It was Instinct and curiosity that drew me to the Brett Anderson memoir Coal Black Mornings in my local library. No fanboying, that’s for sure. I was more into Blur, Oasis and Pulp in my youth and although tracks such as ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Trash’ are certified tunes – and Bernard Butler clearly is a gifted guitarist and composer – I couldn’t get past the frontman’s sullen affectations and the proto-EMO image.
But it is Suede who have arguably fared best of all the so-called Britpop bands over time. That last album was a triumphant return and ‘The Wild Ones’ still moves me like few other songs from the 90s. This guy must have something interesting to say about life in Britain...
I certainly pay more attention to lyrics these days and in this book we get to appreciate Anderson’s probing eloquence over a couple of hundred pages. He takes us back to his humble childhood in Hayward’s Heath and an unsettled adolescence (pushing back against parents and the predetermined path). We feel the burning ambition of his twenties as he busts out of small-town shackles and bounces from squat to flat in London. This is the tale of man and boy.
A smart move to dodge the score-settling, salacious showbiz autobiography in favour of something more diaristic, and to conclude just as he and the band are on the cusp of hard-won success. You can tell he loves language and aspires to great writing, just as he longed to make great art in music rather than settle for fame and fading hedonism.
Sure, he can be earnest from time to time, but I found him endearing rather than irritating. In the intro, he lays out his ambition for the memoir – to document his upbringing and to create a public record of a hitherto private life, which might also serve as a very personal letter to his son.
To show that his old man was a guy who “loved and lost, fought and felt”. Flick through these images and you will see he writes beautifully about myriad topics most of us can relate to: his devotion to a wonderful mother; dealing with disappointments and embracing failure time and again; how to develop fruitful relationships with others and overcome soured ones.
