"Suffocate" is the fourth single by British

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

band

King Adora King Adora was a rock group formed in Birmingham, England in 1998. The band released debut album '' Vibrate You'' in May 2001 (charting at No. 30 on the UK Albums Chart) and follow-up '' Who Do You Love?'' in March 2004. The band was notab ...

. The single was released on 19 February 2001 on Superior Quality Recordings and reached number 39 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's first Top 40 single. The song would be included as the closing track on the band's debut album, '' Vibrate You'' and frequently closed their live shows.

Background

Writing and recording

''Suffocate'' was written on a bunk bed in

Sawmills Studios Sawmills Studios is a recording studio founded in 1974 by record producer, Tony Cox. It is located in Golant, on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall. Description The studio building is located on the tidal creek on the banks of the ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

by Matt Browne and Martyn Nelson during recording sessions for their debut album '' Vibrate You'' in late 2000. Nelson revealed it was "a special moment" when Browne played the chords and Nelson came up with the song's opening riff. They quickly agreed that Suffocate would be "a good song". ''Suffocate'' was produced and mixed by John Cornfield. Like other songs recorded for ''Vibrate You'', ''Suffocate'' contains programmed

drum loops In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

which made up a

backing track A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live m ...

for the recording and live performances.

Themes

Browne called ''Suffocate'' "an anti-love song, destruction of something beautiful". He was inspired to write the song's lyrics after returning from a tour to find his then-girlfriend had died. Browne never had the chance to say he was sorry before her passing and the song became a way of conveying his emotions. On the band's 2012 ''Who Do You Love? , The King Adora Story'' documentary he revealed that "things weren't well at all, most of it my fault, because I was too much caught up in the lifestyle of being on the road and ignoring what's real".

B-sides

Three

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

s were released on the single, ''Aceface'', ''Into Space'' and ''Drink Don't Think''. All three songs were recorded at

Woodbine Street Recording Studios Woodbine Street Recording Studios is a recording studio located in the town of Leamington Spa, England. There are two recording rooms, the first being the main 31 square metre one. The second is a 13.6 square metre 'live' room which is wood panell ...

Royal Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

and were produced by the band and Dan Sprigg, with Sprigg and Jamie Travers mixing. ''Into Space'' featured the only use of

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s on a King Adora song. ''Aceface'' would occasionally appear in the band's live sets during 2001 and was included as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

on the

Enhanced CD Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both CD-Audio and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the ''enhanced CD'' cate ...

version of ''Vibrate You''.

Video

The ''Suffocate'' release was accompanied by King Adora's third

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, directed by Dan Crouch. Crouch commented that in the video "the band is taken over by an apparition that travels into the room through the chandelier".

Reception

In a poor review,

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

said "it's only marginally sexier, in fact, than

Darius Darius may refer to: Persian royalty ;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire * Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC) * Darius II (423 to 404 BC) * Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC) ;Crown princes * Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...

off

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

doing

Britney Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. An influential figur ...

". Drowned in Sound were positive, rating the single 8/10 and commenting "if they can produce more of this, they may not be as throwaway as they first appeared".

Track listing

Enhanced CD 1

# "Suffocate" # "Aceface" # "Smoulder" (video)

Enhanced CD 2

# "Suffocate" # "Into Space" # "Drink Don't Think" # "Suffocate" (video)

7"

# "Smoulder" # "Aceface"

Personnel

* Matt Browne – vocals, rhythm guitar * Martyn Nelson – lead guitar * Robbie Grimmit – bass *

Dan Dabrowski King Adora was a rock group formed in Birmingham, England in 1998. The band released debut album '' Vibrate You'' in May 2001 (charting at No. 30 on the UK Albums Chart) and follow-up '' Who Do You Love?'' in March 2004. The band was notabl ...

– drums

Production

* ''Suffocate'' – Produced and mixed by John Cornfield * ''Aceface'', ''Into Space'', ''Drink Don't Think'' – Produced by King Adora and Dan Sprigg, mixed by Dan Sprigg and Jamie Travers

References

{{Authority control 2001 singles King Adora songs 2001 songs