The Asphalt World

Album: Dog Man Star (1994)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Several Dog Man Star tracks were inspired by frontman Brett Anderson's then girlfriend, 17-year-old Anick, including this, the album's nine-minute centerpiece. The song's lyric referenced his teenage beau's female lover. "I wasn't interested in monogamy at that point," he told Mojo. "Sexual jealousy can be a stimulant too."
  • Bernard Butler's initial creation was a 25-minute piece with an eight-minute guitar solo. The guitarist maintains he always intended to whittle it down, but producer Ed Buller remembers otherwise. "I told him the guitar solo was too long. 'No it's not, Let's just try.' It took over three weeks to get it the right length," he recalled to Mojo.
  • Anderson recorded his vocal the night after Butler gave an interview to Vox magazine in which he raged, "I'm desperate to do things outside of Suede. Brett's so f---ing slow, it's driving me insane." "I took all of the pain I was feeling and channeled it into my delivery," the singer told Vox. "Bernard later apologized, but it wasn't nice."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

John Parr

John ParrSongwriter Interviews

John tells the "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" story and explains why he disappeared for so long.

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.

Who Did It First?

Who Did It First?Music Quiz

Do you know who recorded the original versions of these ten hit songs?

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Jon Foreman of SwitchfootSongwriter Interviews

Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.