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Suede (band)

Suede (also known in the US as the London Suede) are an English rock band formed in London in 1989 by singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Justine Frischmann, and bass player Mat Osman. Drawing inspiration from glam rock and post-punk, Suede were dubbed "The Best New Band in Britain" by Melody Maker in 1992, and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede went to the top of the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years. It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster 'Britpop' as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.

The recording sessions for their second album, Dog Man Star, were fraught with difficulty and ended with guitarist and composer Bernard Butler departing after confrontations with the other members. Guitarist and composer Richard Oakes replaced him and joined the band right before the accompanying tour. Although a commercial disappointment at the time, the album was met with a generally enthusiastic reception on release and has over time been lauded as one of rock music's great albums. In 1994, Suede would become a component of the Britpop "big four", along with Oasis, Blur and Pulp.

In 1996, following the recruitment of keyboard player Neil Codling, Suede went on to greater commercial success with Coming Up. The album reached number one in the UK, producing five top ten singles and becoming Suede's biggest-selling album worldwide. Despite problems within the band, Suede's fourth album, Head Music (1999), was a British chart-topper. The album was promoted heavily with the band receiving considerable press coverage on its release, however the response from fans and critics was less enthusiastic than for previous records. Codling left the band in 2001, citing chronic fatigue syndrome, and was replaced by Alex Lee. The band's fifth album, A New Morning (2002), the first following the collapse of Nude Records, was a commercial and critical disappointment, and the band disbanded the following year. In 2004, Anderson briefly reunited with Butler to form The Tears, before embarking on a solo career two years later.

After much speculation Suede reformed in 2010 for a series of concerts. Three years on from their reunion gigs, Suede released their sixth album, Bloodsports. It was well received by critics and returned the band to the top ten in the UK. Their seventh album, Night Thoughts, followed in 2016 and became an even bigger critical and commercial success than its predecessor. Their eighth studio album, The Blue Hour, was released in September 2018. It became the group's first top five record since Head Music. Their ninth and most recent studio album, Autofiction, was released in September 2022.

1989–1991: Formation and early years
Brett Anderson and Justine Frischmann met in 1988 while studying at University College London and became a couple soon afterwards. Together with Anderson's childhood friend Mat Osman, they decided they had the core of a band, and spent hours a day playing songs by Roxy Music, The Smiths, David Bowie and The Cure. After deciding that neither Anderson nor Frischmann had the skill to be a lead guitarist, the band placed an advert in NME in the magazine's 28 October 1989 issue seeking to fill the position: "Young guitar player needed by London based band. Smiths, Commotions, Bowie, Pet Shop Boys. No Musos. Some things are more important than ability. Call Brett." The advert attracted the interest of nineteen-year-old Bernard Butler, who soon auditioned to join the band. The band settled on the name Suede. Lacking a drummer, the band initially used a drum machine. Despite Frischmann's efforts as the band's de facto manager, the band primarily played small-scale gigs around Camden Town in London.

Suede's first breakthrough came with their second demo Specially Suede which they sent to compete in Demo Clash, a radio show on Greater London Radio run by the DJ Gary Crowley. "Wonderful Sometimes" won Demo Clash for five Sundays in a row during 1990, leading to a recording contract with the Brighton-based indie label RML. The song appeared on a cassette compilation in April 1990 representing Suede's first official release. After a series of gigs with an unreliable drum machine, Suede decided to recruit a full-time drummer. Justin Welch briefly fulfilled the role, though he only lasted six weeks before joining the Crawley band Spitfire. He did, though, stay long enough to record two songs with the band, which were set to be released as the "Be My God"/"Art" single on RML Records. The band was dissatisfied with the result, and most of the 500 copies pressed were destroyed. Suede placed another advert seeking a replacement. To the band's surprise, it was answered by the Smiths' former drummer, Mike Joyce. He ultimately turned down the job as he felt Suede still had to forge their own identity. He felt that by being in a band that had similarities to the Smiths, he would have done them more harm than good. In June 1990, Suede found a permanent drummer, Simon Gilbert, through Ricky Gervais, who initially worked in the music industry and managed the band before turning to comedy. Both worked at the University of London Union (ULU). After hearing the demo and realising the band did not have a drummer, Gilbert asked to audition.

By spring 1991, Anderson and Frischmann had broken up. Frischmann started dating Blur frontman Damon Albarn. She believed the band could accommodate the new situation. The situation grew tense, Butler recalled: "She'd turn up late for rehearsals and say the worst thing in the world – 'I've been on a Blur video shoot.' That was when it ended, really. I think it was the day after she said that that Brett phoned me up and said, 'I've kicked her out.'" After Frischmann's departure the character of the group changed. "If Justine hadn't left the band," Anderson said, "I don't think we'd have got anywhere. It was a combination of being personally motivated, and the chemistry being right once she'd left." Anderson and Butler became close friends and began writing several new songs together. Still, the band's music was out of step with the music of its London contemporaries as well as the American grunge bands. Anderson said, "For the whole of 1991, A&R men wouldn't give us a second look."

Through the end of 1991 and early 1992, Suede received a number of favourable mentions in the music press, receiving slots at shows hosted by NME and attended by significant musical figures such as the former Smiths singer, Morrissey. A gig at the ULU in October 1991, which caught the media's attention, was Frischmann's final gig. John Mulvey of the NME, the journalist who first wrote about Suede was there. He said, "They had charm, aggression, and... if not exactly eroticism, then something a little bit dangerous and exciting."

1992–1993: Signing and early success
After seeing the band perform at an NME show in January 1992, Saul Galpern approached them about signing to his independent record label Nude Records. Suede eventually signed a two single deal to Nude in February 1992 for the sum of £3,132. Following Nude's offer, Suede attracted further interest from Island Records and East West Records, who were keen to sign the band long term. Suede were being hailed as "the next big thing" and, before the release of the band's first single, Melody Maker featured the band on the cover on 25 April, with the headline "Suede: The Best New Band in Britain". The band's first single, "The Drowners", attracted attention for its sharp contrast to the dying Madchester scene and the US grunge sound of the time. A moderate hit, "The Drowners" reached number 49 on the UK Singles Chart in May. The band was then approached by Geffen Records and, although the Geffen deal was very attractive (Galpern described it as "insane"), the band still had other offers to consider. In September 1992, Suede released a second single, "Metal Mickey", which reached number 17 in the charts. It was the only Suede single to enter the US Modern Rock top 10, peaking at number 7. Shortly after the release of "Metal Mickey", Suede signed to Nude/Sony. Galpern was determined to sign the band in the long term and struck a deal with Sony – making them a tiny independent label with major company backing. The contract gave Suede creative controls such as the artwork on their releases.

Anderson soon became notorious for causing controversy, such as his infamous quote that resurfaced in interviews and articles in the following years, that he was "a bisexual man who never had a homosexual experience". In February 1993, Suede went from highly touted indie band to major chart contenders with their third single, "Animal Nitrate", which went into the UK top ten. The single earned them a last-minute invitation to play at that year's Brit Awards ceremony. Writing in 2005, The Times' Victoria Segal looked back to the band's early career, saying Suede's "sexually fluid lyrics made them a rallying point for the alienated, one of the few British bands since the Smiths who united as much as they divided." Comparisons were being made with David Bowie, though Suede sounded nothing quite like anybody else around at the time, and soon they fell upon what critics quickly deemed was a new movement. Anderson recalls, "I had always been fascinated by suburbia, and I liked to throw these twisted references to small-town British life into songs. This was before we had that horrible term Britpop."

Before Suede had released an album, they dominated the music press on the strength of just three singles, setting high expectations for the forthcoming album. Suede entered the British charts at number one, registering the biggest initial sales of a debut album since Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome a decade before. It sold over 100,000 copies in its first week of release, going gold on its second day. At the time it was hailed as "the most eagerly awaited debut since Never Mind The Bollocks by the Sex Pistols." Some notable press at the time was the front cover of the April 1993 issue of Select, which is seen by many as the start of Britpop. The album won the 1993 Mercury Prize. The band donated the entire £25,000 in prize money to Cancer Research. This was the only album released in the US under the name "Suede", where it remains the band's highest selling release.

Following the success of the album, the band toured extensively in Europe, receiving major coverage by MTV. In July, Suede gave a benefit concert for Red Hot Organization at "The Grand" in London, inviting Siouxsie Sioux to perform a version of Lou Reed's "Caroline Says" with Butler. Suede then prepared for an American tour in summer 1993. During the tour, tensions began to develop between Butler and the rest of the band. On the first American tour tensions peaked in Los Angeles, when Butler disappeared during a soundcheck. The gig went ahead, but for the rest of the tour the two parties barely spoke. The tensions grew worse on the second American tour mainly because Butler's father had died, which forced Suede to cancel the tour prematurely. Butler disliked the band's indulgence on the tour during his bereavement, in which he became so alienated from the band that he even travelled separately. Suede's American success was limited as they had already begun to be upstaged by their opening act, The Cranberries, who received the support from MTV that Suede lacked. At times, Butler left the stage while Suede were performing and persuaded a member of The Cranberries to fill in for him. Moreover, a lounge singer's lawsuit forced the band to stop using the trademarked American name "Suede". For their subsequent releases and shows in the United States, the band used the name "The London Suede". Anderson was not happy about having to change the band's name for the US market, saying, "The London Suede is not the name I chose for the band, I didn't change it happily, and I'm not going to pretend I did."

