Music Banter - View Single Post

Urban Hat€monger ? · 08-02-2013, 11:16 AM

100 singles 100 memories

They won't all be this long, honest.

No2

Artist: Suede
Single: Metal Mickey
Released: September 1992

In the spring/summer of 1992 the indie music press decided that Suede were going to be the biggest band in the UK. Both the NME & Melody Maker had put them on the cover before they had even recorded a note of music.

Was I aware of any of this?

Fuck no, back then I was still some metal kid who didn't even read those publications and was trying to convince himself that I enjoyed death metal and that those Morbid Angel & Cannibal Corpse albums I had bought were really wise investments.
(2013 Urban calling 1992 Urban ...."You f*cking idiot")

In the end I thought 'fuck it' threw them on the shelf never to be played again and decided to go down the MC5, The Stooges, New York Dolls, David Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music line of things. Which ironically primed me ready for the emergence of Suede.

I was up late one weekend night watching one of those late night music shows ITV had in the early 90s back then and they played this song. My jaw hit the floor. It was everything that I liked about all the bands I had just discovered, only Suede were MINE, not something from the 60s or 70s because they were classic records. This was my discovery.

I didn't buy the single, It never broke the top 40 and was on an indie label which meant it was virtually impossible for me to get hold of on my little out of touch rock in the middle of the ocean. When I heard the next single later on (Animal Nitrate) I knew I wanted that album as soon as physically possible which I did get in the spring of 1993.

I bought the album but for those first few months I was only interested in the 4 singles on it (The Drowners, Metal Mickey, Animal Nitrate & So Young). For the next few months I would play those songs over and over and over again.

During these months was a very important event i my life. My first trip away without adult supervision, to London for a shopping spree I had been saving up months for and then up to Milton Keynes for my first ever outdoor gig (Guns n Roses, The Cult, Soul Asylum & Blind Melon). I remember arriving at Gatwick Airport late Friday evening, going on the train and pulling into London just as it was getting dark with the sunset and the towerblocks looming over me this song playing on my Walkman buzzing in my ears, both the music and the image burned into my brain to this very day like a photograph. Hell I can even remember the other passengers it's that vivid. I also remember what I was thinking at the time too, that I was entering Suede territory.

I didn't even give a flying fuck about Guns n Roses anymore by this point and wasn't all that bothered about seeing them. It didn't help that they were atrocious as well and I never listened to them again until I dug out Appetite For Destruction over a decade later for that Urban 100 thing I did here. The Cult were awesome though. I had a new 2nd favourite band.

I spend the following Sunday morning going on a mad musical shopping spree buying all sorts of Non metal stuff mostly independent American stuff from the time period (Urge Overkill, Redd Kross, Breeders... you get the idea). I also came away a couple of videos on that trip of a relatively unknown comic in the UK at the time called Bill Hicks and a collection of novels by Bret Easton Ellis other than American Psycho which I had already.

Those 4 days in London was one of the best breaks I ever had and I learned more about music, art & pop culture in those 4 days than any other time in my life I can remember.

08-02-2013, 11:16 AM	#280 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	100 singles 100 memories They won't all be this long, honest. No2 Artist: Suede Single: Metal Mickey Released: September 1992 In the spring/summer of 1992 the indie music press decided that Suede were going to be the biggest band in the UK. Both the NME & Melody Maker had put them on the cover before they had even recorded a note of music. Was I aware of any of this? Fuck no, back then I was still some metal kid who didn't even read those publications and was trying to convince himself that I enjoyed death metal and that those Morbid Angel & Cannibal Corpse albums I had bought were really wise investments. (2013 Urban calling 1992 Urban ...."You fcking idiot")* In the end I thought 'fuck it' threw them on the shelf never to be played again and decided to go down the MC5, The Stooges, New York Dolls, David Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music line of things. Which ironically primed me ready for the emergence of Suede. I was up late one weekend night watching one of those late night music shows ITV had in the early 90s back then and they played this song. My jaw hit the floor. It was everything that I liked about all the bands I had just discovered, only Suede were MINE, not something from the 60s or 70s because they were classic records. This was my discovery. I didn't buy the single, It never broke the top 40 and was on an indie label which meant it was virtually impossible for me to get hold of on my little out of touch rock in the middle of the ocean. When I heard the next single later on (Animal Nitrate) I knew I wanted that album as soon as physically possible which I did get in the spring of 1993. I bought the album but for those first few months I was only interested in the 4 singles on it (The Drowners, Metal Mickey, Animal Nitrate & So Young). For the next few months I would play those songs over and over and over again. During these months was a very important event i my life. My first trip away without adult supervision, to London for a shopping spree I had been saving up months for and then up to Milton Keynes for my first ever outdoor gig (Guns n Roses, The Cult, Soul Asylum & Blind Melon). I remember arriving at Gatwick Airport late Friday evening, going on the train and pulling into London just as it was getting dark with the sunset and the towerblocks looming over me this song playing on my Walkman buzzing in my ears, both the music and the image burned into my brain to this very day like a photograph. Hell I can even remember the other passengers it's that vivid. I also remember what I was thinking at the time too, that I was entering Suede territory. I didn't even give a flying fuck about Guns n Roses anymore by this point and wasn't all that bothered about seeing them. It didn't help that they were atrocious as well and I never listened to them again until I dug out Appetite For Destruction over a decade later for that Urban 100 thing I did here. The Cult were awesome though. I had a new 2nd favourite band. I spend the following Sunday morning going on a mad musical shopping spree buying all sorts of Non metal stuff mostly independent American stuff from the time period (Urge Overkill, Redd Kross, Breeders... you get the idea). I also came away a couple of videos on that trip of a relatively unknown comic in the UK at the time called Bill Hicks and a collection of novels by Bret Easton Ellis other than American Psycho which I had already. Those 4 days in London was one of the best breaks I ever had and I learned more about music, art & pop culture in those 4 days than any other time in my life I can remember. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.