Jarvis Cockerâs work with Pulp during the Britpop era did much to keep class in the public consciousness at a time when it was being written-out of the rhetoric of New Labour, and barely noticed by the Britpop crowd who were getting high on the hype of âCool Britanniaâ. If this will be the theme of a âreformedâ Pulp then it will a welcome return.
Cockerâs social commentary had its fair share of revolutionary sentiment. On âDifferent Classâ, Cocker conjures up the image of a disadvantaged people rising up to claim what they feel is theirs â âJust put your hands up, itâs a raid! We want your homes. We want your lives. We want the things you wonât allow usâ.
Elsewhere, he voices a bitter working-class man who seethes with contempt for his bourgeois âbettersâ and plots his revenge: âI canât 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 shove it up your arse.â
Other lyrics donât just demand a ârevolutionâ granted to the working class by the bourgeoisie. from above, but describe the working class seizing the means to achieve change. This comes across most strongly on âThis is Hardcoreâ and âThe Day After The Revolutionâ, where he scoffs at the old mantra âthe meek shall inherit the Earthâ by spitting âThe meek shall inherit absolutely nothing at all, if you stopped being so feeble you could have so much moreâ, and purring âthe revolution begins and ends with youâ.
A belief in the power of the working class is also evident in âGlory Daysâ, where he laments âOh, we were brought up on the space race, now they expect you to clean toilets, when youâve seen how big the world is, how can you make do with thisâ.
Pulp had their couple of years of media hysteria thanks to the single âCommon Peopleâ, a tale of the misplaced fascination of the upper classes with the working classes. It was a hit stuck between the end of the Thatcher era and the beginning of the Blair years. The tenor of the times was evident in the songs. Perhaps Cockerâs most weary, remorseful outlook on British politics is âThe Last Day of the Minersâ Strikeâ. âThe last day of the minersâ strike was the Magna Carta in this part of townâ he sings, hinting that futures are fixed and possibilities are narrowed.
So with Pulpâs announced reformation, are we inheriting a band which will serenade the class struggle? Perhaps. Cocker is a slippery, intriguing character, whose musical output is sporadic and hard to pin down. Maybe itâs a mistake. If it is then enjoy Pulpâs back catalogue, which has some nuggets of gold â songs that depict the drudgery of working-class life and calls for the emboldening of and the realisation of the potential of the working class.