1994–1995: Butler's exit and Dog Man Star
In February 1994, the band released the stand-alone single "Stay Together", which became their highest-charting single at the time, reaching number three in the UK. The single was backed by a collection of strong B-sides. The new expansive sound, however, fractured the band and led to the departure of Butler. Despite the success of the single, the band has since distanced itself totally from the song, an aversion usually attributed to problems with Butler at the time. In the aftermath of "Stay Together", Anderson isolated himself in a house in Highgate and began to write songs for Suede's next album. It was at this time that Anderson distanced himself from what was dubbed the "laddish Britpop movement," which he was seen by many to have set the scene for its emergence. Bands such as Blur, Oasis and Pulp began to dominate the music scene, while Suede became more experimental and introverted. Tensions grew worse during the recording of the album when Butler criticised Anderson in a rare interview, claiming that he worked too slowly and that he was too concerned with rock stardom. Of Anderson he said, "He's not a musician at all. It's very difficult for him to get around anything that isn't ABC."

Around this time, journalist Neil Strauss wrote that Suede were a band who were "unafraid to be out of step with its peers." The band started to record excessively lengthy songs at the behest of Butler. Osman said that he, Anderson and Gilbert often thought these tracks were the result of Butler trying to wind them up. Anderson recalled that Butler had largely recorded his parts separately from the rest of the band. This was usually done in shifts, with Anderson coming to the studio in the evenings after Butler had recorded his guitar parts during the day. The point at which tensions became unbearable was when Butler clashed with the producer Ed Buller, who he insisted should be sacked as he wanted to produce the record himself. Butler then gave Anderson an ultimatum demanding that the producer be fired or he would leave. "I called his bluff," said Anderson. Days after his wedding, Butler returned to the studio to find he was not being allowed in and his guitars were left out on the street. According to John Harris's Britpop history, The Last Party, the final words Butler uttered to Anderson were "you're a fucking cunt." Butler left the band with a quarter of the recording still to be finished. In the first interview the band gave as a three-piece, Anderson foresaw the scenario, telling NME's Steve Sutherland: "I saw it coming two years ago. It was no shock, I don't think he ever really wanted to be in the band or anything that goes with it."

Led by the single "We Are the Pigs", Suede's second album, Dog Man Star, finally appeared in October 1994. The album was very well received by critics in the UK who wrote favourably of the band's new experimental direction. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number three, but slid quickly down the charts. The singles from the album charted poorly. Reviews in the US were more mixed, with some critics comparing it unfavourably to the singles from the first album; and several labelling it as pretentious and other synonyms to that effect. Rolling Stone would describe it as "one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label." Nevertheless, despite not gaining mass exposure at the time, it steadily garnered a legacy throughout the decade and beyond as one of rock music's great albums. In September 1994, Suede announced that 17-year-old Richard Oakes was to be the new guitarist. After reading about Butler's departure, he had sent a demo tape to the band's fanclub. When Gilbert heard Anderson playing back the tape whilst going through audition tapes, he mistakenly believed it to be an early Suede demo. Oakes' first official duty as a member of Suede was an appearance in the "We Are the Pigs" video. He then co-wrote his first music with Suede, the B-sides for the "New Generation" single, "Together" and "Bentswood Boys". Suede embarked on a long international tour during late 1994 and spring 1995, before disappearing to work on their third album. In 1995, the band contributed a track to The Help Album charity compilation, covering Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding".

1996–2000: New line up and continuing success
In the autumn of 1995, the band was joined by new member Neil Codling, a cousin of Gilbert who played keyboards and second guitar. His first appearance was at a fanclub gig at the Hanover Grand on 27 January 1996, which turned out to be one of Suede's most important gigs. A short set devoid of Butler songs was well received by critics, "A set that says. 'No Need'," observed Steve Sutherland in NME. Even before Dog Man Star was released, bassist Mat Osman told Select magazine in September 1994 that he wanted to move on from the regimented recording process and expansive multi-layered guitar sounds of that era and focus on more radio-friendly pop music; citing "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. as a song that "doesn't show off in the slightest and is still brilliant." Anderson had a similar outlook, saying that in contrast to the band's previous albums, which he felt "suffered at certain times from being quite obscure," he intended the forthcoming album to be "almost like a 'greatest hits'." Suede's third album, Coming Up, was released September 1996 and was preceded by the successful lead single, "Trash" in July. The single was popular and tied with "Stay Together" as the band's highest-charting UK single, reaching number three. The album would become the band's biggest mainstream success, earning the band five straight top-10 singles and becoming a hit throughout Europe, Asia and Canada. Coming Up never did win an audience in America, partially because it appeared nearly a year after its initial release and partially because Suede only supported it with a three-city tour. The tour was not helped by problems in Boston, Massachusetts, in which the band's music equipment was stolen, leaving them to play remaining shows with acoustic guitars. Nevertheless, the album topped the UK chart and became the band's biggest-selling release, setting expectations high for the follow-up. With the success of the album, Suede secured top billing at the 1997 Reading Festival. Suede's next release was Sci-Fi Lullabies, a collection of B-sides, which reached number nine on the UK Album Chart. The compilation was well-received, with disc one of two being described by critics as the band's strongest collection of songs.

By the time the compilation was released in 1997, the Britpop movement was noticeably waning in popularity, and the band had decided to split with their long-time producer Ed Buller before commencing work on the follow-up to Coming Up. Before focusing work on their next album, the band recorded a version of "Poor Little Rich Girl" for the Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward in 1998. Despite being backed by their second-highest-charting single, "Electricity", Suede's fourth album, Head Music, did not evoke the critical and listener enthusiasm that previous records did, though it once again took the band to number one on the UK Albums Chart. A synthesiser-infused album that focused less on guitar riffs and more on keyboards, it was produced by Steve Osborne, who had worked with Happy Mondays and New Order. While the record was heavily promoted with some strong financial backing, and received almost widespread critical enthusiasm from the UK music press, the consensus with people close to the band was a feeling that things were not quite right. Richard Oakes was aware of the fans' disapproval of the album, as well as Anderson's more gaunt-like appearance and Oakes' own admission of spending two years "being pissed out [his] face and being out of shape." Moreover, many critics felt the record's lyrics were too shallow and lacking in substance. Though others praised the album, feeling that the band were again taking a different direction and charting new territory.

The next three singles released from the album failed to enter the top 10, breaking a run stretching back to the 1996 single "Trash". Anderson also attracted more criticism from fans for his frequent use of redundant vocabulary and limited lyrical themes. The track which received the most attention and criticism was "Savoir Faire". Some critics felt that the album's lyricism could be linked to Anderson's heavy drug use at the time, especially when he later admitted that he "was a crack addict for ages". Speaking of his addiction, which plagued him for two and a half years, Anderson said, "Anyone who has ever tried crack will know exactly why I took it. It's the scariest drug in the world because the hit you get from it is so, so seductive. I wanted to experience that, and I did – repeatedly." Suede headlined the Roskilde and V Festivals in July and August 1999 respectively. During 2000, there was press speculation that Suede were on the verge of disbanding, which was not helped by Codling's absence from some European gigs. Anderson denied these claims and insisted that Codling was healthy and that they were keen to record the next album. For the whole of 2000, Suede retreated from the public and played only one gig, in Reykjavik, Iceland. The band premiered several new songs that eventually appeared on the final album.

2001–2003: Commercial disappointment and break-up
Not long after the release of Head Music, Nude Records effectively ceased to exist. Like many of their labelmates, Suede ended up signing to Nude's parent company/distributor Sony to record the band's fifth album, A New Morning. Between the release of Head Music and A New Morning, Suede wrote and recorded "Simon" as the title theme for the film Far From China. The long and troubled gestation of the new album saw the keyboard player, Codling, leave the band, citing chronic fatigue syndrome, to be replaced by Alex Lee, formerly of Strangelove. In concert, Lee played keyboards, second guitar, backing vocals and occasionally harmonica. The album title, according to Anderson, referred to "a fresh start, a new band and a new fresh outlook" – the singer had been addicted to heroin and crack cocaine, which was having an increasingly deleterious effect on his health. Anderson claimed that A New Morning "was the first ever Suede record that wasn't influenced in its making by drugs".

Although the band began work with Tony Hoffer producing, the album was produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur). Overall, seven different recording studios and four producers were used during the two years spent recording A New Morning, with costs estimated at £1 million. The album was a commercial disappointment which failed to enter the top 20 and it was never released in the US. A New Morning sharply divided fans of the band even more so than Head Music and critical reaction was decidedly lukewarm. Furthermore, the mainstream public interest had long disappeared. Only two singles, "Positivity" and "Obsessions", were released, the fewest singles taken from any of the band's albums, and neither charted particularly well. Anderson has since stressed his disappointment with Suede's final album, stating "We made one Suede album too many. 'A New Morning' is the only one I don't believe in as much as the other Suede records and I totally believed in the first four, even 'Head Music' which divided the fans." Mat Osman told journalist Jon Cronshaw in October 2013 that: "It sounded like a Suede album that had been made by a committee – it was quite bland. We're all quite ashamed of it". Anderson went further in his criticism in 2016, saying: "It's a poor record and we should never have released it."

