Jarv Day Three, Lift Off 1993-1995

A few things about Pulp before we get to the posted tracks. Jarvis Cocker and his band were overlooked in their home country until the massive explosion of Britpop in the mid-nineties. By the time of their singing to Island Records in 1994, Pulp had already released three so-so albums but with the release of His ‘n’ Hers, that same year, the band took off and nobody looked back. His 'n' Hers peaked at #9 on the U.K. charts, was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize and was a grand statement by a band realizing their potential. Different Class a year later would cap
off Pulp's coming out party.





By the time Different Class hit the racks Britpop had officially become a bona-fide musical movement in the U.K. and alongside Oasis and Blur, Pulp perched themselves right at the top of not only the charts and the tabloids but the consciousness of the British youth. Different Class spawned off the massively successful hit single Common People and saw the band winning the coveted Mercury Music Prize. If all that were not enough the band performed a smashing set at Glastonbury. Perhaps part of the success was achieved due to the band hiring its fan-club President to play guitars and keyboards (Just think if Moz got his wish...).


Britpop has been well documented in books, documentaries and magazine articles including an oral history in Vainty Fair a few years ago, but nothing properly captures the excitement, originality, and to a certain extent recycling of the '60's British Explosion that the U.K. bands were able to achieve and document onto album. Nothing in English music, despite what the NME or Q may publish, has ever come close to matching that kind of output since. No doubt it is the memory of Britpop that keeps the NME printing machines churning with its editor's fingers crossed for another go.





Pulp, unlike their British peers, most notably Oasis and Blur (whose “Song 2” had achieved relative American success), never caught on in the States as they did in the U.K, which is unfortunate because if anything Jarvis Cocker was ahead of his time. Pulp’s mashing of Kinksian sounds, Bowie swagger, British ingenuity and Cocker’s headspun originality would fit in nicely in today’s music scene. I’d put money down on the roulette table that if Pulp released Common People today, they would be sought after by all the American labels, blogged about until you downloaded their whole album on different websites, and the novice reporters over at the Rolling Stone reality show would be sent down to the Bowery to cover their first Stateside show.

Despite any "what if fantasies," Pulp are forever destined, lest something spectacular occurs, to be one of the great bands of our time to remain under the radar. That's ok for we are used to some of our favorite artists being a tad under the radar.

Like all music scenes, the Britpop bubble eventually burst, but Pulp didn't go down easily. Jarvis Cocker may have become a tabloid star but he wasn't the kind of fodder that the Gallagher brothers had become. Pulp and Blur suffered too, though not as poorly as the brothers Gallagher. Neither band ever regained the footing it had during the Britpop era, though both bands, despite suffering numerous line-up changes, continued to release high quality music. Both bands are also on an indefinate, ongoing hiatus.

After Different Class, Pulp remained an influential and productive outfit as displayed on both This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. Stay tuned...

From His 'n' Hers
Joyriders
Lipgloss

From Different Class
Common People

And Of Course, The Theme From Peter Gunn from Pulp's Peel Sessions

Today's Bonus Material: Pulp at Glastonbury - 1995

For more on Britpop check out Britpop! and Live Forever.