An album with the status of Pulp’s Different Class deserves recognition, especially on its 30th anniversary. On the same day the record turned 30, 400 fans attended an exclusive event which included a listen through of the album as well as a Q&A with Jarvis Cocker (the band’s frontman), Candida Doyle (keyboardist) and Mark Webber (lead guitarist).
Different Class was the fifth studio album from Pulp. It is deemed to be one of the most influential albums of the nineties, with it immediately entering the charts at number one and winning the Mercury Prize in 1996. The themes of class and relationships may be what make the album so important to so many people today. The widening class divide in the country and the failing economy can be related to many of the lyrics, especially in ‘Common People’ and ‘I Spy’. It reflects the issues that were so relevant 30 years ago, and shows that they still haven’t changed and may have even gotten worse. This could be a reason why the album is still popular.
During their Q&A with Miranda Sawyer, Jarvis Cocker explained that the album’s title came to him while in a London club. He had a friend who used the phrase to describe something as ‘a class of its own’. Cocker enjoyed the double meaning as it could also be used as a reflection of class in Britain. The theme of class is at large in this album, especially with the band experiencing a class difference when they moved from Sheffield to London during the height of the Britpop era. Cocker recalled overhearing conversations around upper-class London areas where people said to each other that they’d love to see how the ‘other class’ lived. This seemed to have inspired one of their most popular songs, ‘Common People’.
They recalled that the album was formed somewhat haphazardly during the summer of 1995. The band performed at that summer’s Glastonbury, headlining the Pyramid Stage after the Stone Roseshad to pull out due to their guitarist breaking his collarbone in a fight (very nineties of him). At the festival, the band played six songs from their then-unreleased album, which made up half of their twelve-song set.
Three of them were also the live debut for the band (‘Sorted for E’s and Wizz’, ‘Disco 2000’ and ‘Mis-shapes’). When asked about what it was like to headline Glastonbury at the last minute, the band had varying memories about it. Candida Doyle told the audience that most of that day was a blur to her. She struggles to remember it nowadays due to the stress and unfathomable size of the crowd, but she recalls feeling like she was in a trance when on stage.
Despite Different Class being released in the nineties, the album and band are still popular worldwide. The popularity of their recent album, More, and the vast attendance of this anniversary event can be seen as a telling sign that great music can be timeless.
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