Against the Soul’ in 1993 and what many consider to be their magnum opus, the unremittingly dark ‘The Holy Bible’, in 1994.

In those days, the primary lyricist and the band’s mouthpiece was Richey James Edwards, the band’s irrepressible guitarist - he once carved ‘4 REAL’ into his forearm with a razor after being accused of inauthenticity. In February 1995, Edwards disappeared without a trace; he has been presumed dead since November 2008. The band went on without him, and achieved their biggest commercial successes with 1996’s ‘Everything Must Go’ and its follow-up, ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’ in 1998 - the latter spawned their first UK number one single, ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will be Next’. In more recent years, they’ve released an album based around unused Edwards lyrics - the rapturously-received ‘Journal for Plague Lovers’, headlined a show based around their singles compilation at London’s O2 Arena, and released two quickfire records in 2013 and 2014, ‘Rewind the Film’ and ‘Futurology’.

Suede was formed in 1989 when two students at University College London, Brett Anderson and Justine Frischmann, invited Mat Osman to help them form the core of a band. Despite spending hours playing cover songs, they felt that they needed a stronger guitar presence and put out an advert for a guitarist to join them. Many answered the advert and it was Bernard Butler who ultimately auditioned and joined the band. The group would perform at small venues (using a drum machine due to the lack of a drummer) but in 1990 they caught a break when their demo, “Wonderful Sometimes,” won the Demo clash competition on the Greater London Radio show; this ultimately led to their signing with Brighton-based label, RML.

After the cassette release of compilations by Suede, as well as a series of gigs, the band decided to look for a drummer. They again put out an advert for a full time drummer, which had a large response and they eventually hired Simon Gilbert. Unfortunately in 1991 Anderson and Frischmann, who had been dating, broke up ultimately ending in Frischmann leaving the group. The band carried on, with a different sound, but with continual performances, caught the attention of media being hailed “the next big thing” and ultimately garnered interest from record labels. After the release of two singles, by 1992 the band signed with Nude/Sony Records for a contract that gave them some creative controls.

The release of their singles, live performances and general personalities, the band gained a lot of media coverage, and by the time they released their first album, “Suede” the album entered the British Charts at number one. To promote their already successful album they toured extensively in Europe and America; however, while in America, tensions started to rise between Butler and the rest of the band. Tensions remained and during the recording process of their next album, and around by the mid 90s, Butler was out of the group. After things settled they released “Dog Man Star” in 1994, entering the charts at number three.

In early 1996, Neil Coding joined the band as keyboardist and guitarist, followed shortly by the release of “Coming Up.” Suede continued to tour and release albums, including a compilation album, and by 2001 they were transferred to Sony Records due to Nude ceasing to exist. By the end of 2008, coinciding with the release of their next compilation album as well as their biography, Anderson made the announcement that the band wouldn’t be any new projects in the foreseeable future.

The band started back up again in 2010 with live performances. They continued to tour all around the world and work on new releases.