In September 2003, Suede played five nights at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, dedicating each night to one of their five albums and playing through an entire album a night in chronological order, with B-sides and rarities as encores. In October 2003, Suede released a second compilation album Singles, and an accompanying single "Attitude", which charted at number 14 in the UK. The band had begun working on a follow-up album to A New Morning, which was planned to be released after the Singles compilation. Anderson said that, "Most of the new material is more aggressive and less song based than A New Morning." He added, "We're spending a lot of time working on tracks that sound nothing like traditional Suede." The planned album was never released.

On 28 October 2003, Anderson made the decision to call it a day. The same day Suede were booked to perform "Beautiful Ones" on V Graham Norton to promote the Singles compilation. Jeremy Allen was the last person to interview the band just before the Norton appearance. Allen would see the band again some six weeks later at the aftershow party following the final gig at the London Astoria in December. At the aftershow event, Osman revealed to Allen that they decided to call it quits less than a minute after their last interview. As they were walking along the corridor to the studio set, Anderson whispered into Osman's ear: "Let's not do this anymore." Less than a week after the decision to call an end to Suede, the band's biography, Love and Poison was released on 3 November. On 5 November, the band announced that there would be no more projects under the Suede name for the foreseeable future – effectively announcing the end of the band, as they stated on their website: "There will not be a new studio album until the band feel that the moment is artistically right to make one." Anderson also made a personal statement saying: "There has been speculation about record sales and chart positions, but the bottom line is I need to do whatever it takes to get my demon back." Suede's last concert at the London Astoria on 13 December 2003 was a two-and-a-half-hour marathon show, split into two parts plus encore. Anderson made an announcement, saying, "I just want you to know. There will be another Suede record. But not yet."

2010–2013: Reunion and Bloodsports
Following persistent rumours, Saul Galpern, the boss of the band's former label, Nude Records, officially announced on 15 January 2010 that Suede would be playing together again. "It's a one-off gig," he explained of the show, which featured the band's second incarnation. The band played at the Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the 2010 Teenage Cancer Trust shows on 24 March 2010. Anderson described the comeback show as his favourite gig and the pinnacle of his 20-year career. Despite the gig initially being billed as a one night only reformation, when questioned on the German radio station MotorFM in early February, Anderson refused to confirm that the band would not continue. The band subsequently announced two UK 'warm up' gigs prior to the Royal Albert Hall show, at the 100 Club in London and The Ritz in Manchester. The three gigs were well received by critics from various newspapers.

In August, the band played at the Skanderborg Festival in Denmark and Parkenfestivalen in Bodø, Norway. In September, the band announced that they would release The Best of Suede on 1 November 2010. The two-disc compilation, put together by Anderson, consisted of 18 of the band's 20 singles on disc one; and a mixture of album tracks and popular B-sides on disc two. Shortly after the release, Suede made a short European tour from late November into December covering Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany. The band concluded the tour on 7 December at the O2 Arena in London.

After their biggest show ever at the O2 Arena in London, Brett confirmed that Suede were in the mood for more shows. 2011 would see the band perform at several festivals around the world. In January, they announced their first festival appearance of that year, playing at the SOS 4.8 Festival in Murcia, Spain in May. Other festivals included Blackberry's Live & Rockin' Festival at the Jakarta International Expo, Indonesia in March 2011; and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2011. This marked the group's first live American show since 1997. Suede played at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk on 17 July 2011. The final performance was at the Berlin Festival on 9 September 2011, directly following the Asian tour in August. In June 2011, following the success of the compilation album, the band released remastered and expanded editions of all five studio albums. They also performed the albums Suede, Dog Man Star and Coming Up at the O2 Brixton Academy in London over three nights on 19, 20 and 21 May 2011, and at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on 24, 25 and 26 May.

Suede embarked on a full Asian tour, which began in late July in Jisan, South Korea, and finished at the Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo, Japan, on 14 August 2011. Suede performed in Athens on 11 September 2011, and ended the band's touring commitments in Russia on 16 and 18 December 2011 where they showcased the new songs "Falling Planes", "The Only", "Someone Better", "I Don't Know Why", "Cold War", "Future Nightmare" and "Sabotage". Suede began recording a new album with Ed Buller in 2012 and Brett Anderson stated that of the songs showcased in Russia, only "Sabotage" was thus far in contention. On 7 January 2013, the band announced that the sixth studio album, Bloodsports, would be released in March. The announcement was accompanied by "Barriers", a song from the album, as a free download. They released their first single in a decade "It Starts and Ends with You" on 4 February. Bloodsports was well received by critics and has been their best reviewed album since the band's 1996 album Coming Up. On 12 April, Suede announced on their website the dates for their forthcoming European tour. The tour began on 26 October 2013 at the Leeds O2 Academy and finished on 23 November at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Suede subsequently added a further three shows to the beginning of the tour. They played additional shows in Southampton, Southend and Bristol on 22, 23 and 24 October.

2014–2016: Night Thoughts
In late January 2014, Anderson announced that Suede were working on a new album, he estimated the album would be released in 2015 as the band are in the writing stage for the album. On 7 September 2015, the band announced that their new album, Night Thoughts, was to be released on 22 January 2016, alongside a feature film directed by photographer Roger Sargent. On 24 September, the first single from the album "Outsiders" was released. The band performed the album in full on 13 and 14 November at the London Roundhouse. The album was released as a standalone CD issue, as a doublepack with the movie on DVD and as a limited numbered issue with CD, DVD and book. Anderson felt that unlike previous albums, for the first time the band had the freedom to do their own thing. Without the pressure to aim for the mainstream, the band deliberately eschewed from writing any radio hits. Night Thoughts was very well received by both fans and critics, receiving widespread press coverage on its release. Following on from the success of Bloodsports, Night Thoughts charted at no. 6 in the UK. A series of concert dates in the UK and Europe to support the release followed. The first half of each show consisted of the band playing the album tracks in sequence, while onstage behind a gauze screen with the movie projected onto it. The second half consisted of a mix of back catalogue material, including a number of b-sides and obscure songs. The band also did a number of instore acoustic appearances in HMV stores to promote the release, including Q&A sessions and movie screenings.

During the period were the band wrote and toured Night Thoughts, they also commemorated some of their earlier releases. Once again the band performed as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust charity at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March 2014. This time, the band performed Dog Man Star in full to mark its 20th anniversary. The set was followed by b-sides from that era, and then a greatest hits finale, which included new song "I Don't Know How to Reach You". Furthermore, to celebrate the actual 20th anniversary release of the album, Suede released a limited edition box set in October 2014. A similar 20th anniversary reissue was released for Coming Up in September 2016.

2018–2020: The Blue Hour
On 28 April 2018, Suede announced their upcoming eighth studio album. On 30 April 2018, they officially revealed the name The Blue Hour as its title, which would later release on 21 September 2018. On 4 May 2018, Suede announced the dates for the European tour which were scheduled to start shortly after the launch of the album. The tour began on 29 September in Berlin, Colombiahalle and finished 13 October at the Eventim Apollo in London. A final show was added to the tour on 14 October at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. On 5 June 2018, the band shared their first single from the album, "The Invisibles", with an accompanying video. Five singles were released from the album, matching the number of singles from Night Thoughts, with latest single "Wastelands" released 29 October. The album was released to a generally favourable reception and became their highest-charting album since Head Music in 1999. Suede announced their first 2019 show, as Friday night headliners at Pennfest, Penn, Buckinghamshire. In November 2018, the band released a documentary entitled Suede - The Insatiable Ones directed by Mike Christie. The feature-length documentary explores the highs and lows of Suede's career, with unprecedented access, new interviews and unseen footage from the band's archive. It was shown as part of a 'Suede Night' 24 November on Sky Arts, along with the band's 2010 comeback gig at the Royal Albert Hall. On 10 December, the band announced new dates as part of a 2019 UK tour. The tour began at Newcastle's O2 Academy on 15 April and concluded on 28 April at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge.

2020–present: Autofiction
In November 2020 an announcement on the official Suede Facebook page stated that a new album was currently being recorded. The same post also asked for fans to contribute some vocals for some as-yet-untitled tracks. In a BBC interview Anderson suggested that the record would be "nasty, brutish and short." On 9 July 2021, Music Week revealed that Suede had signed to the BMG label for the release of their next album, though no release date had been confirmed. On 23 May 2022, eighteen months after the band announced that they were recording a new album, Suede revealed the title of their ninth studio album as Autofiction, which was released via BMG on 16 September. On the same day, the band both revealed the name of their lead single as "She Still Leads Me On" and premiered it at a concert at the Cirque Royal in Brussels. The song is inspired by Anderson's late mother. Speaking about the new album, Anderson said: "Autofiction is our punk record. No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and fuck-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in all their primal mess". Speaking to Billboard, Anderson further explained: "our intention was also to recover certain aesthetic lines in the sound ... [the] post punk sound is back very strongly in the limelight".

Two more singles, "15 Again" and "That Boy on the Stage" were released before the album. According to Anderson the former is "a song about falling in love with life for the first time," and the latter "[is] about persona. It's about the people we become." On 12 September, the band announced the dates of a March 2023 UK tour. The 2023 tour is due to begin at Bath's Forum on 3 March, closing at O2 Academy Brixton on 25 March, 30 years after the band made their debut performance at the London venue in May 1993. On 13 September, the band announced its first United States concert tour since 1997, a co-headlining North American tour with Manic Street Preachers. Both bands will play ten shows in the US and two shows in Canada throughout November. Suede was one of the bands performing at the 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.

