Album: Different Class
Artist: Pulp
Born: Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Released: October 1995
Genre: Britpop
To my mind, this album marks the pinnacle of the short-lived, ill-defined musical movement that was Britpop. Aged 32, Jarvis Cocker was much older than many lead singers in the genre, and by the time of Different Class' release, Pulp were on their fifth album. This wealth of experience is reflected in Cocker's stylish and witty songwriting and the group's sound that builds on a wider musical palette of synthpop, new wave and disco, as well as Sixties rock. The album title reflects one of its key themes, the British class system, and on tracks like I Spy ("I can’t help it, I was dragged up / my favourite parks are car parks / grass is something you smoke / birds are something you shag / take your year in Provence / and stick it up your ass"), Cocker seethes with menacing rage at social disparities. Different Class opens with rallying anthem, Mis-Shapes, which is as much about class as social outsiders, the freaks and "misfits", or the intelligent poor, who are poised to take over from the affluent but "thick". At the fag end of the Tory years before New Labour came to power in 1997, there was a growing sense of positivity that things might change for the better and that society would become more meritocratic. Twenty years later, with a government dominated by Eton-educated toffs, it's sad to see how fast that dream died. Mis-Shapes was one of two UK No.2 singles for the band in 1995, along with Common People, the song that propelled Pulp to fame in Britain (like Blur, Pulp were too English for Americans).
Common People is one of the finest songs of the 90s, one of Britpop's true anthems. Cocker has said the girl in the song was based on a real person he met at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design, who had a wealthy father and wanted to "live like common people" in Hackney. Like the best pop music, you can dance to it and also listen to it at home, with Common People's lyrics a treasure trove of witticisms about class tourism ("'Cos when you're laying in bed at night / watching roaches climb the wall / if you call your Dad, he could stop it all"). Another big hit from the album was the glitzy glam rock of Disco 2000, but there are many fine moments on Different Class beyond the great singles, from the sinister I Spy to heartbreaking ballad Underwear and rousing closer Bar Italia, about the legendary Soho café and the people it attracts. Such is the strength of this album that even the minor singles Something Changed and Sorted For Es & Wizz sound great and reveal hidden depths, the latter a tongue-in-cheek eulogy to British rave culture ("Mother, I can never come home again / ‘cos I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere / somewhere in a field in Hampshire"). Very much a product of its time, Different Class still has a timeless quality that makes it Britpop's most compelling statement.
To my mind, this album marks the pinnacle of the short-lived, ill-defined musical movement that was Britpop. Aged 32, Jarvis Cocker was much older than many lead singers in the genre, and by the time of Different Class' release, Pulp were on their fifth album. This wealth of experience is reflected in Cocker's stylish and witty songwriting and the group's sound that builds on a wider musical palette of synthpop, new wave and disco, as well as Sixties rock. The album title reflects one of its key themes, the British class system, and on tracks like I Spy ("I can’t help it, I was dragged up / my favourite parks are car parks / grass is something you smoke / birds are something you shag / take your year in Provence / and stick it up your ass"), Cocker seethes with menacing rage at social disparities. Different Class opens with rallying anthem, Mis-Shapes, which is as much about class as social outsiders, the freaks and "misfits", or the intelligent poor, who are poised to take over from the affluent but "thick". At the fag end of the Tory years before New Labour came to power in 1997, there was a growing sense of positivity that things might change for the better and that society would become more meritocratic. Twenty years later, with a government dominated by Eton-educated toffs, it's sad to see how fast that dream died. Mis-Shapes was one of two UK No.2 singles for the band in 1995, along with Common People, the song that propelled Pulp to fame in Britain (like Blur, Pulp were too English for Americans).
Common People is one of the finest songs of the 90s, one of Britpop's true anthems. Cocker has said the girl in the song was based on a real person he met at Central St Martin's College of Art & Design, who had a wealthy father and wanted to "live like common people" in Hackney. Like the best pop music, you can dance to it and also listen to it at home, with Common People's lyrics a treasure trove of witticisms about class tourism ("'Cos when you're laying in bed at night / watching roaches climb the wall / if you call your Dad, he could stop it all"). Another big hit from the album was the glitzy glam rock of Disco 2000, but there are many fine moments on Different Class beyond the great singles, from the sinister I Spy to heartbreaking ballad Underwear and rousing closer Bar Italia, about the legendary Soho café and the people it attracts. Such is the strength of this album that even the minor singles Something Changed and Sorted For Es & Wizz sound great and reveal hidden depths, the latter a tongue-in-cheek eulogy to British rave culture ("Mother, I can never come home again / ‘cos I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere / somewhere in a field in Hampshire"). Very much a product of its time, Different Class still has a timeless quality that makes it Britpop's most compelling statement.
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