who didn't want to party". He even travelled separately, either alone, by taxi, or on the tour bus of support act the Cranberries. Then, in Atlanta, Suede suffered the ignominy of having to open for the Cranberries, who had become a bigger draw, thanks to their recent hit "Linger". The band agreed to let the Cranberries go on last in three places, given that they were picking up airplay; Anderson said the "whole rivalry thing was blown out of all proportion." By the time of their arrival in New York, Suede had had enough, and the last few dates were cancelled. According to drummer Simon Gilbert, Butler was becoming intolerable and impossible to work with, and the band could not function together any longer. To record Suede's next album Anderson moved to Highgate, north London, and began to write lyrics while living in a secluded flat; a time which is detailed in the band biography Love and Poison. The album was later described by writer Nick Duerden as "the most pompous, overblown British rock record of the decade". Anderson has said that its overblown sound was down to his use of psychedelic drugs: "I was doing an awful lot of acid at the time, and I think it was this that gave us the confidence to push boundaries." He has also said that he thrived on the surreal environment he lived in at the time; next door were a sect known as the Mennonites, who would often sing hymns during Anderson's drug binges. After the success of their debut album, Suede were hailed as the inventors of Britpop, something they were proud of for a short while. However, Britpop started to be dominated by the other bands, notably Blur, Oasis and Pulp. This disgusted Anderson, who called Britpop "a musical Carry On film." Fearing he was on a collision course of becoming a celebrity, Anderson deliberately distanced himself from the scene, which prompted his relocation to Highgate. "We could not have been more uninterested in that whole boozy, cartoon-like, fake working-class thing", the singer said in 2008. "As soon as we became aware of it, we went away and wrote Dog Man Star. You could not find a less Britpop record. It's tortured, epic, extremely sexual and personal. None of those things apply to Britpop." Recording and production The album was recorded between 22 March and 26 July 1994 at