‘Animal Nitrate’: The Suede song written while “going quite insane”
Suede were a unique brew amid the Britpop boom of the mid-1990s. While a plethora of grassroots rock bands emerged from the woodwork, preaching optimistic, clean-toned guitar rock, Suede favoured a somewhat darker sound. Quick to distance themselves from the nationalism of the ‘Britpop’ label, Suede always formed one of the most individual voices in the UK rock scene of the 1990s.
The band’s defining anthem is a fierce debate that has raged on among the die-hard fanbase of the London rockers pretty much since their inception in 1989. While ‘Beautiful Ones’ is likely their most popular effort, the conversation surrounding Suede never goes far without mentioning the irresistible tones of ‘Animal Nitrate’. Providing the group with one of their earliest hits, the song reached the dizzying heights of number seven in the UK singles charts.
An ode to the erotic romanticism of suburbia, ‘Animal Nitrate’ sees vocalist Brett Anderson bemoan the monotony of life in a council house. In a 2011 interview with Q, the singer shared, “To me, it’s set in suburbia, in a council estate in Haywards Heath. I was brought up as a white, working-class English boy, and that’s what I wrote about. If you’re born in a dump you aspire to something better.”
Taking its name from amyl nitrate (poppers), which cause a brief sense of euphoria upon inhalation and are often used as something of an aphrodisiac, the sexual overtones form one of the most endearing parts of the song – adding to the mystery of heartthrob Brett Anderson. These not-so-subtle overtones were explained by Anderson, who said, “I had this schoolboy-ish idea to sneak an overtly sexual song with the framework of pop.”
A similar motive was purported by fellow Britpop stars Pulp, who often included erotic imagery within their seemingly innocent pop songs. However, Anderson claims that the influence of romanticism on ‘Animal Nitrate’ took a backseat to the inspiration of drugs. During an interview with NME, the singer revealed, “Sex was just a hollow, vacuous thing which was made full and three-dimensional by the fact that I was taking a huge amount of drugs. It wasn’t actually anything to do with amyl nitrate, it was other sorts of drugs – coke, ecstasy. My mind was in a stormy period, I was going quite insane.”
Expanding upon the writing of Suede’s seminal track, Anderson revealed the heavy influence of homosexuality over the song. Anderson’s sexuality was famously aloof about his own sexuality, once describing himself as a “bisexual man who never had a homosexual experience” and, as a result, has been accused of masquerading as bisexual in an attempt to appear more interesting. Regardless, the singer told NME that ‘Animal Nitrate’ “definitely has a veneer [of gay sex] but there’s a very sad undertone,” Before adding the wildly inaccurate statement, “People think about gay sex and never really think about it romantically.”
So, it seems as though it was an amalgamation of drug-induced madness, schoolboy-ish mischief and slightly homophobic ideas around same-sex relationships that went into the creation of one of Suede’s defining tracks. Nevertheless, ‘Animal Nitrate’ remains one of the defining tracks of the Britpop era, though the band themselves would likely find issue with it being tied to that scene.
