Track of the Week: Felt: Dismantled King Is Off The Throne (1984)

Felt should have been huge. They weren't. This was probably largely the fault of lead singer/resident lunatic Lawrence AKA Lawrence Hayward, who once drove to one of his own gigs entirely in first gear. Despite being a complete eccentric and utterly unprofesional, the man was a lyrical and musical genius. When the song starts with a delicate, chiming guitar motif and the couplet 'I was feeling desparate, unable to decide / Between a life of misery and awful suicide', you know the band's on to something good. Lawrence continues to paint a picture of darkness and despair over Maurice Deebank's shimmering guitar, somewhere between Durutti Column and Orange Juice. The end result: perfect pop, melancholy yet ultimately uplifting. No one bought it, and as the song came out the likes of The Smiths were cornering the indie market. Whatever, although Lawrence never achieved his childhood dream of pop stardom, Felt achieved pure musical brilliance - which has to be worth something.