Suede

The Insatiable Ones SKY ARTS/BMG Tawdry tales from the Britrock survivors.

With a cracking debut album and the early 90s rock press eating out of their hand,

Suede’s ascent should have been a sure thing. But, as The Insatiable Ones reminds us, the band always had one hand on the self-destruct button.

Mike Christie’s excellent documentary captures the rush of their breakthrough, the genius of 1994’s Dog Man Star and the chart assault of 1996’s Coming Up. But he pushes his cast to broach the difficult subjects, too, dredging up the sacking of troubled guitar genius Bernard Butler, the nightmarish, crackaddled sessions for 1999’s Head Music and the cardboard gravestone of 2002’s A New Morning (“I disown that album,” sniffs frontman Brett Anderson. “I wish we’d never made it”). The band’s late-period comeback ensures a feel-good finale, but you’re left with the tantalising sense that another car crash could be just around the corner.