As I get older I get it: Suede is better than both Blur and Oasis. If I could tell something to my younger self it would be “you placed your chips on the wrong horse, kid!”

My story with Suede is weird. I wanted Man Dog Star when it came out, but one of my parents vetoed it due to having a naked dude on the front cover. You can guess from my previous articles who it was.

Suede has a lushier side of shoegaze that might be too British for an audience abroad, but it’s always rewarding to listen to them. Even last year’s album, Antidepressants , has some great corkers when their contemporaries are either too bored singing ballads about Darren or paying for a divorce while avoiding fraticide.

But Suede remains fresh. Beautiful ones, So young, She’s in fashion, Disintegrate. Their music is always elegant, the vocals are warm, and the catchiness is pop enough to burrow in your ear but with enough panache to strut around and steal your ex.

With such an expansive discography, I’m choosing Jumble Sale Mums. Unjustly relegated as a b-side, it finally found its place on the limelight on the double album b-side compilation Sci Fi Lullabies. There’s something about its front cover, with a broken Lightning airplane on a vast moor that emanates something more from this.

Suede’s b-sides can dance rings around many singles from their contemporaries. Even today, with all the rose-tinted glasses I use when listening to Blur or Oasis, it feels like Suede was always there, reliable and true to its nature. No big fights on stage, no full albums talking shit about Elastica. Just their music.

-Sam J. Valdés López