Modern Music Masters - Pulp: MMM - Book 3

It may have taken them 15 years to find the success that they deserved, but when Sheffield’s Pulp finally reached their potential their legend skyrocketed overnight. With tracks like Mis-Shapes and Sorted for E’s and Whizz, they positioned themselves as spokesmen for a generation of outsiders, whilst the wry northern humour of the anthem Common People is one of the all-time great comments on nineties class division.

Pulp’s story is Jarvis Cocker’s story, and nowhere in rock history is there a group more synonymous with their leader than with Pulp. Jarvis took geek-chic and allied it to the wit and witticism of the great northern playwrights like Willy Russell and Jim Cartwright, creating his own distinct brand of pop star. Today he is nothing short of a national treasure. With their trio of albums His ‘n’ Hers, Different Class and This is Hardcore, Pulp proved themselves to be one of the most important British groups of all time.

Now published in their second editions, and in partnership with the Official Charts Company, ‘Modern Music Masters’ is a series of books about the artists you know and love, or are discovering for the first time. With a strong focus on the UK charts, placing the artists in a social and political environment, MMM do not claim to be exhaustive, but offer an accessible route into the music and the history.

Tom Boniface-Webb is the co-author of ‘I Was Britpopped: The Definitive A-Z of Britpop’, published by Valley Press in 2017. And the author of ‘Modern Music Masters – Oasis’, published in October 2020, and ‘Modern Music Masters – Blur’ published in November 2020.