Pulp

Essential Albums

  • This Is Hardcore (Deluxe Edition)
    This Is Hardcore (Deluxe Edition)

    1998’s This Is Hardcore was considered a bit of a comedown after the ebullient pop and social-class study of 1995’s Different Class, but it’s a matter of texture and expectation. With music that borrows from early Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople and the Kinks, Pulp celebrate their British roots in style. There’s an epic grandeur to “The Fear,” a quiet desperation to “Help the Aged,” “Seductive Barry” and “A Little Soul,” and a hip, knowing, and confident leer to “I’m a Man” that made the group one of Britain’s true bright spots in the ‘90s. The Deluxe Edition includes 13 additional tracks: b-sides, demos and a remix of the title track. (“Like a Friend,” the album’s closing track is shuffled among the rarities). The tracks function as alternates, whether it’s the previously unreleased demos of “Can I Have My Balls Back, Please?” and “My Erection,” the whispered promises of “The Professional,” the muddy keyboards and robotic vocals of “Ladies’ Man,” the garage-band clang of “We Are the Boys” or the hilarious demo for the Beach Boys-like tune “Modern Marriage” and its accompanying monologue. Pulp was a band worthy of expanding its output.

  • Different Class
    Different Class

    Britpop was in full swing when Pulp unleashed 1995’s Different Class, which topped the UK album chart and received the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. However, the Sheffield, England, troupe weren’t necessarily interested in joining (or conforming to) any sort of movement. That was obvious from the Different Class album artwork, which contained a prominent plea: “Please understand. We don’t want no trouble. We just want the right to be different. That’s all.” It was also obvious from the pointed lyrics penned by vocalist Jarvis Cocker, a lanky presence known for arch statements, Bowie-esque vocal tone, and unsparing social commentary. Look no further than the neon-hued, synth-punk dance-floor anthem “Common People,” a cutting portrayal of a rich clubgoer who wants to “do whatever common people do,” which Cocker told The Face targeted “a certain voyeurism on the part of the middle classes, a certain romanticism of working-class culture, and a desire to slum it a bit.” Other songs were just as direct, whether slamming empty hedonism (“Sorted for E’s & Wizz”) or praising the value of smarts over wealth when faced with class warfare (“Mis-Shapes”). Sonically, Different Class was equally refined. Although other Britpop stars drew inspiration from The Beatles and the Stones, ’70s power pop, and colorful ’80s New Wave, Pulp favored debonair textures indebted to noir music and moody art rock—as heard on the strings-swept, ’60s-mod-pop homage “Something Changed” and the eerie, Leonard Cohen-reminiscent “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.” Different Class was a commercial hit whose anthems for misfits and outsiders elevated the quality of mainstream music discourse.

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About Pulp

Led by frontman Jarvis Cocker, the English rock band Pulp had their biggest success in the ’90s and were considered one of Britpop’s “big four,” alongside Oasis, Blur, and Suede. ∙ The Sheffield group’s 1981 recordings with BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel—eventually released on the 2006 live album The Peel Sessions—made them stars in their hometown scene. ∙ Their biggest LP was 1995’s Different Class, which debuted at the top of the UK charts, produced four hit singles, and won the Mercury Prize. ∙ From 1995’s dance tune “Common People” to 1997’s Beatlesque ballad “Help the Aged,” Pulp had five consecutive Top 10 singles in the UK. ∙ British newspaper The Guardian named 1998’s “This Is Hardcore”—which addressed fame through the lens of pornography—one of their 10 best songs. ∙ Cocker wrote three songs for and appeared in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, fronting wizard rock band The Weird Sisters during the Yule Ball. ∙ The feature documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets, which premiered at the SXSW Film festival, won the NME Best Music Film Award in 2015.

ORIGIN
Sheffield, England
FORMED
1978
GENRE
Rock

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