Britpop legends Pulp have announced a new album called More, the Sheffield band’s first in 24 years. It may have taken a long time for Pulp to follow up We Love Life from 2001, but singer Jarvis Cocker said in a statement that “this is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record.” More is out June 6, and you can stream the new single “Spike Island” now. If you are unfamiliar with the Britpop legends, the extraordinary anthems below will have you partying like it’s Glastonbury 1995.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Common People”
Cocker attended London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where he met a Greek art student who inspired the anthem that changed his life. “Common People” satirizes wealthy people who glamorize poverty and act like tourists among the lower classes.
Similar to Oasis’s “Wonderwall” and Blur’s “Parklife”, Pulp’s biggest hit defined a generation of British indie rock and contains probably the best song lyric of the era: “’Cause when you’re laid in bed at night / Watching roaches climb the wall / If you called your dad, he could stop it all, yeah.”
“Disco 2000”
Yet another iconic Britpop single from Pulp, “Disco 2000” describes Cocker’s infatuation with his childhood friend Deborah. Cocker told the BBC that Deborah “was born in the same hospital as me—not within an hour—I think it was like three hours. But you can’t fit three hours into the song without having to really rush the singing!”
Meanwhile, Cocker performed “Disco 2000” at Deborah’s 50th birthday party. She was a mental health nurse and died from bone marrow cancer in 2014. If Noel Gallagher is Britpop’s best songwriter, Cocker remains its best storyteller.
“Babies”
The music video for “Babies” opens with this: “A promo video is simply an advertisement for a song.” It displays Cocker’s wry wit and the discomfort indie bands in the 1990s had navigating art and commerce. Pulp, of course, successfully did both, but it took some time.
Following three albums and a brief hiatus, Pulp returned with His ’N’ Hers. “Babies” was released as a single in 1992, and the band finally broke through commercially. It’s the sound of new wave becoming Britpop.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella
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