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Spectator
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Forget Oasis – we should celebrate Pulp's legacy
It begins with an electric swish sound that makes you feel like you are falling backwards, followed by an arresting synthesiser da-da-dum drumbeat. Then we get the voice, in double-time: 'She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge. She studied sculpture at St Martin's College…' With those words, singer Jarvis Cocker and his fellow members of Pulp caught the attention of a nation. And chances are, three decades on from the release of 'Common People', this musical intro will still send a tingle down your spine, particularly if you're aged anywhere between 40 and 70. Forget the record-marketing buzz of 'Blur vs Oasis' (always less entertaining than the Blair vs Brown story anyway), or the extraordinary hype surrounding this summer's Oasis reunion tour (Pulp have been there, done that already) – the fact is that nothing and no one defines the enormously fecund musical era of Britpop quite like Pulp. And at the pulsating bullseye of the band's creative output is 'Common People', a song so rageful and bitter and yet so joyous and beguiling that you can't help but love it. Steeped in more gallows humour than a Pierrepont family funeral and offering a wealth of cynicism over the destitution in our society, the song put the 'Brit' at the heart of Britpop too. Yet for all its sublime anger on behalf of those whom we would now call the left-behind, 'Common People', released in May 1995, was a song that strangely unified the nation. From the sweaty, smoke-filled nightclubs and student unions of Sheffield, Manchester or Newcastle to trendy London nightspots, this was a song that got everyone dancing. Reaching number two in the charts, it had toffs and Sloanes in their red jeans and loafers strutting their stuff on the dancefloor, even if they only mouthed along ironically with the bitter incantation of the economically disenfranchised. And they loved it. 'Common People' was the demotic anthem of the decade, one that chimed with the unintended social legacy of Margaret Thatcher's economic policies – namely three million unemployed (10.6 per cent of workers were on the dole in 1993) and the unfathomable social cost that scores of pit and factory closures brought on the communities relying on them. This lurks at the core of the song's critique of rich people slumming it for fun or 'class tourism'. 'You will never understand,' Cocker sings, 'How it feels to live your life/ With no meaning or control/ And with nowhere left to go/ You are amazed that they exist.' He was talking of the woman from Greece (who may or may not, apparently, have been inspired by Danae Stratou – daughter of a Greek industrialist and now wife of left-wing economist Yanis Varoufakis – who studied sculpture at St Martin's at the same time as Cocker was there), but he could easily have been referring to anybody from one of southern England's prosperous districts in the mid-1990s. Looking back you can see that 'Common People' – and the accompanying album Different Class – signalled the cultural and political reset of the 1990s, when Britain consciously threw off the stricter social mores of the 1980s and 1970s and also turned its back on the harder edges of that Thatcherite settlement, if not the settlement altogether. Whichever it was, as well as dropping their aitches on breakfast television, they let themselves be seen kicking footballs towards nets, something no political heavyweight would have countenanced before. 'Sing along with the common people/ Sing along and it might just get you through,' Pulp said in 'Mis-Shapes', the opening track on Different Class, another song which embraced the language of class war and promised that the revenge would be sweet. 'What's the point in being rich,' sings Cocker with delicious rage, 'If you can't think what to do with it?/ Cause you're so bleeding thick.' You may recall that it was as if overnight – well, from 1997, anyway – that politicians could suddenly be openly gay, while the last vestiges of deference – declining fast since Virginia Woolf's cook asked to borrow her newspaper in 1910 – were stripped back. 'Call me Tony,' said Blair, who was among the first of a generation of politicians who really started to either be passionate about or pretend to be passionate about football in order to appeal to the footie-loving masses. But it wasn't just Pulp's anger in 1995, it was the anger of a generation and society which felt that the promise of our social contract had been unfulfilled or broken, one in which too many were excluded from the wealth of the nation. 'Now we can't help but see / That the future that you've got mapped out / Is nothing much to shout about.' The worry is they really could be singing about our own times, couldn't they? Pulp, of course, was not the agent of change, but along with other cultural pointers – think 1996's Trainspotting or 1994's Parklife – it was a herald of the coming times, and it stands out from the crowd. Which why, 30 years on, 'Common People' and Different Class are truly in a class of their own. If you don't believe me, dig out one of your old CDs and give it a listen, or find it online. And once you've done that, listen to the William Shatner version of 'Common People'. It really will make you like the song all the more.