In November 2022, the band went on a 12-date tour in North America with Manic Street Preachers.

Legacy and influence
A significant part of Suede's legacy consists in having kickstarted the Britpop scene which eventually overshadowed the band's own achievements in the public mind. Alexis Petridis wrote in 2005, "These days, rock historians tend to depict Suede's success as a kind of amuse bouche (appetizer) before the earth-shattering arrival of Britpop's main course". In an article about the British music press's "ferocious one-upmanship campaign" of the mid-1990s, Caroline Sullivan, writing for The Guardian in February 1996, noted Suede's appearance before the release of their first single on the cover of Melody Maker as a pivotal moment in the history of Britpop:

"Suede appeared on Melody Maker's cover before they had a record out... The exposure got them a record deal, brought a bunch of like-minded acts to the public's attention, and helped create Britpop. It was the best thing to happen to music in years, and it mightn't have happened without that Suede cover."

The year following the Melody Maker cover saw Suede captivate a pop phenomenon of critical praise and hype. Not since the dawn of the Smiths had a British band caused such excitement with the release of just a few singles. A March 1993 article in The Independent wrote that "Suede have had more hype than anybody since the Smiths, or possibly even the Sex Pistols. The reviews are florid, poetic, half-crazed; they express the almost lascivious delight of journalists hungry for something to pin their hopes on." Suede are regarded by many as the first British band to break into the mainstream from the new wave of alternative rock in the '90s. With their glam rock style and musical references of urban Britain, Suede paved the way for acts such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp to enter the British mainstream. They were influential in returning some of the creative impetus to English guitar music in a scene increasingly dominated by Madchester, grunge and shoegaze. Even beyond their own shores, American heavy metal personality Eric Greif declared that Suede "reinvented and repackaged glam in a creative way, and how refreshing that was as a counterpoint to the drab grunge of the time."

Suede's laurels would remain intact through their early career until Butler's departure, which the press signalled as the end of Suede. As new rock bands were arriving on the scene, British pop culture was in the midst of a shift towards lad culture and the same critics who championed Suede were now plotting to extinguish them. In February 1995, music critic J.D. Considine said the band "quickly fell victim to the build-'em-up-then-knock-'em-down mentality of the English music press." On the eve of the release of Coming Up, Neil McCormick of The Telegraph wrote: "Cast in the classic mould of the androgynous rock star, Anderson appears curiously anachronistic in a British rock scene polarised between the laddishness of Oasis and the suburbiana of Blur and Pulp." In a 2007 article in The Telegraph, Bernadette McNulty wrote that while the frontmen of those bands "are all being bestowed with reverential status, Brett Anderson has become the lost boy of Britpop". Since the Britpop movement ceased to exist, like many bands associated with it, Suede's popularity sharply declined. As one writer put it at the end of Suede's career, "Suede slid from zeitgeist into a smaller, pocket-sized cult band." In the same article, Anderson spoke about their legacy:

"'It's not in my nature to be bitter. We may have been overlooked somewhat, but all you need to do is listen to the music. Our legacy speaks for itself.' He added, '...Fate dealt us this card, and I don't think we've done particularly badly with it. Music today seems so very worthy, so very dull. Nobody wants to stick their neck out any more, and I think that is a great pity. We did, and we left our mark.'"

"Still one of the great British bands of the '90s," David Bowie told Select in 1996. "They have the enviable knack of taking the rather pathetic fumble of a quick fuck under the pier and extracting those few golden moments that many years later convince oneself that, for one brief flickering moment, one was as inspired as Romeo or, in some cases, Juliet. The poor things are bound to be an institution by the year 2000. Dame Brett, anybody?"

At the 2010 Q Awards, Suede were honoured with the "Inspiration Award". Suede were honoured with the "Godlike Genius Award" at the 2015 NME Awards. New Order frontman Bernard Sumner presented it to the band, following a video introduction of the "fantastic" and "brilliant" Suede by comedian and Suede fan Ricky Gervais.

Influence on other artists
Multiple artists have cited the band as an influence. Kele Okereke, lead singer of London band Bloc Party, said that he started making music because of Suede's Dog Man Star, and called it "the first record [he] fell in love with". Kate Jackson, lead singer of English indie rock band The Long Blondes has spoken in interviews of her love for Suede. In 2007, she admitted that Suede got her into music, saying: "Suede's debut album was unlike anything I'd heard before. It was the opposite of grunge, which I hated, and my escape from Bury St Edmunds." Christopher Owens of the Californian indie pop group Girls named Suede as one of his major influences, and his vocal style has been compared to that of Anderson. Paul Banks from US rock band Interpol said "As for my favourite songs, 'Animal Nitrate' was my joint when I was a teen. Kudos to Suede", while in the same NME feature, Martin Noble from Sea Power added "Learning to play Suede songs was part of my education...They made me think that it was possible to achieve something artful, peculiar and great". The band have also served as an influence on acts such as Sons and Daughters, Dum Dum Girls, and Drowners, who took their name from the similarly titled Suede song. Canadian rock band Destroyer named their 2017 album ken after the original title for "The Wild Ones".

Additionally, Suede's songs have been covered by other artists. "My Insatiable One" was performed by Morrissey during his Your Arsenal tour in 1992. "The Drowners" was recorded by the Manic Street Preachers as a b-side. "Animal Nitrate" was covered by the Libertines in concert during their tour reunion in 2015: a cover version of the same song was also recorded by Basement for the Further Sky EP. "Beautiful Ones" was recorded by Kim Wilde on her cover album Snapshots in 2011. Apoptygma Berzerk recorded a cover version of "Trash" on their Rocket Science album.

Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" ! scope="col" | Award ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Category ! scope="col" | Nominee(s) ! scope="col" | Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Ref. ! scope="row"|Abilu Music Awards ! scope="row" rowspan=6|Brit Awards ! scope="row" rowspan=13|GAFFA Awards (Denmark) ! scope="row" rowspan=2|Mercury Prize ! scope="row" rowspan=12|NME Awards ! scope="row" rowspan=4|Q Awards ! scope="row"|Rober Awards Music Prize ! scope="row" rowspan=4|Smash Hits Poll Winners Party
 * 2016
 * International Rock Album of the Year
 * Night Thoughts
 * Won
 * rowspan=5|1994
 * British Breakthrough Act
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=5|
 * British Group
 * Nominated
 * British Album of the Year
 * Suede
 * Nominated
 * British Single of the Year
 * rowspan=2|"Animal Nitrate"
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|British Video of the Year
 * Nominated
 * 1995
 * "The Wild Ones"
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * 1995
 * "The Wild Ones"
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|1993
 * Best Foreign Album
 * Suede
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=13|
 * Best Foreign New Act
 * rowspan=3|Themselves
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|1994
 * Best Foreign Group
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Live Act
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|Best Foreign Album
 * Dog Man Star
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|1996
 * Coming Up
 * Won
 * Best Foreign Hit
 * "Trash"
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|Best Foreign Band
 * rowspan=4|Themselves
 * Won
 * rowspan=5|1999
 * Won
 * Best Foreign Live Act
 * Won
 * Best Foreign 90's Act
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Album
 * Head Music
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Hit
 * "Electricity"
 * Nominated
 * Won
 * Best Foreign 90's Act
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Album
 * Head Music
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Hit
 * "Electricity"
 * Nominated
 * Best Foreign Hit
 * "Electricity"
 * Nominated
 * 1993
 * rowspan=2|Album of the Year
 * Suede
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|
 * 1997
 * Coming Up
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|1993
 * Best New Band
 * Themselves
 * Won
 * rowspan=8|
 * Best Single
 * "The Drowners"
 * Won
 * 1994
 * rowspan=3|Best Band
 * rowspan=3|Themselves
 * Won
 * 1996
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=4|1997
 * Nominated
 * Best LP
 * Coming Up
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|Best Single
 * "Trash"
 * Nominated
 * "Beautiful Ones"
 * Nominated
 * 1998
 * Radio 1 Evening Session of the Year
 * Themselves
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|2000
 * Best Album Ever
 * Dog Man Star
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|
 * Best Album
 * Head Music
 * Nominated
 * 2015
 * Godlike Genius Award
 * rowspan=6|Themselves
 * Won
 * Dog Man Star
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|
 * Best Album
 * Head Music
 * Nominated
 * 2015
 * Godlike Genius Award
 * rowspan=6|Themselves
 * Won
 * rowspan=6|Themselves
 * Won
 * 1993
 * Best New Act
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|
 * 1999
 * Best Live Act
 * Nominated
 * 2010
 * Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * 2013
 * Icon Award
 * Won
 * 2013
 * Icon Award
 * Won
 * Won
 * 2013
 * Comeback of the Year
 * Nominated
 * 1994
 * rowspan=2|Best Alternative/Indie Type Band
 * rowspan=3|Themselves
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|1996
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|
 * Best Rock Outfit
 * Nominated
 * Best Album Cover
 * Coming Up
 * Nominated
 * Best Album Cover
 * Coming Up
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Members
Current members
 * Brett Anderson – vocals, tambourine (1989–2003, 2010–present)
 * Mat Osman – bass (1989–2003, 2010–present)
 * Simon Gilbert – drums (1990–2003, 2010–present)
 * Richard Oakes – guitars (1994–2003, 2010–present), piano, backing vocals (2002–2003)
 * Neil Codling – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, rhythm guitars, backing vocals (1995–2001, 2010–present)

Former members
 * Justine Frischmann – guitars (1989–1991)
 * Justin Welch - drums (1990, 2013)
 * Bernard Butler – guitars, keyboards, piano (1989–1994)
 * Alex Lee – keyboards, piano, guitars, harmonica, backing vocals (2001–2003)

Discography

 * Suede (1993)
 * Dog Man Star (1994)
 * Coming Up (1996)
 * Head Music (1999)
 * A New Morning (2002)
 * Bloodsports (2013)
 * Night Thoughts (2016)
 * The Blue Hour (2018)
 * Autofiction (2022)

title: Suede (band)


text:
Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli was a German R&B music act from Munich. The act was packaged by Boney M. founder Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio singers, Brad Howell and John Davis, and studio singers Charles Shaw, Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco, with an unrelated touring band. Their debut album, as All or Nothing in Europe, and expanded, including "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain", composed by Diane Warren, as Girl You Know It's True in the United States, achieved international success and brought them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990.

