This Is How It Feels

The lyrics focus on a troubled marriage with themes of adultery and/or domestic abuse.

This was the Inspiral Carpets' first song to hit the UK Top 40; they had 10 more before breaking up in 1995. Being their first Top 40 charting single, this song was the world's introduction to Inspiral Carpets. Personnel: Tom Hingley (lead vocals) Graham Lambert (guitars) Martyn Walsh (bass) Clint Boon (keyboards, vocals) Craig Gill (drums) Lambert and original lead singer Stephen Holt were school chums in Oldham, England, who recruited Gill and formed the seminal band in 1983, originally intending to be a garage-punk band. They later added Hingley, Swift, and Boon to form the lineup that would stand for 13 years. Inspiral Carpets are one of the important bands in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s, alongside such bands as Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, and The Charlatans. Madchester is a small genre which combines aspects of indie rock, psychedelic rock and dance music, directly following from the influence of The Smiths, New Order and The Fall. It also centered around the Hacienda nightclub at Whitworth Street West in Manchester, England. Amongst its many credits, it is also one of the birthplaces of acid house and rave music. Inspiral Carpets leaned more towards psychedelia than their typical Madchester colleagues, with a style that knit together elaborate organ riffs, double vocal lines, and a guitar style more associated with the '60s than the '80s. After a number of charting singles and albums, their popularity started to wane by 1995 and their label, Mute Records, dropped them. They split up soon after, but have since had a few peeks at reunions and revivals. Most of them joined other bands after the split.