Idolator: pulp

A Party Affiliation That Pretty Much Anyone Can Get Behind

Maura Johnston — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

I went to PS 112 in Astoria to vote this morning, and while the school's lobby was bake-sale-free, casting my ballot and walking to the subway put me in a good mood. The sun was shining, the air was crisp, and the promise of not being bombarded with election-related speculation was close on the horizon, at least until some idiot commentator utters the word "2012" while scrambling to fill space on whatever cable-news channel has given him airtime. Which is probably why I had Andrew WK's "Party Hard" in my head: Sure, it was barely after nine in the morning and I was on my way back to work, instead of heading out for the evening, but my heart felt right—like it was enjoying some wine, canapes, and total fucking raging. And isn't that what matters? A counterpoint party song, and a rundown of some notable stories that got lost in the Election Day shuffle, after the jump.

• The most recent Google News alert for "Jarvis Cocker" comes from a Telegraph piece on an auction benefiting the British music-therapy outfit Nordoff-Robbins: "U2 guitarist The Edge paid £15,000 for the Spitting Image puppet of Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker." [Telegraph]
• Scott Weiland's Happy In Galoshes leaked today. I tracked it down, and it took me—I am not kidding—an hour to download the damn thing once I found it. And I was only planning on spending an hour with it in the first place! [Did It Leak]
• Genesis can't dance, nor can they wean themselves from the reunion-show teat: Now they're holding out hope that Peter Gabriel will join them for one more tour of the world. [Billboard]
• The idea that Google is facing off against Dolly Parton in the battle over the wireless spectrum sure seems to contradict the company's longstanding "Don't be evil" policy, no? [NYT]
• If you work at MTV Networks, you may want to brush up your resume. [Gawker]
• Keri Hilson's album has been pushed back for the 143rd time. [Billboard]
• I showed this story on Japanese music producers being arrested on conspiracy and fraud charges to friend-of-Idolator Reed Fischer, and he replied, "Someone in this story is going to get thrown off a balcony." Or option their tale to Jet Li. [Yomiuri Daily Online]

Andrew W.K. - Party Hard [Dailymotion]
Pulp - Party Hard [YouTube]

Hey Simon, Leave Those Music Shows Alone

Dan Gibson — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EDT

The occasionally reliable NME reports today that Simon Cowell is kicking around the idea of purchasing England's venerable Top of the Pops brand, which was largely abandoned by the BBC in 2006. While even the idea of a television show on a major network featuring "live" music from chart-topping acts (and nationalized health insurance) fills me with this-side-of-the-ocean jealousy, I have to wonder what a Cowell-captained TOTP would look like.

Part of the wacky appeal of TOTP in the past was the odd mix of acts, which was drawn from the randomness of the Brit singles charts; acts appearing in 2003 included Busted, Shania Twain, Iron Maiden, Junior Senior, and Zwan. With Simon Cowell's general disdain for anything but the most Leona Lewisy musical acts, I'm worried that the show would be devoid of performances like these:

Pulp, "Common People":

Kirsty MacColl, "There's a Guy Works Down the Chipshop..."

Toy Dolls, "Nelly the Elephant"

Crazy Frog, "Popcorn"

According to the BBC, no one has approached them yet about the program's rights, so it might be a bit too early to say. But should Simon Cowell be allowed anywhere near Britain's pop institution?

'X Factor''s Simon Cowell planning 'Top Of The Pops' takeover? [NME]

What Are Your Jukebox Staples?

Maura Johnston — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:15:00 EDT

Wednesday night I spent $16 on jukeboxes at two establishments in New York City. Sixteen dollars! That could buy, I don't know, three pints of ice cream at the bodega down the block. But I felt like the investment was worth it, particularly at the second bar I visited, where six Washingtons allowed me to blare 19 songs throughout the bar and my friend and I were pretty much the only customers left in the place. Not that other patrons would have stopped me from playing the Monkees' "Valleri" and the Raincoats' "In Love"^*; after all, the huge catalogs of the Internet-jukebox era have made it a lot easier to impose your tastes on others, even if doing so costs you an extra credit per song. So this weekend, I wonder: What songs will you always play on a jukebox if you have some unused dollar bills rustling around your wallet? Five songs that I have no problem dropping 25 to 100 cents on after the jump.

The Afghan Whigs, "Miles Iz Ded"

A personal drinking staple. ("Now You Know," from Gentlemen, also works in a pinch, although I'd avoid it if you're throwing back beverages while feeling bad about anything related to your personal life.)

Janet Jackson, "Miss You Much"

Note: It sounded quite complementary with this Fall Out Boy song Wednesday night.

Pulp, "Monday Morning"

"Why live in the world, when you can live in your head" is a lyric that really anticipated the "everything customized just for you" age, isn't it?

TV On The Radio, "Golden Age"

The bigger the speakers, the better the sound.

The Mo-Dettes, "White Mice"

It's not on too many jukeboxes—New York's Hi-Fi has it thanks to its digitizing a few key editions of Rhino's D.I.Y. series—but its ghostly "ooh"s and "ahh"s" sound even better underneath the din of inebriated patrons.

^* Yeah, I wrote down all the songs that I picked. It's a habit I picked up this year after a few nights of solo drinking. What.

