"Animal Nitrate" is a song by the English Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 group Suede

Suede (band)

Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...

. Released as the band's third single, it later appeared on their debut album Suede

Suede (album)

Suede is the debut album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in March 1993 on Nude Records. At the time the fastest-selling debut album in British history, Suede debuted at the top of the UK Album Chart, won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize, and is often credited with starting the Britpop...

on Nude Records

Nude Records

Nude Records was a London based record label, set up in 1992 by Saul Galpern who had previously been involved in the success of artists such as Simply Red, the Fall, Julian Cope, The Triffids, The Slits and The Au Pairs. The label's first success was with Suede. Suede's debut album was the fastest...

 in 1993. It charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, making it the highest charting single from the album.

The video for the title track was directed by Pedro Romhanyi. The band caused some controversy with the video when it was banned for its depiction of two men engaging in a kiss. It won the first MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 Euro Video Song Contest in 1993.

The title of the song is a reference to the inhalant

Inhalant

Inhalants are a broad range of drugs whose volatile vapors are taken in via the nose and trachea. They are taken by volatilization, and do not include drugs that are inhaled after burning or heating...

 drug amyl nitrite

Amyl nitrite

Amyl nitrite is the chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrito functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group...

. Chris Jones, reviewing Suede's debut album for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, concurred. "Despite its punning title it’s a thrill-seeking slice of cynicism that perfectly summed up what it was like to be young and chemically imbalanced in the nation’s capital at the time.

The single was previewed to the nation at the 1993 Brit Awards

Brit Awards

The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

.

According to Suede's biography Love and Poison

Love and Poison (book)

Love and Poison is the official biography of the English alternative rock band Suede. The book, written by long-time band associate David Barnett, reveals the real stories behind singer Brett Anderson's battle with drugs, his relationship with Elastica's Justine Frischmann and the subsequent feud...

, the chorus's guitar part was inspired by the intro to popular BBC television series Dixon of Dock Green

Dixon of Dock Green

Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...

. The song was almost overlooked as a single; Brett Anderson was convinced "Sleeping Pills" would be the third single. He was soon overruled by Nude Records owner Saul Galpern.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Animal Nitrate" at number 97 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

In May 2007, NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

magazine placed "Animal Nitrate" at number 43 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.

Track listings

All songs written by Brett Anderson

Brett Anderson

Brett Lewis Anderson is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, and has released four solo albums...

 and Bernard Butler

Bernard Butler

Bernard Joseph Butler is an English musician and record producer. He first emerged in the early Britpop era with Suede. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation, as well as one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists...

.

CD

1. "Animal Nitrate"
2. "Painted People"
3. "The Big Time"

12"

1. "Animal Nitrate"
2. "Painted People"
3. "The Big Time"

7"

1. "Animal Nitrate"
2. "The Big Time"

Cassette Single

1. "Animal Nitrate"
2. "The Big Time"