Hits - Mixed Media - Brief Article

New Internationalist, March, 2003 by Louise Gray

by Pulp (Island CID 8126/063 513-2 CD)

So is this the end of the line, to paraphrase Jarvis Cocker in 'This is Hardcore'? And, as Hits very probably is, it's time to honour the Sheffield band whose subtle, often sour, assault on British mores made politics and passion a best-seller. It took Pulp years to make any impact -- their first album, It, was released 10 years before they gained a mass audience -- but when they did, their aim was savage.

A pop band that took its musical influences from Phil Spector's wall of sound and its attitude from playwright Alan Bennett's sly observations of Englishness, Pulp's currency was class culture. Above all, they'll be remembered for their 1995 anthem 'Common People', a song that still blazes with rage for the voiceless and the written-off. Released in the last years of Tory rule and anticipating the conceit that characterizes Britain's current rulers, it's a song that captured a mood. There are many reasons to cherish Pulp, but let's remember them for their ability to seek and destroy pomposity.

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