Extra.ie
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
WATCH: Pulp release 'Tina' music video from album More
Pulp have released the new music video for their latest single Tina, from their UK No.1 comeback album More. The release follows their summer UK and Ireland tour dates, which included their headline gig at Dublin's 3Arena as well as their set at Glastonbury Festival. The music video was created in collaboration with Austrian artist Julia Schimautz (DTAN Studio) and features lyrical animation by Gaussian Studio. The clip blends digitally crafted imagery with the textured imperfections of traditional printmaking to capture the emotional core of 'Tina, according to frontman Jarvis Cocker, who describes it being 'about obsession and fantasy.' 'I love this video it's like digital Fuzzy-Felt. You should feel like you need a shower after listening to it,' he said. In a recent interview with Hot Press, Cocker unveiled the myriad creative influences behind the latest album, the bands first in almost a quarter-of-a-century. Next, the British alt-rock band are set to return to their hometown of Sheffield to headline Tramlines Festival on July 25, before heading to North America this autumn. 'Tramlines is going to be great,' said bandmember Saskia Cocker. 'It's a terrific line-up and it will be our first chance to play the new songs to the population of the Peoples Republic of South Yorkshire. Right good.' You can check out the video for 'Tina' below.
Wales Online
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Jarvis Cocker says shipping forecast provides ‘oasis of calm'
Jarvis Cocker says shipping forecast provides 'oasis of calm' Produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the Shipping Forecast was first aired on BBC radio on July 4 1925 Jarvis Cocker of Pulp performs during a surprise set as Patchwork during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025 (Image: WireImage ) The Shipping Forecast provides an "oasis of calm", Jarvis Cocker said as he marked the 100th anniversary of it being broadcast on the BBC. Produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the Shipping Forecast was first aired on BBC radio on July 4 1925. To celebrate the anniversary, Pulp frontman Cocker recorded a forecast that will be broadcast to an audience at the Crossed Wires: The Podcast Festival in Sheffield. The singer said the Shipping Forecast is "something you absorb unconsciously if you live in the UK". "It's been on the airwaves for over 100 years," he added. "Now technically speaking, it's a weather guide designed to help sailors on the high seas. Article continues below "But it helps people navigate in other ways than that. "For instance, for insomniacs, it's a mantra that hopefully helps them drift finally off to sleep." The singer added: "I think it's known around the world as a go-to chill-out thing – before chill-out things were invented, probably." Asked why he felt the Shipping Forecast was important, Cocker said it was "comforting". He added: "I think because even though sometimes it's talking about bad weather conditions and storms and stuff, it's actually an oasis of calm in the day. "There's no musical backing to it, it's just a human voice talking to you. "Some words, which you don't really know what they mean at all, but the sound of it is comforting and will put you into a nice place." Cocker said German Bight was among his favourite Shipping Forecast place names, adding: "For some reason I always think of a cocktail sausage there. "I suppose it's because a frankfurter cocktail sausage is a small frank." Asked how he imagined the Shipping Forecast may sound in 100 years' time, the frontman said: "It may be a robot who is saying 'north to northwesterly, occasionally poor'. "I hope not. "I think it would be better to keep it as a person. Who knows? "We don't know what the world's going to look like in 100 years, or whether people will even be in it. "If people are still in it, it might all be water. "So everybody will be listening to it. "It'd be like the number one programme, because everybody will be in a boat." Cocker's band Pulp made a surprise appearance at Glastonbury Festival last week, performing under the pseudonym Patchwork. The secret set came 30 years after their headline performance at the festival when they stood in for The Stone Roses after the Manchester band's guitarist John Squire was injured in a cycling accident. Article continues below The Sheffield group formed in 1978 and are best known for hit song Common People. In June, the band released More, their first studio album since 2001's We Love Life.
BBC News
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jarvis Cocker records special version of the Shipping Forecast to celebrate its 100th anniversary on the BBC
Friday 4 July marks 100 years since the first broadcast of the Shipping Forecast on BBC radio on 4 July 1925. To mark the occasion, Jarvis Cocker has recorded a special shipping forecast to be broadcast for an audience at the Crossed Wires Podcast Festival in Sheffield. The festival will welcome 'ships' fans to a special 100th anniversary programme with Radio 4 announcers Lisa Costello and Viji Alles, hosted by Chris Mason. The session is part of BBC Sounds' free Fringe festival with live podcast recordings and exclusive sessions, open to the public. Just two days before Pulp, aka Patchwork, were wowing crowds with a surprise performance at Glastonbury, Cocker was quietly nestled in the BBC Radio 4 studio, reflecting on his love for the Shipping Forecast. Cocker says: 'The Shipping Forecast is something you absorb unconsciously if you live in the UK. It's been on the airwaves for over 100 years… Now technically speaking, it's a weather guide designed to help sailors on the high seas. But it helps people navigate in other ways than that. For instance, for insomniacs, it's a mantra that hopefully helps them drift finally off to sleep.' He says: 'I think it's known around the world as a go-to chill-out thing - before chill-out things were invented, probably.' The Shipping Forecast is preceded by a piece of music called Sailing By. Cocker notably chose this track as one of the eight he would take to a desert island when he appeared on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2005. Cocker says: 'When you listen to Sailing By, it really does feel like life is drifting past you in an extremely pleasant way. A handy go-to sedative to have to hand if you ever happen to become a castaway - or get cut off from normal life for any other reason.' Cocker used to listen whilst going to sleep, citing that 'the repetitive nature' and 'the soothing nature of the person who reads it' helped him to drop off. 