The Libertines’ mercurial co-leader Pete Doherty’s tabloid infamy may have stemmed from his time dating supermodel Kate Moss, going to prison for burgling bandmate Carl Barratt’s flat and his long, strong and self-sabotaging drug habit, but the band’s 2002 debut is a reminder that prior to all that, Doherty briefly spluttered out some of the most thrilling and uniquely British music since The Smiths. As Blighty’s answer to The Strokes, Doherty and Barratt’s vision was a literate and colourful, scruffy punk racket equally indebted to Tony Hancock and the ghosts of London’s music hall as it was The Only Ones and Buzzcocks. To quote the band’s own debut single “What A Waster”, he might have pissed it all up the wall, but Up The Bracket is lasting testament to Doherty’s singular talent.