Song · Inspiral Carpets
“This Is How It Feels” by Inspiral Carpets
From the album Life (1990)
“This Is How It Feels” by Inspiral Carpets appears on 12 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1989 and 2022. It was first released in 1990 on the album Life. Its best result is #35 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1989. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #80 alternative song of 1990 and #1,783 alternative song of all time.
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"This Is How It Feels" was the first Inspiral Carpets single to crack the UK top 40, a 1990 release on Mute from their album Life that went on to number 14 and even reached 22 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks in America. The writing credit goes to the whole band: Clint Boon, Craig Gill, Tom Hingley, Graham Lambert and Martyn Walsh.
Under the surface sits a grim kitchen-sink drama. It follows a working-class mother whose affair ends with her lover taking his own life, which leaves her unable to explain her grief without giving the secret away. The radio edit reworked part of the second verse so the suicide is only hinted at, and it runs eight bars before the first verse, where the album cut makes do with four.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 35 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1989 | 50 |
| 1990 | 51 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990 | 107 |
| 1990 | 66 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990 | 105 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 624 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 1999 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 626 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 625 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2022 | 519 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s | 900 |
Also listed as: So This Is How It Feels; This is How It Feels.
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