In case you didn't make it out to the In ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:30:00 EDT

In case you didn't make it out to the In The City festival in Manchester, where the ever-dapper Jarvis Cocker gave a talk on song lyrics called "Saying The Unsayable" earlier this week, a Pulp fan site has helpfully put up notes on the lecture (from when he gave it in May); they're annotated with YouTube clips. The crux of the talk, which he helpfully illustrates with the scandalizing lyrics to "Louie Louie": "My core argument is that lyrics don't really matter—they're an optional extra, much like a sunroof or a patio. But when music and lyrics work together they're better than the sum of parts. But that's not all there is to it." [Acrylic Afternoons]

Jarvis Cocker To Speak On Lyrics, Discourage Looking At Program During His Lecture

Maura Johnston — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

The man who kindly asked listeners to not read the lyric booklet while listening to his band's masterpiece Different Class—perhaps because he was drunk while writing 90% of said words, and nursing a hell of a hangover whle penning the remaining 10%—may seem like an odd choice for a symposium on the art of the lyric, but let's face it: I'd listen to Jarvis Cocker ruminate on the art of display-ad placement in phone books if I could. On May 23 he'll hold a talk (complete with PowerPoint slides!) called "Saying the Unsayable" at the Brighton Festival in the UK, and it'll apparently touch on the lyrics to "Louie Louie" as well as the words sung by the likes of Pete Doherty and Hot Chocolate frontman Errol Brown. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the talk's already sold out, but surely someone reading can sneak their way in and give us a report? Please? [Brighton Festival via Guardian]

The are many witty/goofy sites out there ...

Jess Harvell — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:30:00 EDT

The are many witty/goofy sites out there right now offering various détournements of classic comic strips/books, but it's going to take effort to top the cast of Archie doing a dramatic reading of the lyrics to Pulp's "Common People." And like the commenters here, I just hope can someone do this for the whole Pulp catalog. Like maybe Mr. Weatherbee and Miss Grundy taking a duet on "Help The Aged" or Big Ethel singing "Birds In Your Garden" to Jughead? (Moose singing it to Dilton? I'm not partial.) [Chris's Invincible Super Blog via Circle The Globe]

Pulp Confirms Life Is, Like, Not Terrible And Junk

jharv — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:05:50 EDT

From today's "it's hardly new, but I kinda needed to post it" files: There's not a Pulp record from His 'N Hers onward that you shouldn't have near your nightstand for when one of those late-night, blackly sardonic moods hits, but the way-way-way (way) underrated We Love Life might be my favorite in the final tally, moving past the jaundiced/wounded portraits of Different Class or the nihilist navel-gazing of This Is Hardcore, as Jarvis Cocker proves that it's okay to A.) be emo as fuck about romance/heartbreak and B.) hate (or at least be deeply suspicious of) humanity if C.) you have a humanist heart o' gold beating under your snappy tailored suits and D.) don't let your snark slip too much in favor of bitterness or mawkishness. (It's kind of a complex equation to juggle. Even for a British guy.) Sadly YouTube doesn't have the album's title track—No. 1 life-affirming song of this decade, which I've been playing the hell out of lately—so here's "The Trees," a great single (if not a particularly superb video) in the grand, old-school mixtape tradition of letting a shamefully charismatic man talk about love with a wit that you're not able to muster yourself.

Pulp - "The Trees" [YouTube]

The MisShapes-Pulp Battle: We're Pretty Sure We're Going To Lose This One

Brian Raftery — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:05:47 EST

Arrrgh! It was bad enough that the New York city DJ crew MisShapes had to MisAppropriate one of our favorite Pulp songs; now, they're even starting to crib their fashion, too. Why hasn't Jarvis done anything about this/ Is he out shopping for oversized novelty spectacles again?

Also, to BPM magazine: Please. These guys are neither punk nor a phenomenon. They're Gelflings with stylists.

BPM Magazine
Earlier: Idolator Demands: It's Time To Bring "Mis-Shapes" Back To The Common People!

Leak Of The Week Day Afternoon: A Visit With 'Jarvis'

mjohnston — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:00:50 EDT

Former Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker's new album, Jarvis, comes out in the UK on Nov. 13; we haven't heard anything about a US release date, but if the shoddy treatment received by Pulp's final album is any indication, some Stateside label will probably wait six months or so before figuring out that Jarvis is a pretty excellent album, packed with world-weariness and clever asides. We especially like "Fat Children," which sounds like a sequel to Pulp's sublime "Monday Morning," only with a beyond-the-grave lyrical take.

~~Jarvis - Fat Children~~ [MP3, link expired]
Jarvis Cocker [MySpace]
Previously: Idolator Demands: It's Time To Bring "Mis-Shapes" Back To The Common People!

Idolator Demands: It's Time To Bring "Mis-Shapes" Back To The Common People!

Brian Raftery — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 16:09:26 EDT

Last night, we were listening to a copy of Pulp's recently remastered Different Class album—it's an import, though you can get it super cheap at CD-WOW—and when the first song came on, we immediately cringed. Why? Because it's "Mis-Shapes," and whenever we hear it, instead of thinking about Jarvis Cocker strutting around the stage of the Reading Festival, we think of a bunch of sweaty lil' brats throwing up on each other. In America, the popularity of MisShapes (the obnoxious party-slash-DJ collective) has forever ruined "Mis-Shapes" (the song).

We at Idolator want to change that, so we're starting an inevitably fruitless campaign to make "MisShapes" so well known, no one will ever again associate it with anything other than Pulp. We don't want to hide our heads in shame when it comes on anymore, and so we have to band together to make this song so big, Bush will reference it in a State Of The Union speech without actually knowing what it means. Just like he did with "Jenny From The Block" a few years ago.

So, your mission: Make "Mis-Shapes" famous. Forward the MP3 below to everyone. Send it to a Gilmore Girls soundtrack supervisor, or, barring that, an actual Gilmore Girl. Buy it multiple times at the iTunes store. If all else fails, hand it to Zach Braff. We're just that desperate.

Pulp - Mis-Shapes [MP3]
~~Pulp - F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A.L.L.E.D. L.O.V.E.~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Pulp - Common People (At Glastonbury 1995)~~ [MP3, link expired]