Asda, Alan Bates, pisspots and GBH - Matt Osman and producer Ed Buller on the making of 'Coming Up'.

'Trash' (Anderson/Oakes)
Matt: "Richard [Oakes] was very keen on coming up with offensive working titles, just so he could ask the engineer, 'Can you get up the drum tracks for 'Pisspot'.' This was actually the last song we did. Rhythmically, it's really a Motown thing - a lot of the tracks on the album have really rigid grooves, a real clockwork sound."

'Filmstar' (Anderson/Oakes)
Matt: "That started with this total Pistols riff Richard had. It's about a certain kind of British actor - Alan Bates, Terence Stamp, people who make what they do look easy."
Ed: "It originally just had one verse - Brett had to be persuaded to add more. We started off with a tempo very like 'Children Of The Revolution', but it was too dirge-like, so it changed. One of the things we wanted on this LP was to have the whole band playing on the tracks. This time, for instance, Brett played all the percussion."

'Lazy' (Anderson)
Matt: "That's an old song - I remember Brett playing it at a soundcheck a good two years ago. Musically it's the simplest thing we've ever done. It's about two people getting wasted and then looking out the window the next morning, watching people driving off to Sainsbury."

'By The Sea' (Anderson)
Matt: "That's about urban escape, about something we'd probably never do - leave the city and head for the seaside. It's a reversal really, because when we were growing up we dreamed of leaving the quiet, nowhere town."

'She' (Anderson/Oakes)
Features a string arrangement by Craig Armstrong, who worked on Tina Turner's 'Goldeneye'.
Ed: " Very filmic - John Barry, '60s spy movies. In fact, when we were recording it, Richard would break into the theme from the Pink Panther movies."
Matt: "A clockwork stripper song. Originally had vibes on it."

'Beautiful Ones' (Anderson/Oakes)
Working title: 'GBH'. Matt: "Richard had working titles based on childhood tortures. There was 'Chinese Burn' and 'Wedgie', but those songs didn't make it."
Matt: "The petrol thing, that's Brett. He can't drive, you see. So, he's more obsessed with cars than anyone I know. He never got to borrow the older brother's Capri when he was 17 and get it out of his system. The song's about people we know, and the beautiful underbelly of London."

'Starcrazy' (Anderson/Codling)
Matt: "That was the first song Neil [Codling, new Suede keyboardist] brought in. Neil has this habit of going on fasts for 20 days, or living on brown rice for two weeks. He left looking pale one evening and, the next day, came back with this. Neil's our Portrait Of Dorian Gray. We send him out to entertain the female fans, bike him over to Smash Hits - work him viciously. He may be very fresh and appealing now, but in five years he's going to look decrepit and the rest of us'll be just fine."

'Picnic On The Motorway' (Anderson/Oakes)
"That was one of the first things Richard wrote with Brett. Very dreamy. It's effectively two songs. Brett came with this melody that sounded like an Asda advert, so it's that and the trippy section."
Matt: "It's an urban love song: 'Put on your trainers and get out of it with me.'"

'The Chemistry Between Us' (Anderson/Codling)
Matt: "It uses an ancient chord sequence that you get in anything from 'Puff The Magic Dragon' to 'I Don't Like Mondays'. We started out with a set of rules for this album: no gratuitous reverb, no adding instruments for the sake of it. By the time we got to this one, we threw all those rules out the window."
Ed: "Originally, there was a bit of a 'Wild Horses' vibe going on there, but that went. It has something in common with 'Wild Ones', but without the chilling feel. It's optimistic, which was the mood during recording. On this album, the whole band were continually down the studio, just pissing about. With 'Dog Man Star', 90 per cent of the time it was just me and Bernard."

'Saturday Night' (Anderson/Oakes)
Working title: 'Ballad Idea'.
Matt: "That was always intended as the album's closer - we really wanted to close on something optimistic. Neil said something interesting the other day - he said this was the first Suede album you'd listen to before you went out. This is our album to do your hair to." RW

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