Perhaps “overlooked” is a stretch- it was a huge critical and commercial success – but I reckon that Pulp’s sixth album is often forgotten in lieu of previous album ‘Different Class’. I prefer ‘This Is Hardcore’. Released in 1998, it wasn’t an album fans expected to hear.
A sombre affair, it was the sound of a band in flux. Jarvis Cocker had relocated to America, Russell Senior had left the band, and the others weren’t coping with success too well. Drugs were allegedly everywhere. This tension is all over the record. It’s like a signifier of the death of not only Britpop, but hope in a unified UK. Prime minister Tony Blair, who promised a left-wing leaning Britain, instead signed off on an illegal war, and led a shitstorm. We felt a collective trauma at this liar, and his empty promises.
‘The Fear’ opens and contains the line, “This is the sound of someone losing the plot”. Indeed. a sourness permeates. Even ‘Party Hard’ seems steeped in eyebrow raising irony. The curtain- twitching, cheeky ‘Sheffield Sex City’ filth of yore was replaced by the title track, which isn’t just a reflection on pornography, but a band who’d effectively painted themselves into a corner. “What exactly do you do for an encore?” Cocker yelped, as much a self-critique as accusation of others
Composer Anne Dudley from Art Of Noise provided string arrangements, dark, eerie and cold. The party was over. Listening again, it’s like a Bond theme if Bond had impotence and got the shit kicked out of him. But I love it. It’s caustic, weary and full of ennui. Bowie and Motown are key influences here, but the darker side of both. It’s never comfortable, like my favourite sounds. I like challenging music.
Peter Saville’s cover featuring a topless model (Ksenia Zlobina) was controversial. Some people thought it was sexist. I think that misses the point. It’s a critique of heteronormative porn and the exploitation of women, methinks. Zlobina is like Marilyn Monroe, if Monroe were in a Battersea flat. She looks worn- out, exhausted, used -up and spat out. A bit like the vibe on this album. Pulp were no longer happy to belt out ‘Disco 2000’ to fairweather fans at festivals. They just wanted to retain ‘A Little Soul’.
Hit The North 