THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

244-Suede-Trash.

1996-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 0.46. Trash talking, from a class act.

‘Trash’ was probably the make or break song for Suede, (see also best songs 695) or as they are known in America, ‘The London Suede,’ so as to not get them confused with another artist using the same name. Bernard Butler the bands guitarist, and co-songwriter with Brett Anderson of Suede’s first two critically acclaimed Albums had left the group in 1994, and ‘Trash’ was the first new music written without him. Anderson now had a new songwriting partner, the 17 year old Richard Oakes, who had applied to be Butler’s replacement through the bands official fan club. The response on hearing ‘Trash’ and it’s parent Album ‘Coming Up’ was received positively by music critics, with some even saying it was their best work to date. Oakes and Anderson would continue as the bands main songwriting team for all of their next six studio Albums. In total Suede have released eight studio Albums between 1993-2018, and 31 singles between 1992-2018. In the UK, 19 of their singles have reached the top 40, with this song and ‘Stay Together’ from 1994 both peaking at Number 3, although ‘Trash’ is their best selling single. Perhaps Suede are a little too ‘English’ for the American market as they still await their first hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

‘Trash’ was the first of six singles released from Suede’s third studio Album ‘Coming Up’ from 1996, the song was produced by Ed Buller, who was also responsible for the bands first two Albums, he would also return for Suede in 2013, and 2016, to produce ‘Bloodsports,’ and ‘Night Thoughts.’ the bands sixth and seventh releases. Brett Anderson wanted ‘Coming Up’ to be an easier listen than the two previous Suede Albums, he was looking for a more commercial sound, with straightforward choruses. He has said that prior to writing the Album he was listening to the two Marc Bolan (see also best songs 790-386 and 67) Albums,’The Slider’ (1972) and it’s follow up ‘Tanx’ (1973.) Ed Buller has explained how the recording process worked,’Basically, what we did, is that every track started with acoustic guitar, bongos, tambourine and Brett, so it all started life pretty much the same way that Marc Bolan recorded all of his stuff originally.

‘Trash’ is a celebration about being different, knowing you don’t conform, and being proud of that. Brett Anderson has said,’It’s a song that’s kind of about being in the band and, by extension, it’s a song about the fans, and the whole kind of ethos of being a Suede… person. I actually wrote it about the band Suede. It’s a celebration of the band, but by extension, it’s a celebration of the fans as well, and it was a kind of a song written about us, as a gang, it was written about the values we stood for. And even though it sounds like a love song, it was actually about the idea of the identity of the band, and what they stood for.’

‘Oh maybe, maybe it’s the clothes we wear, the tasteless bracelets and the dye in our hair, maybe it’s our kookiness. Or maybe, maybe it’s our nowhere towns, our nothing places and our cellophane sounds, maybe it’s our looseness.’