'I think it's because it's a routine', he adds, 'it's on every day, so it's something that you can rely on. It's on at a set time, so it gives a bit of stability. And if the rest of your life isn't that stable, it can provide some kind of stability for it. Sailing By was a very relaxing piece of music... I know that a lot of people do use it for that kind of relaxing, almost 'meditation-like' thing.' When asked why he felt the Shipping Forecast was still important, he said: 'I think because even though sometimes it's talking about bad weather conditions and storms and stuff, it's actually an oasis of calm in the day. There's no musical backing to it, it's just a human voice talking to you. Some words, which you don't really know what they mean at all, but the sound of it is comforting and will put you into a nice place.' Cocker said some of his favourite place names include, German Bight – 'for some reason I always think of a cocktail sausage there. I suppose it's because a frankfurter cocktail sausage is a small frank.' - and Hebrides – 'I've actually been to the Hebrides, so that conjures up some kind of real image.' Imagining how the Shipping Forecast might sound in another 100 years, Cocker gave us his best robot impression, suggesting: 'It may be a robot who is saying 'north to northwesterly, occasionally poor.' I hope not. I think it would be better to keep it as a person. Who knows? We don't know what the world's going to look like in 100 years, or whether people will even be in it. If people are still in it, it might all be water. So everybody will be listening to it. It'd be like the number one programme, because everybody will be in a boat. Kevin Costner will be hailed as a seer who knew that we would all become a Water world one day. I don't know. I hope it is. I wouldn't be around to hear it anyway.' The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK's statutory obligations to provide Maritime Safety Information to seafarers via approved broadcasting methods. The Shipping Forecast is also shared with the BBC for its own broadcast. An online journey through the one-hundred-year history of the Shipping Forecast can be found on the BBC History website. Special anniversary programmes from BBC Radio 4 are available now on BBC Sounds, including The Shipping Forecast: A Beginners Guide with Paddy O'Connell, The Shipping Postcards from continuity announcers, Archive on 4 – The Shipping Forecast at 100: Shipshaped and Soul Music: Sailing By. Listen to The Shipping Forecast on BBC Sounds Watch Pulp's set from Glastonbury on BBC iPlayer PS Follow for more
The Herald Scotland
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Theatre targets reopening date as £10m vision takes shape
The 1500-capacity venue, which will be 100 years old in 2032, is expected to play host to festivals, live theatre, concerts and comedy, conferences, food and drink events, and film and TV productions when it reopens permanently. Read more: The venue, off Ferry Road, has played host to acts like Young Fathers, Jarvis Cocker, Alan Cumming, The Jesus and Mary Chain, King Creosote, Gerry Cinnamon, Neneh Cherry and Mogwai in recent years. However its main auditorium is described as being in "a state of semi-dereliction" and Leith Theatre has only been able to open on a "pop-up" basis for festivals and other one-off events. Leith Theatre has been closed to the public for most of its life since it opened in 1932. (Image: Ryan Buchanan) The restoration and refurbishment project is expected to improve facilities throughout the building which are said to be 'largely end of life or non-existent.' Key elements of the revamp include carrying out roof repairs, installing new heating and ventilation systems, soundproofing the venue, improving the water supply, creating new public toilets and celebrating the heritage of the venue and making it more visible from Ferry Road. Leith Theatre has been reopened on a pop-up basis for festivals and one-off events since 2017. (Image: Chris Scott) The Scottish and UK government are expected to be asked to support the first major overhaul in the history of the venue, which has been closed to the public for most of its life since it opened in 1932. Edinburgh City Council, which owns the building, has suggested that money raised from its new visitor levy, which will be introduced from this October, could help pay for the venue's full-time revival. Leith Theatre's revamp is expected to cost at least £10m. The trust says it is seeking to 'sensitively refurbish' and 'futureproof' the B-listed building by bringing it back into full-time use. It is looking for 'imaginative design concepts that combine new ideas and originality with a sensitive approach to the building, its original purpose and its future life.' A search for architects to transform Leith Theatre has been launched months after two significant breakthroughs boosted hopes that the venue - which has been on the UK's official 'theatres at risk' register since 2016 - could reopen throughout the year. A full-scale revamp of Leith Theatre is hoped to be completed by 2029. More than 20 years after plans to sell off the building were thwarted by a grassroots community campaign, it was announced in January that the city council had agreed to grant a long lease to a charity which has led efforts to bring the building back to life. Within weeks, it was announced that the Leith Theatre Trust, which was formed nearly a decade ago to draw up plans to secure the building's future and bring it back into public use, had secured a £4.5 million pledge from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Leith