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Oct 15Liked by Matt Madurski

It seems inconceivable to me that Metal Mickey is the only Suede song to chart in the US. From the same album Animal Nitrate was a much bigger hit in the UK. 1996s Coming Up includes some wonderful songs - Saturday Night, Trash and Beautiful Ones are all worth checking out.

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It's crazy, but Britpop (assuming that's the silo where Suede falls around this time) just didn't catch on in the U.S. The Modern Rock Tracks chart was massively Brit-heavy when it launched in '88, but about a year after "Metal Mickey" charted, the MRT chart takes a massive pendulum swing away from the Brits and gets dominated by American grunge and post-grunge acts.

Another good example of that divide between the U.S. and the U.K.: A-Ha. For U.S. audiences, they're a one-hit wonder; in the U.K., they went on from that one hit to score eight top-10 hits and 17 top-40 hits. I couldn't name a single A-Ha song outside of "Take On Me."

Once Morrissey tops the MRT chart for the last time in April '94, the only U.K. bands that top that chart the rest of the decade are Oasis, Bush, and Chumbawamba.

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Yeah, I’m always surprised at music which doesn’t seem to translate from UK to US listeners and vice versa. Suede are often considered the original Britpop band but I actually think they sit a little outside that categorisation. In all honesty it was never really a genre - just a lot of bands being more conscious of the fact they were British and being lumped together as such. It’s just an easy label to use that defines period rather than the actual music imo. I think the fact that this period fell at the same time as the emergence of grunge explains a lot about why there was so little cross over between countries at this point.

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That bassline was infectious. I had it playing in my head before the email even opened. lol.

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I do not disagree. Solid instrumentals and the non-vocal solo sections of the song are superb. The repetition of the chorus just gets in the way, not unlike a Bjork shriek. 😂

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While I didn't listen to much of their music, I always really loved "Pets." It's a great song that sneaks up on you with its dark lyrics!

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Agreed. I don't hate it, though I definitely loved it more in the '90s than I do now. I'm more partial to "Tahitian Moon" these days, if I had to pick one Porno for Pyros song to play.

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