Best Underrated Scottish Band

Beautiful melodies and witty lyrics didn't translate to big sales and the band struggled financially, having to sell their studio – the wonderfully named Shabby Road. The best place to start is their debut single, the sadly prophetic Obscurity Knocks on 1990's album Cake. A new album will be out in 2009 and you should buy it.

JAMES KING AND THE LONEWOLVES: These days this band would be fted, but their raw hard country rock sound stood out like a sore thumb in the sterile 1980s. The Lonewolves' first drummer was Craig Ferguson. Yes, that one.

The band's album, rumoured to be produced by John Cale, has never seen the light of day and none of their material is readily available. YouTube has some footage of the band on Whistle Test in 1985, and a MySpace site has just surfaced where you can discover some obscure classics

FRIENDS AGAIN: Chris Thompson and James Grant made great music separately but as part of this band they peaked. With possibly too much talent for one act they only made one album and several classic singles, notably State of Art; perhaps the archetypal Scottish guitar pop song.

SHOP ASSISTANTS Part of the loved yet derided shambling scene of the mid-80s, this Edinburgh band hold the unenviable record of being the joint least successful album chart band of all time, their LP spending a week at number 100 in 1987.

Their finest three minutes was the delicate and beautiful Somewhere in China though their career peak was probably supporting the Ramones at the Playhouse.

ARAB STRAP Beards, beer and bad relationships. Falkirk's finest will only grow in reputation, though reunion tours at big venues still seem unlikely.

Debut single The First Big Weekend was the greatest Scottish debut single of the nineties, but the album Philophobia catches them at their bleak best.