They became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with millions of records sold. However, their success turned to infamy when it was discovered that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing any of the vocals on their music releases. Their Grammy award was revoked. In 1998, they recorded a comeback album, Back and in Attack, but its release was canceled after Pilatus died the same year.

Beginnings, 1988–1989

Rob Pilatus, from Munich, met Fabrice Morvan, from Paris, during a dance seminar at a club in Los Angeles. They reconnected again in Munich and bonded over their experiences growing up in European cities; Pilatus said, "Maybe it's because we're both black people who grew up in foreign cities that don't have too many blacks." In Munich, they attempted to find work as backing singers, then formed their own act and recorded an album for a small German label that sold a few thousand records. According to Pilatus, they struggled financially and lived in a housing project.

The German music producer Frank Farian, who had previously created the disco group Boney M, invited Pilatus and Morvan to his Frankfurt studio to listen to a demo, "Girl You Know It's True". They told him they could sing it. According to Pilatus, Farian told them he would make them millionaires. On 1 January, 1988, the two signed a contract with Farian to record 10 songs a year. The duo signed without understanding the terms and conditions.

The duo's singing in the recording studio did not impress Farian. The final mix of "Girl You Know It's True" was finished by studio performers—including Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco —in March and April.

Farian gave his new project the name "Milli Vanilli", with "Milli" taken from the nickname of his then-girlfriend Ingrid Segieth, and "Vanilli" added to sound like the British band Scritti Politti. By May, Pilatus and Morvan were touring Spain, France and Italy, lip-syncing to the pre-recorded tracks and thrilling crowds with their distinct style — spandex shorts, thigh-high boots and cornrow hair extensions. According to Pilatus, "We would ask Frank, 'When are we going to be allowed to give some (artistic) input?'. And he would say, 'Yeah, yeah, but right now we need you to go out and do promotion. Of course, you'll get to do it, just work with us'. That's how he strung us along."

After "Girl You Know It's True" took off in Germany in the summer of 1988, Farian produced and wrote most of the material on the album All or Nothing, which was released in Europe in November 1988. "After Frank released the album, he told us that it was too late to stop now", Pilatus said. "Because the single was such a big success, he said, 'Now you have to go through with it. I'll cover you guys. Nobody will find out'. He said, 'Here, I'll give you $20,000 advance money'. We never had a hit before, so we went along with it. We played with fire and now we know, but it's too late." By December 1988, Pilatus and Morvan had both come to the realization that neither of their actual voices would ever be heard on any Milli Vanilli tracks.

All or Nothing was expanded and repackaged as Girl You Know It's True for audiences in the United States and released in March 1989. It was a major success, producing five singles, including the title track of the American version, that all entered the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. Three of these five singles, "Baby Don't Forget My Number", "Blame It on the Rain", and "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You", went to number one. In January 1990, the album Girl You Know It's True was certified 6× platinum by the RIAA after spending seven weeks atop the Billboard Top 200. It spent 41 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 and 78 weeks on the charts overall. It was also certified Diamond in Canada, denoting sales of over a million units there.

Milli Vanilli won the Best New Artist award at the 32nd Grammy Awards, as well as three awards at the 17th American Music Awards. However, the duo was not without their detractors, as Rolling Stone Magazine named them "worst act of 1989" and Girl You Know It's True "worst album of 1989".

Lip-syncing exposure and media backlash, 1989–1991
Beth McCarthy-Miller, then an executive with MTV, stated the duo's English language skills when they came in for their first interview with the channel stirred doubts among those present as to whether they had sung on their records.

In July 1989, MTV launched a Club MTV Tour featuring Was (Not Was), Information Society, Paula Abdul, Tone Loc and Milli Vanilli, with Downtown Julie Brown & the Club MTV dancers.

The first public sign that the group was lip-syncing came on 21 July 1989, during a live performance on MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut. As they performed, a malfunctioning hard drive caused the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" to jam and skip, repeatedly playing the partial line "Girl, you know it's..." through the speakers. "I knew right then and there, it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli", recalled Pilatus of the incident. "When my voice got stuck in the computer, and it just kept repeating and repeating, I panicked. I didn't know what to do. I just ran off the stage." Downtown Julie Brown ran after Pilatus and convinced him to finish the set. "With a bit of pushing and screaming, and a couple of F-words I think as well, I got them back out there", Brown explained on VH1's Behind the Music. Despite the mishap, the concert audience seemed neither to care, nor even to notice, and the concert continued as if nothing unusual had happened.

In a March 1990 issue of Time magazine, Pilatus was quoted proclaiming himself to be "the new Elvis", reasoning that by the duo's success they were more talented musically than Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. This was denied by Fab Morvan in 2017, saying that Pilatus had never used those words and that the quote was taken out of context, likely due to Pilatus still not having a full grasp of the English language.

Unlike the international release of All or Nothing, the inserts for the American version of the album explicitly attributed the vocals to Morvan and Pilatus. This prompted singer Charles Shaw to reveal in December 1989 that he was one of the three actual vocalists on the album and that Pilatus and Morvan were impostors. Farian reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements, though this did not stem the tide of public criticism.

On the 21 April 1990 episode of In Living Color, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans parodied Milli Vanilli in a sketch, mocking the duo's accents, fashion sense, and dance moves. This led to further jokes on the duo, such as David Letterman's top-10 list describing 10 jobs they could do other than music.

"Farian, the studio whiz who conceived and created the group's 7-million-selling album and owner of the Milli Vanilli name, fired Pilatus and Morvan at a press conference in Munich on Wednesday in which he also announced that the pair didn't sing on the record."

Because of growing public questions as to who sang in the group, as well as Morvan's and Pilatus's demand to Farian that they be allowed to sing on the next album, on 14 November 1990, Farian announced that he had fired them and confessed they did not sing on the records. Confronted by Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips, Pilatus confirmed the deception. "It's true: Milli Vanilli Didn't Sing", read the newspaper's headline. "I feel like a mosquito being squeezed", Pilatus said. "The last two years of our lives have been a total nightmare. We've had to lie to everybody. We are true singers, but that maniac Frank Farian would never allow us to express ourselves." The next week, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences revoked Milli Vanilli's 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist. Pilatus and Morvan gave a press conference for more than 100 journalists in Los Angeles where they stated their willingness to return their Grammy Award. The duo said they had "made a deal with the devil", and they sang and rapped for the room in order to prove that, although they had not sung on their records, they could, in fact, sing.

After these details emerged, lawsuits were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws against Arista Records, Pilatus and Morvan. One such filing occurred on 22 November 1990, in Ohio, where lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit asking for refunds on behalf of a local woman in Cuyahoga County who had bought Girl You Know It's True. When the suit was filed, it was estimated at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album. On 12 August 1991, a proposed settlement of a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records and singles. However, the refunds would only be given as credits for future Arista releases. On 28 August, a new settlement was approved; it refunded those who attended concerts as well as those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings. An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund, and they could keep the refunded recordings. The refund deadline passed on 8 March 1992.

Adding to the controversy, in December 1990, singer-songwriter David Clayton-Thomas sued Milli Vanilli for copyright infringement, alleging that the title song of All or Nothing used the melody from his 1968 composition "Spinning Wheel", a hit for his group Blood, Sweat & Tears.

A documentary film, Milli Vanilli, about the affair was released in 2023. An interview is shown in which the duo justify their work with Farian to escape poverty. The film, without describing them as innocent, points out that a great many people knew about the deception, but the singers became the scapegoats; the popular narrative was incomplete and misdirected at the two public faces of a much larger operation. In an interview about the film, Morvan said: "People thought they knew the story, but they didn't."

The Real Milli Vanilli, 1991–1992
Subsequent to the revelation exposing the non-authentic vocal contributions of Morvan and Pilatus to the Milli Vanilli project, Frank Farian undertook a reconfiguration of the originally planned album for the initial duo.

The resulting album, released in Europe in early 1991, was renamed The Moment of Truth and spawned three singles, "Keep On Running", "Nice 'n Easy", and "Too Late (True Love)". A Morvan/Pilatus lookalike named Ray Horton was depicted on the cover along with the real singers: Brad Howell and John Davis. In addition, the album featured rappers Icy Bro on "Hard as Hell" and Tammy T on "Too Late (True Love)". Original members and vocalists Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco remained on 95% of the tracks. One of four Diane Warren-penned songs that are included on The Moment of Truth, "When I Die", has been covered by several other artists, including Farian's No Mercy. For the American market, Farian chose to avoid any association with Milli Vanilli and had the tracks re-recorded with Ray Horton on the majority of lead vocals. However, The Moment of Truth was never released in that format in the USA.

