Synopsis

Suede perform amid a lurid, glam-inflected story about a young woman working in a butcher shop. Her routine is disrupted when a flamboyantly dressed, male-coded figure draws her into a more decadent and sexually charged world, leading her toward an adult cinema. The band's performance footage is intercut with images of flirtation, androgynous styling, and women exchanging intimate glances. The result is a deliberately provocative clip that matches the song's glittery swagger with a vision of desire that resists fixed gender roles.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Metal Mickey" was released on September 14, 1992, as Suede's second single. It became the band's first UK chart hit, reaching No. 17, and led to their first appearance on "Top of the Pops."

• The video was part of Suede's early visual identity, which leaned heavily into glamour, sexual ambiguity, and androgyny rather than conventional guitar-band imagery.

• Contemporary coverage noted that the clip included women holding hands and exchanging longing glances, with some of the participants dressed in traditionally masculine clothing.

• The gender-fluid imagery connected with the visual world surrounding Suede's debut album. The album cover used an image of two androgynous-looking women kissing, originally associated with the photography book "Stolen Glances."

• In the United States, MTV aired the video on its alternative-music program "120 Minutes," helping introduce Suede to an American audience.

• "Metal Mickey" was the only Suede single to reach the US Modern Rock Top 10, peaking at No. 7.

• The official video was later remastered from the original 1-inch videotape master for the 30th anniversary campaign surrounding Suede's debut album.