Dog Man Star is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. The album was recorded in London at Master Rock studios in early 1994, and was produced by Ed Buller. It was the last Suede album to feature guitarist Bernard Butler; growing tensions between him and singer Brett Anderson ended with Butler leaving the band before recording was complete. As a result, some tracks on the album had to be finished with the assistance of session musicians.
In contrast to their debut album Suede, which exhibited the influences of David Bowie and the Smiths, Dog Man Star exhibits a more varied aesthetic and draws from a wider range of influences. Although it did not sell on the same scale as its predecessor, it reached number three on the UK Albums Chart and was certified as gold by the BPI in November 1994. Described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label," the record was released in a different UK musical climate to their hitherto discography. Out-of-step with the mainstream music scene, it featured the band diverting away from the "Britpop pack" of bands.
While Dog Man Star was acclaimed by many reviewers as a masterpiece, the trend towards "lad pop" saw its chart and sales success obscured. It was generally overlooked at the time, and it polarised American critics, some labelling it as pretentious. The album has over time garnered wider acclaim from critics. In the decade between Suede's 2003 separation and the release of Bloodsports, Dog Man Star steadily gained a strong following as a classic rock record. In October 2013, NME magazine placed the album at number 31 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Background
In early 1994, when Suede were about to release the standalone single "Stay Together", the morale within the group was at an all-time low. Butler's father had died just as the band were about to begin their second American tour. The first week of the tour was cancelled, and Suede flew back to London from New York. When the tour did resume, Butler—not only recently bereaved but now engaged to his fiancée Elisa—distanced himself from the rest of the band far more than before. According to Butler, "they got really resentful of the fact that they were on tour with someone who didn't want to party". He even travelled separately, either alone, by taxi, or on the tour bus of support act the Cranberries. Then, in Atlanta, Suede suffered the ignominy of having to open for the Cranberries, who had become a bigger draw, thanks to their recent hit "Linger". The band agreed to let the Cranberries go on last in three places, given that they were picking up airplay; Anderson said the "whole rivalry thing was blown out of all proportion." By the time of their arrival in New York, Suede had had enough, and the last few dates were cancelled. According to drummer Simon Gilbert, Butler was becoming intolerable and impossible to work with, and the band could not function together any longer. To record Suede's next album Anderson moved to Highgate, north London, and began to write lyrics while living in a secluded flat; a time which is detailed in the band biography Love and Poison.
The album was later described by writer Nick Duerden as "the most pompous, overblown British rock record of the decade". Anderson has said that its overblown sound was down to his use of psychedelic drugs: "I was doing an awful lot of acid at the time, and I think it was this that gave us the confidence to push boundaries." He has also said that he thrived on the surreal environment he lived in at the time; next door were a sect known as the Mennonites, who would often sing hymns during Anderson's drug binges. After the success of their debut album, Suede were hailed as the inventors of Britpop, something they were proud of for a short while. However, Britpop started to be dominated by the other bands, notably Blur, Oasis and Pulp. This disgusted Anderson, who called Britpop "a musical Carry On film." Fearing he was on a collision course of becoming a celebrity, Anderson deliberately distanced himself from the scene, which prompted his relocation to Highgate. "We could not have been more uninterested in that whole boozy, cartoon-like, fake working-class thing", the singer said in 2008. "As soon as we became aware of it, we went away and wrote Dog Man Star. You could not find a less Britpop record. It's tortured, epic, extremely sexual and personal. None of those things apply to Britpop."