Try 'N' B
In 1992, RCA signed on to release the album as the debut of the newly created group Try 'N' B. The self-titled release included three additional tracks not on the Real Milli Vanilli release: "Ding Dong", "Who Do You Love", and a remake of Dr. Hook's "Sexy Eyes", and featured original Milli Vanilli vocalists Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco. Because of significantly better sales under the name Try 'N' B in America, a slightly modified Try 'N' B debut album was released internationally. It featured guest singer Tracy Ganser, a Ray Horton lookalike named Kevin Weatherspoon, as well as Jodie and Linda Rocco.

Rob & Fab, 1990–1993
In 1991, Pilatus and Morvan appeared in a commercial for Carefree Sugarless Gum that parodied the lip-syncing scandal. They portrayed animated versions of themselves in an episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and even signed with a PR firm in hopes of breaking into acting. As Pilatus told the L.A. Times, "We think we have the potential to become actors. After all, we got a lot of practice while we were in Milli Vanilli. But the most important thing to us now is the new album."

Morvan and Pilatus moved to Los Angeles, California, and signed with the Joss Entertainment Group. Sandy Gallin was their manager. They recorded the album Rob & Fab, which was financed by Taj Records in 1992 and released by Joss Entertainment in 1993. Almost all the album's songs were written by Kenny Taylor and Fab Morvan, while Morvan and Pilatus provided the lead vocals. Werner Schüler, a German bassist and songwriter, was the producer. Due to financial constraints, Joss Entertainment Group was able to release the album only in the United States, the priority market to Milli Vanilli. A single, "We Can Get It On", was made available for radio play shortly before the album's release. However, the lack of publicity, poor distribution, and their steep fall from the height of pop-culture visibility after the lip-syncing scandal contributed to its failure. It sold only around 2,000 copies.

Comeback attempt and death of Rob Pilatus, 1997–1998
The duo were featured and interviewed for the premiere episode of VH1 Behind the Music in 1997. To restore their careers, Farian agreed to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals in 1997, leading to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album Back and In Attack. Some of the original studio singers even backed the duo in their attempt to recover some of the fame that had been lost so quickly. However, Pilatus encountered a number of personal problems during the album's production. He turned to drugs and crime, committing a series of assaults and robberies, and was sentenced to three months in jail and six months in a drug rehabilitation facility in California.

On the eve of the new album's promotional tour on 3 April 1998, Pilatus was found dead of a suspected alcohol and prescription drug overdose in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany. His death was ruled to have been accidental.

Morvan's solo career
Morvan spent the following years as a session musician and public speaker while working on writing and performing his new music. In 1998, he was a DJ at famed L.A. radio station KIIS-FM. During this period he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999 Wango Tango festival concert before 50,000 people at Dodger Stadium. He then spent 2001 on tour before performing in 2002 as the inaugural performer at the brand-new Velvet Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, Florida. In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, Love Revolution.

In April 2011, Morvan released the single "Anytime" on iTunes.

In 2015 TMZ reported that Morvan was working on an album with John Davis, one of the original Milli Vanilli singers, called Face Meets Voice. In 2016, he appeared in a documentary-style KFC commercial that focuses on his life and music career after Milli Vanilli. John Davis died on 24 May 2021 from complications of a COVID-19 infection.

Films
In January 2014, the actual Milli Vanilli singers—Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco, John Davis and Brad Howell—filmed an in-depth interview with the producers of Oprah: Where Are They Now for OWN TV.

The documentary Milli Vanilli: From Fame to Shame, directed by German Oliver Schwehm and produced by Hannah Lenitzki from Bremedia Produktion, was released in 2016.

Previous attempts to produce a film about Milli Vanilli had all failed:

 * On 14 February 2007, it was announced that Universal Pictures was developing a film based on the true story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry. Jeff Nathanson, a screenwriter known for Catch Me If You Can, was to write and direct the film. Morvan was supposed to serve as a consultant, providing his and Pilatus's point of view. However, the project was never completed.
 * In 2011, German director Florian Gallenberger declared that he was reviving the project and would be rewriting the script, which also didn't eventually happen.
 * Director Bret Ratner attempted to make his version of a Milli Vanilli biopic, but the project was eventually canceled in 2021 after numerous Time's Up sexual harassment allegations against Ratner became public. For this project, former Milli Vanilli performer Fab Morvan had sold his exclusive life rights to Ratner's production company RatPac Entertainment, which is why Morvan could not be involved in any competing project in development.

Between 2021 and 2022, Simon Verhoeven directed and wrote the Milli-Vanilli biopic Girl You Know It's True, which was filmed in Munich, Berlin, Cape Town, and Los Angeles. The film was produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film, with Leonine as the theatrical distributor, due to be released in cinemas 2023. The movie stars Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali as Pilatus and Morvan as well as Matthias Schweighöfer as Farian. One of the executive producers is R&B music producer and performer Kevin Liles who composed the original version of "Girl You Know It's True" by his Baltimore DJ crew Numarx in 1986. Associate producers are Jasmin Davis, daughter of the late John Davis, and Brad Howell. Carmen Pilatus, sister of the late Rob Pilatus, Milli Vanilli's former assistant Todd Headlee, and Ingrid Segieth, a.k.a. Milli, are also attached as associate producers.

Milli Vanilli (film)
On March 13, 2021, Variety announced a feature documentary was in the works directed by Luke Korem and produced by Korem, Bradley Jackson, Keep On Running Pictures and MRC. Korem said that "the truth of what happened is more bizarre than anyone knows...there are so many layers, characters, and twists that have never before been revealed".

On his Facebook fanpage, Fab Morvan announced on 4 July 2022 the new documentary film about Milli Vanilli in the works, which he was involved in.

On June 1, 2023, it was announced Paramount+ had acquired the documentary film Milli Vanilli, directed by Luke Korem. The film was shown at the Tribeca film festival in 2023. The documentary film received positive critical reviews, including Variety calling it a "captivating and moving documentary" and that it "brings off something at once strategic, artful, and humane". The Hollywood Reporter released the trailer on September 13, 2023, and announced the documentary would have a global release on October 24, 2023.

Milli Vanilli Studio albums

 * All or Nothing (1988)
 * Girl You Know It's True (1989)

The Real Milli Vanilli Studio albums

 * The Moment of Truth (1991) (as The Real Milli Vanilli)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Milli Vanilli


text:
Talk:The Irish Times

Title
It is important to leave the 'The' in the newspaper's name, as it itself uses it as part of its full title and name. JTD 23:43 Jan 15, 2003 (UTC)

Infobox
Under "political position" is it really necessary to include every position ever held by the newspapper during its existence: "originally Protestant Irish nationalist, became Irish Unionist, now left Liberal". What's wrong with specifying its current political outlook, and leaving the rest to the "History" section in the article? --Ryano 10:53, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Alec Newman
Alec Newman (editor) link points to the wrong person. At least, I presume he wasn't also the Scottish actor who played Paul Atreides. Perhaps I am underestimating the man's versatility.

Page 3
somehow i think the following is incorrect;
 * '1875 it became the first newspaper to feature a "Page 3 Girl"'

 * Lol, sadly this policy has been discontinued. I think it can be left out!AleXd (talk) 23:12, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Irish Times Trust article merge
The result was merge into The Irish Times. With more content the article can always be re-created later. -- Debate   木  01:06, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

I have added a merge tag to the Irish Times Trust article, suggesting that it should be merged into the main Irish Times article. Flowerpotman talk|contribs 20:55, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

With this little content, it would fit easily, and I am not clear that the mechanism is distinct enough to be notable for a separate article. However, if someone could expand it enough. Comarison with the Scott Trust - Guardian situation seems a good test. SeoR 09:17, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

M3 Motorway Controversy
There's mention of "an independent opinion poll by Red C Market Research for the Sunday Business Post", and then "Both surveys". I don't see the other survey. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.203.54.200 (talk) 18:09, 15 May 2007 (UTC).

Alleged 2007 bias
Re: However with regard to the 2007 General Election the paper has come under severe criticism from all quarters[citation needed] for its strigent anti-Fianna Fail stance, with many questionining its abitity to provide balanced journalism. is this, added just a couple of days ago, a valid item for an encyclopedia. "All quarters" seems too sweeping, and I am not aware of any such allegations. I suggest deleted this sentence. Feedback?

The next paragraph seems in need of a little work also. SeoR 12:28, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

No neutrality
"The paper is generally perceived as liberal, socialist and neutral on Irish unity, in contrast to the Irish Independent, which is perceived as populist and economically right wing and the pro Fine Gael Irish Examiner."

"As examples of alleged bias, The Irish Times was seen by some as supportive of Mary Robinson's campaign for the presidency of Ireland (a claim the newspaper disputes), and of legal changes to Ireland's divorce, contraception and abortion laws. It also opposed the 2004 referendum on Irish citizenship."

(Where is the citation for this and evidence?)

