Inspiral Carpets
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The Inspiral Carpets is an alternative rock band from Oldham in Greater Manchester, England formed by Graham Lambert in 1986.
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[edit] History
The Inspiral Carpets emerged, alongside bands like Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, from the indie scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their sound is based around harmonic (and often psychedelic) keyboards and jangly guitars. The band were propelled to fame after being 'discovered' by the Radio 1 DJ John Peel and had their greatest chart success in the UK with a single entitled "This Is How It Feels", which is a song about loneliness and unemployment.
At the time of their initial success, the band earned some notoriety for their squiggly-eyed cow 'Cool as Fuck' T-shirts; a student at Oxford Polytechnic was prosecuted on obscenity charges for wearing one. One of their roadies, Noel Gallagher, who was rejected in an audition to be the band's vocalist, went on to great success with the band Oasis. The band is named after a clothing store in the Oldham neighbourhood.
They reworked their single "Find Out Why" as the theme tune to the 8:15 from Manchester.
After an amicable split in the mid-nineties they re-formed with their original line-up in 2001. This was backed with the release of a new single, a couple of sold-out tours and a number of new compilation records.
[edit] Members
[edit] Early line-up
- Stephen Holt - vocals
- Graham Lambert - guitars
- David Swift - bass
- Clint Boon - keyboards, vocals
- Craig Gill - drums
[edit] Height of success through to present day
- Tom Hingley - vocals (born Thomas Hingley, on 9 July, 1965, in Abingdon)
- Graham Lambert - guitars - (born Graham Paul Lambert, on 10 July, 1964, in Chadderton, Oldham)
- Martyn Walsh - bass - (born Martyn John Walsh, on 3 July, 1968, in Rusholme, Manchester)
- Clint Boon - keyboards, vocals (born Clinton David Boon, on 28 June, 1959, in Oldham)
- Craig Gill - drums - (born Craig Douglas Gill on 5 December, 1971, in Salford)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Life (1990) (UK Albums Chart #2)
- The Beast Inside (1991) (UK Albums Chart #5)
- Revenge of the Goldfish (1992) (UK Albums Chart #17)
- Devil Hopping (1994) (UK Albums Chart #10)
[edit] Compilations
- The Singles (1995) (UK Albums Chart #17)
- Radio 1 Sessions (1996) (UK Album Chart N/A)
- Cool As (2003) (UK Albums Chart #65)
- Greatest Hits (2003) (UK Album Chart N/A)
[edit] DVD
- Live at Brixton Academy (2003)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |
| UK Singles Chart | US Modern Rock | |||
| 1988 | Planecrash EP | N/A | N/A | N/A* |
| 1989 | Trainsurfing EP | N/A | N/A | N/A* |
| 1989 | "Joe" | N/A | N/A | N/A* |
| 1989 | "Find Out Why" | #90 | N/A | N/A* |
| 1990 | "Commercial Rain" | N/A | #27 | Life* |
| 1990 | "Move" | #49 | N/A | Life* |
| 1990* | "This Is How It Feels" | #14 | #22 | Life |
| 1990 | "She Comes in the Fall" | #27 | N/A | Life |
| 1990 | "Island Head EP" | #21 | N/A | N/A |
| 1991 | "Caravan" | #31 | #15 | Beast Inside |
| 1991 | "Please be Cruel" | #50 | N/A | Beast Inside |
| 1992 | "Dragging Me Down" | #12 | N/A | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992 | "Two Worlds Collide" | #32 | N/A | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992 | "Generations" | #28 | N/A | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1992 | "Bitches Brew" | #36 | N/A | Revenge of the Goldfish |
| 1993 | "How it Should Be" | #49 | N/A | N/A |
| 1994 | "Saturn 5" | #20 | N/A | Devil Hopping |
| 1994 | "I Want You" | #18 | N/A | Devil Hopping |
| 1994 | "Uniform" | #51 | N/A | Devil Hopping |
| 1995 | "Joe" | #37 | N/A | The Singles |
| 2003 | "Come Back Tomorrow" | #43 | N/A | Cool As |
* Commercial Rain did not appear on the UK release of Life. This is How it Feels was released in 1991 in the US.
[edit] Audio sample
- The Inspiral Carpets - Directing Traffik excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- An excerpt from Directing Traffik taken from the 1990 album Life
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] Trivia
- The guitarist for rock band, Oasis, Noel Gallagher, was orignally a roadie for the Inspiral Carperts.
[edit] References
- Inspiral Carpets Biography. Mute Records. (Accessed 4 December 2005).

