11. Julian CopeFried

I love Julian Cope. I’d loved The Teardrop Explodes and I loved his very brief flirtation with commercial success with ‘World Shut Your Mouth’, but Fried has a very special place in my heart because it’s so fucking mental. I had a tape of him being interviewed and he said [referring to the album cover], ‘I bought the turtle shell because I liked the turtle shell’ and he tried to record the album underneath it and he said, ‘and it sounded crap’!

There’s a lot to enjoy on Fried but it never occurred to me until it did, but he’s entirely doing Scott Walker, the whole of his career. Scott Walker is his greatest influence, but I’ve always thought that Julian Cope is an extraordinary creature. He’s still going strong and it makes me feel happy knowing he’s out there. I love this little period of him.