The Irish Times Trust (1974) mandate is: " ... to publish an independent newspaper primarily concerned with serious issues for the benefit of the community throughout the whole of Ireland, free from any form of personal or party political, commercial, religious, or other sectional control ... " (Irish Times, 150 anniversary supplement magazine, Friday, March 27, 2009)

I recall the last Irish times opinion poll before polling day saying that 54% of people were going to vote yes for the changes to the constitution with the citizenship referendum. 79% of people voted yes. What kind of margin of error is that? They obviously either fiddled the figures or only polled people in areas of the country which they knew were far left-leaning.

 * The IT, no more than any other paper, does not do surveys itself but commissions them. So any issues with numbers are rather more to do with their agency than the paper. SeoR 19:52, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

"..becoming a more radical voice in the Irish media.

(Where is the citation for this and evidence?)"

"Today, its most prominent columnists include controversial former Sunday Tribune editor, Vincent Browne... " (Where is the citation for this and evidence?)

The following entire section is biased, and contains no citations:

"M3 Motorway Controversy The paper has been on the receiving end of veiled criticism from Kells Chamber of Commerce and the NRA in December 2004 who both publicly accused the general media of unbalanced reporting in a Meath Chronicle article and in a full page counter argument advertisement respectively. An article search for "M3 Motorway" at Ireland.com returns 327 references showing The Irish Times to be one the most negative sections of the media regarding the route of the M3 motorway in County Meath. Of the 327 results the vast majority of these are opinion pieces and articles critical of the planned road.

The paper has included satirical sketches and editorials (A Wrong Road) against the M3 and in the 8 publishing days from December 28th 2006 to January 6th 2007 ran stories referencing the Save Tara "anti-M3" campaign on 5 of those 8 days.

However, in contrast to the criticism, an independent opinion poll by Red C Market Research for the Sunday Business Post, carried out nationally, showed a big majority in favour of preserving the historical and cultural sancity of the Gabhra Valley by re-routing the motorway.

Both surveys were commissioned by groups with polar opposite views and agendas and so the impartiality of both in regard to what questions were asked is equally questionable, however it is important to note that the 2005 Meath bye-election went ahead at the height of the controversy. Its finding of 71% support for political parties supporting the current route of the motorway is unquestionable as transport was widely reported to be the key issue of the election at the door steps."

 * Glad this has been raised. Also in other newspaper articles? SeoR 07:12, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

 * The newspaper is generally perceived as pro-Protestant. It has Protestant roots and features Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian (but not Roman Catholic) Notes. Apart from the Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral of St Mary, all the church service times it gives in its Saturday edition are of Protestant cathedrals and churches. It gives a high profile to Church of Ireland prelates and activities in the same way as the Murdoch press favours the Roman Catholic church. And a leader a year or two back referred to the "scandalous" decree of Ne Temere. Millbanks (talk) 07:04, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

I have changed the text on the Lisbon Treaty as it was completely biased, including accusations of bias on behalf of the paper because it printed the results of opinion polls unfavourable to the No side - opinion polls carried out by reputable organisations, which would not be contradicted by the No campaigners if they reported the result they favour. The Irish Times (in common with any other newspaper, the Independent group in particular) does have an editorial line, but unlike most other Irish newspapers allows opposing opinion pieces to be printed, these have included pieces by Declan Ganley and other prominent No campaigners. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.147.141.242 (talk) 00:37, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Circulation
The article does not give details of circulation. However, talking to someone who used to work for the Irish Times, he told me that in the last two decades it had made considerable increases, largely amongst Roman Catholic readers: the southern Protestant market was already saturated. Getting sales in the North seems more problematic, even though the newspaper is priced substantially more cheaply there (£1 as opposed to €1-80). Certainly there are not many letters from northern readers. One suspicion is that northern Protestants have reservations about buying a (southern) Irish newspaper, and Roman Catholics in the North still preceive it as Protestant. Millbanks (talk) 09:43, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Reorganisation of Article
I think the article needs to be restructured a little. The lead section contains much opinion and unverified claims, rather than summarising the article below. The sentences about promient columnists could be moved down the article. I also doubt whether Miriam Lord merits special mention. Nor would I describe her as a "satirist". The History section also contains material which is relativly recent and merits at least some subsections. The Content section could also be further divided into the main paper and the supplements. Finally there should be a new section including its auxilary business, such as myhome.ie and Irish Times Training, which isn't mentioned.AleXd (talk) 23:10, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

"The Irish Times is the only newspaper in Ireland, and one of only a few worldwide, to be protected in this way."
The German version was translated from this article and, consequentially, contained this sentence. I deleted it from the German version, since this is not true. There are still examples of newspapers which are still independent and owned by their readers or cowokers, so they can't be sold without their permission, these are die tageszeitung, junge Welt, jungle World (Germany) and Die Wochenzeitung (Switzerland, no English article available yet). Historically it was also the case with Il Messaggero (Italy) and Libération (France). And these are only the examples I know by heart and for Europe. --Marcus Schätzle (talk) 01:21, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Marcus. It's refreshing to get a view from beyond the anglophone world. Dunlavin Green (talk) 01:20, 17 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh, true indeed! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 22:27, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Irish Times political stance on economics
This edit was reverted because 89.204.203.159 has a very short history, most of which consists of dubious edits (i.e. the comments about "lazy chestnuts").Autarch (talk) 18:02, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

 * I have twice reverted edits relating to the paper's political stance on economics since they are lacking in support from third party sources. As per WP:Sources, they must be from reliable publications, external to the subject preferably academic books and articles. This is a fundamental principle of wikipedia. The editor who has classified the paper's opinions has cited editorials written in the paper, this means he is the one interpretating the paper's point of view.

 * The reference for the Kevin Myers story in section 1.4, does not set a precedent. That article is from a seperate publication, and the wikipedia entry does not make judgement (such as the rightness or leftness of the event) it simply reports the fact that the column was not published and its writer was irritated. That sad, the source in question is barely passable, the use of "spiked" for example is unclear. Best, --Ktlynch (talk) 21:20, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

The reference to the paper being right wing on economic issues should obviously be deleted. In what way is arguing that spending needs to be cut in order to protect our economic sovereignty right wing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.42.101.227 (talk) 03:40, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Irish Times Trust: much more info needed
This article badly, badly needs more information on the Irish Times Trust. Why was it set up/ Why did the owner surrender his ownership for nothing, it seems? How many people are on the Trust? How are they appointed? How often are they appointed? Is there a religious bias in such appointments? How can the Trust influence editorial policy, if at all? What are the benefits of The Irish Times being governed by a Trust rather than by a privately-owned company? What are the pitfalls of the Trust? Could this type of newspaper ownership be a serious alternative to the current abuses of power which are ongoing in O'Reilly and O'Brien-dominated media in Ireland? I realise the last question is not directly linked, but the reason I want to know more about the Irish Times Trust is to see if it could be used in other newspapers to counter the current abuses of power there. 89.101.59.188 (talk) 13:32, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

 * Your keen interest in these questions and your evident detailed grasp of the range of issues to be addressed suggests you are strongly qualified to research the Trust and to add your discoveries to the article. O'Dea (talk) 07:52, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Kate Fitzgerald
This article needs to mention the role of The Irish Times in this scandal. Editing the final testimony of a now deceased 25-year-old lady, conflicts of interest between its journalists and the employer whom that lady made serious allegations against. It stinks. This morning it published an "apology" not to Kate Fitzgerald for editing (on 28.11.2011) the letter she wrote (published on 9.09.2011) before her death but to The Communications Clinic, where they essentially called Kate Fitzgerald a liar. This is not the last we'll hear about The Irish Times' shameful behaviour here. Fyodor Dostoevsky (talk) 15:09, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Bernard Share
For some reason the Novelist Bernard Share's page redirects here even though he's not even mentioned in the article. Rather than do that, I will edit his redirect to a stub article which hopefully can be further expanded. zadignose (talk) 06:35, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
 * The redirect was created in 2008 with the edit note "(reviewer for the Irish Times; perhaps not notable enough for his own article)". I've expanded it slightly, but there's clearly scope for much more. Pam  D  08:09, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

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The Arnotts
[moved from the WikiProject Ireland talk page]

The lead sentence of section 1.2 The Irish Times was a disaster.

Talk: The Irish Times appears to be dead. So you who know Ireland officially should have a look at my two "short but MAJOR EDIT" (difference). --P64 (talk) 00:38, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

 * The sentence was not a "disaster". It was poor editing. There is a difference. The first sentence in that paragraph was originally added as a caption to a now-deleted image, and repeated what was said in the paragraph proper, i.e. that the paper (post-Arnotts), was unionist in outlook and closely allied with the Irish Unionist Alliance. Removing it was perfectly correct. But what you added here was original research. The preceding sentence only says that the paper reflected Knox's (conservative) politics. We cannot conclude from that that it supported an Irish parliament. We would need a reliable source to say so. I don't believe there are any reliable sources, because I don't believe it ever did. Scolaire (talk) 10:46, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for checking. From wiki-linked articles I inferred the Irish Parliament to be the essential difference between Home Rule League and Irish Unionist Alliance, the party that the newspaper shifted to support after Knox's death --ie, remain in the UK with Irish Parliament or with continued rule by one Parliament in Westminster. (Could there be Home Rule from Westminster?)
 * There may be a more basic problem, I see on second glance at linked articles: Home Rule League established as a political party only November 1873, the year Knox died, with its first general election probably in 1874 (Home Rule League). Even if Knox stood (is that possible) for the informal "pressure group" Home Government Association 1870 to 1873, that must be so late in the history of the newspaper under Known (1859 to 1873) that some careful statement is needed. --P64 (talk) 19:49, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * I find no obituary(!) in The Irish Times and Daily Advertiser but there is a death notice 1873-01-25, page 8. "At his residence, 53 Fitzwilliam square, North, on Friday 24th instant, aged 36, Major Lawrence E. Knox, eldest son ..." --P64 (talk) 19:57, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

 * Hi, . I did a search and I found this. Knox contested a by-election for the Home Government Association (or at least on their platform) in May 1870. Also this: in November 1868, he was elected in Sligo Borough as a Tory candidate, but was unseated. So I agree with you that his late conversion to home government has no bearing on the editorial outlook of the early Irish Times, which would have been common or garden Tory. I'm going to take the home rule bit out of the article altogether, and put it in the Knox article instead. Scolaire (talk) 08:51, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Needs review
91.193.179.238 (talk) 11:16, 20 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Not controlled by some conspiracy for first 127 years
 * Too much and too high in article about controversies, not enough on basics
 * What about the Weekly IT, Pictorial, etc?

