The Asphalt World

Album: Dog Man Star (1994)
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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."

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