Theatre has been reopened on a pop-up basis to host music, theatre and comedy events in recent years. Image: Ryan Buchanan A newly-published vision for Leith Theatre's future of Leith Theatre - which recalls how the building was 'forgotten' and allowed to 'fall into disrepair' after it was closed down by the council - said the estimated cost of £10m was 'based on an ambition to raise further funds.' The Leith Theatre blueprint has been published weeks after it reopened to the public for the first time in nearly three years to play host to a new musical adaptation of the classic 1980s Scottish film comedy Restless Natives. The blueprint, which envisages the building as 'the theatre that isn't just a theatre', is aimed at transforming it into a 'significant cultural designation' and Leith Theatre becoming 'an exemplar for the reuse of heritage buildings.' The building was originally gifted to Leith from the city of Edinburgh after their controversial amalgamation in 1920, but was almost destroyed and forced to close for 20 years after a Second World War bob blast badly damaged its main auditorium. The venue was revived in 1961 and played host to the Edinburgh International Festival each summer, as well as acts like AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Frankie Miller, Kraftwerk, Dr Feelgood and Moot the Hoople. However it had fallen into decline by the early 1980s, when the city council decided to close the building outwith the EIF, which continued to use it until 1988. The building remained closed until 2017 when it was brought back into use by the city's Hidden Door festival and the EIF finally returned again the following year. Although almost £1m has been spent in recent years on urgent repairs, safety measures and making sure the building is wind and watertight, Leith Theatre has only occasionally been used since then because of its poor condition and lack of facilities. Under a new timeline for the project, the trust hopes to appoint a design team October of this year, agree final designs by May 2027 and start construction work by the end of 2028, with the aim of completing the project during 2029. The design brief states: 'Our vision is to become a significant cultural destination on Edinburgh's coastal corridor of regeneration integrating into, and delivering on, the city's various policies around culture, wellbeing, active travel and heritage. 'We have an extraordinary opportunity to align with Edinburgh's cultural offer, including libraries, festivals and heritage spaces. 'Leith Theatre is situated in an out-of-city centre yet accessible location, serviced by the tram route, numerous bus services and cycle paths and adjacent to the Water of Leith. 'Ultimately, our design work should ensure that the historical significance of this site is respected and celebrated while simultaneously delivering on our need to develop commercial income streams and creative partnerships, growing our local to national audiences, and becoming the key cultural destination in Leith. 'We aim to allow heritage and innovation to coexist as we build a venue for the future, while taking everyone along on the journey. 'Building on our long-standing incremental approach to development, our plan is to sensitively refurbish the building currently known as Leith Theatre, futureproofing this 1930s civic complex with historic ties to its community to bring it back into full-time use. 'We will make it more accessible to a wider range of audiences to enjoy this valuable cultural asset and mid-sized music and performance venue at the heart of Leith life. 'We are looking for imaginative design concepts that combine new ideas and originality with a sensitive approach to the building, its original purpose and its future life.' The trust has stressed that any proposed plans for the building's refurbishment must be 'mindful of how the main Leith Theatre building interacts with its surrounding communities.' But they say that designs must also involve 'imaginative ideas' that will 'futureproof' the building and ensure the new-look venue is financially viable. The new vision states: 'Leith Theatre sits in a diverse area in its cultural make-up and in terms of poverty and wealth disparity, with a walkable audience of circa 58,000 people, reflecting the high population density. 'Old Leithers have pride in a strong local identity and built heritage. New Leithers include families and young creatives looking for a cultural offer, with programme needing to reflect this situation. 'The venue's accessible location and ambition of an exciting programme aligning with Scotland's cultural offer and should attract an audience from the wider city and further afield. 'In creating a sustainable operating business with intelligent solutions and flexible use of spaces, heritage and innovation must sit in balance throughout any design and future vision. 'The building's inherent heritage value must be protected as something important to local people, but imaginative ideas will be required to create a financially viable business, to bring the experience up to modern standards and to futureproof the venue for generations to come.' Lynn Morrison, who has been chief executive of the trust since 2018, added: 'Following our recent National Lottery Heritage Fund award, 2025 marks a pivotal year for Leith Theatre as we move closer to delivering a fully refurbished, much-needed mid-sized music, performance and community space for Leith and Edinburgh. 'This capital project will make it possible for our 1930s treasure to function effectively today, addressing essential building repairs and reimagining services and facilities to meet the needs of a modern cultural venue. 'As well as being a vital community support, we've proudly hosted a dynamic programme in recent years. We have welcomed major names across music, film and television, alongside showcasing exceptional home-grown talent, but this has only been possible on a temporary, pop-up basis. 'The refurbishment will finally allow us to open our doors permanently, unlocking the theatre's full potential not just as Edinburgh's missing mid-sized music venue, but as the cultural heart of Leith.'