Political alignment
The political alignment section is ridiculous. The Irish Times is not pro-austerity, pro-Fine Gael, or right-wing libertarianism. It has writers who expouse those views but that is not the slant of the newspaper. I don't know who wrote that but that is a serious tankie point of view and there are a lot of analytical newspaper balance metrics that classify the Irish Times and it would not fall under those lines.Aerchasúr (talk) 14:45, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

I see Political alignment has been changed by DublinDilettante to neoliberal. Calling the Irish Time neoliberal seems like quite obvious page vandalism Aerchasúr (talk) 18:31, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

 * Not read the property supplement lately, I take it? Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 22:08, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Normally people point to privatisation as evidence of 'neoliberalism' which is of course not even an ideology but a pejorative term for market-driven economic policy, not property markets.I certainly dont think they would use that termAerchasúr (talk) 08:29, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

 * Maybe try reading it, so. Promotion of REITs and criticism of opposition to selling off public land to developers at knockdown value is completely neoliberal. Bastun Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ! 10:46, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

 * Comment: It seems like there's some WP:OR going on here if we're getting into the weeds about how their coverage of REITs/sales of public land might potentially be neoliberal in nature. Regarding the above, do we have external reliable sources that define the political alignment of the paper? This seems like the sort of material that we'd need an inline citation for, given that it's being challenged. — Mikehawk10 (talk) 03:05, 4 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree. There seems to be some glibness above. Ceoil (talk) 05:09, 4 October 2021 (UTC)

If no one can find a reliable citation to it being neoliberal, then the term should be removed. It is worth bearing in mind 'neoliberal' is like an exonym, which is against the rules. It isnt used by anyone to describe themselves, bar the occasionally publicity stunt. You want find right wing economists calling their work neoliberal. Aerchasúr (talk) 17:36, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:The Irish Times


text:
Fifth force

In physics, there are four observed fundamental interactions (also known as fundamental forces) that form the basis of all known interactions in nature: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear forces. Some speculative theories have proposed a fifth force to explain various anomalous observations that do not fit existing theories. The characteristics of this fifth force depend on the hypothesis being advanced. Many postulate a force roughly the strength of gravity (i.e., it is much weaker than electromagnetism or the nuclear forces) with a range of anywhere from less than a millimeter to cosmological scales. Another proposal is a new weak force mediated by W′ and Z′ bosons.

The search for a fifth force has increased in recent decades due to two discoveries in cosmology which are not explained by current theories. It has been discovered that most of the mass of the universe is accounted for by an unknown form of matter called dark matter. Most physicists believe that dark matter consists of  undiscovered subatomic particles that are difficult to detect, but some believe that it could be related to an unknown fundamental force. Second, it has also recently been discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, which has been attributed to a form of energy called dark energy. Some physicists speculate that a form of dark energy called quintessence could be a fifth force.

History
The term fifth force originates in a 1986 paper by Fischbach et al. who reanalyzed the data from the Eötvös experiment of Loránd Eötvös from earlier in the century; the reanalysis found a distance dependence to gravity that deviates from the inverse square law. The reanalysis was sparked by theoretical work in 1971 by Fujii  proposing a model that changes distance dependence with a Yukawa potential-like term:
 * $$V(r) = -G_\infty \frac{m_im_j}{r_{ij}}(1+\alpha e^{-r/\lambda})$$

The parameter $$\alpha$$ characterizes the strength and $$\lambda$$ the range of the interaction. Fischbach's paper found a strength around 1% of gravity and a range of a few hundred meters. The effect of this potential can be described equivalently as exchange of vector and/or scalar bosons, that is a predicting as yet undetected new particles. However, many subsequent attempts to reproduce the deviations have failed.

Theory
Theoretical proposals in the fifth-force category are driven by two inconsistencies between the current models of general relativity and quantum field theory, the hierarchy problem and the cosmological constant problem. Both issues suggest the possibility of corrections to the gravitational potential around $$100\mu\text{m}$$.

Experimental approaches
There are at least three kinds of searches that can be undertaken, which depend on the kind of force being considered, and its range.

Equivalence principle
One way to search for a fifth force is with tests of the strong equivalence principle, one of the most powerful tests of general relativity, also known as Einstein's theory of gravity. Alternative theories of gravity, such as Brans–Dicke theory, postulate a fifth force—possibly one with infinite range. This is because gravitational interactions, in theories other than general relativity, have degrees of freedom other than the "metric", which dictates the curvature of space, and different kinds of degrees of freedom produce different effects. For example, a scalar field cannot produce the bending of light rays.

The fifth force would manifest itself in an effect on solar system orbits, called the Nordtvedt effect. This is tested with Lunar Laser Ranging experiment and very-long-baseline interferometry.

Extra dimensions
Another kind of fifth force, which arises in Kaluza–Klein theory, where the universe has extra dimensions, or in supergravity or string theory is the Yukawa force, which is transmitted by a light scalar field (i.e. a scalar field with a long Compton wavelength, which determines the range). This has prompted a much recent interest, as a theory of supersymmetric large extra dimensions—dimensions with size slightly less than a millimeter—has prompted an experimental effort to test gravity on very small scales. This requires extremely sensitive experiments which search for a deviation from the inverse-square law of gravity over a range of distances. Essentially, they are looking for signs that the Yukawa interaction is engaging at a certain length.

Australian researchers, attempting to measure the gravitational constant deep in a mine shaft, found a discrepancy between the predicted and measured value, with the measured value being two percent too small. They concluded that the results may be explained by a repulsive fifth force with a range from a few centimetres to a kilometre. Similar experiments have been carried out on board a submarine, USS Dolphin (AGSS-555), while deeply submerged. A further experiment measuring the gravitational constant in a deep borehole in the Greenland ice sheet found discrepancies of a few percent, but it was not possible to eliminate a geological source for the observed signal.

Earth's mantle
Another experiment uses the Earth's mantle as a giant particle detector, focusing on geoelectrons.

Cepheid variables
Jain et al. (2012) examined existing data on the rate of pulsation of over a thousand cepheid variable stars in 25 galaxies. Theory suggests that the rate of cepheid pulsation in galaxies screened from a hypothetical fifth force by neighbouring clusters, would follow a different pattern from cepheids that are not screened. They were unable to find any variation from Einstein's theory of gravity.

Other approaches
Some experiments used a lake plus a tower that is $320 m$eters high. A comprehensive review by Ephraim Fischbach and Carrick Talmadge suggested there is no compelling evidence for the fifth force, though scientists still search for it. The Fischbach–Talmadge article was written in 1992, and since then, other evidence has come to light that may indicate a fifth force.

The above experiments search for a fifth force that is, like gravity, independent of the composition of an object, so all objects experience the force in proportion to their masses. Forces that depend on the composition of an object can be very sensitively tested by torsion balance experiments of a type invented by Loránd Eötvös. Such forces may depend, for example, on the ratio of protons to neutrons in an atomic nucleus, nuclear spin, or the relative amount of different kinds of binding energy in a nucleus (see the semi-empirical mass formula). Searches have been done from very short ranges, to municipal scales, to the scale of the Earth, the Sun, and dark matter at the center of the galaxy.

Claims of new particles
In 2015, Attila Krasznahorkay at ATOMKI, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences's Institute for Nuclear Research in Debrecen, Hungary, and his colleagues posited the existence of a new, light boson only 34 times heavier than the electron (17 MeV). In an effort to find a dark photon, the Hungarian team fired protons at thin targets of lithium-7, which created unstable beryllium-8 nuclei that then decayed and ejected pairs of electrons and positrons. Excess decays were observed at an opening angle of 140° between the $e$$+$ and $e$$−$, and a combined energy of 17 MeV, which indicated that a small fraction of beryllium-8 will shed excess energy in the form of a new particle.

In November 2019, Krasznahorkay announced that he and his team at ATOMKI had successfully observed the same anomalies in the decay of stable helium atoms as had been observed in beryllium-8, strengthening the case for the X17 particle's existence.

Feng et al. (2016) proposed that a protophobic (i.e. "proton-ignoring") X-boson with a mass of 16.7 MeV with suppressed couplings to protons relative to neutrons and electrons and femtometer range could explain the data. The force may explain the muon $g$ − 2 anomaly and provide a dark matter candidate. Several research experiments are underway to attempt to validate or refute these results.

title: Fifth force