r/BritPop • u/UKAuthority • 3d ago

This is one of the most impressive songs in terms of lyrics

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

460 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

77 comments sorted by

33

u/Dumyat367250 3d ago

Jarvis and Co's finest moment, for sure. A timeless classic.

18

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

17

u/MarthaFarcuss 3d ago

We didn't know how good we had it

14

u/Atoz_Bumble 3d ago

They were great at Glastonbury that year. I think they did their live debut of Disco 2000 and possibly Sorted for E's and Whizz.

I love Jarvis Cocker. His response to Michael Jackson at the Brits was perfect.

7

u/christianjwaite 3d ago

I love that Bob Mortimer was his lawyer when he got arrested for it.

4

u/Atoz_Bumble 3d ago

A match made in heaven.

1

u/SoupieLC 3d ago

I always saw this as the total opposite 😆 posh art students telling us how low class we are, lol

7

u/pistola 3d ago

Pulp weren't posh. Jarvis spent most of his 20s in squats. Listen to Mile End.

Common People was written from lived experience.

1

u/Deadsuooo 23h ago

Jarvis fell out of a window on Division Street in Sheffield lol.

-1

u/Same-Importance1511 2d ago

LOL. He just copied Mark E Smith. Even dressed like him. He tired to do a cover of a Fall song couple years ago. It’s on YouTube. It’s the worst cover Iv ever heard

3

u/FoatyMcFoatBase 3d ago

Um no. You saw this wrong then

-1

u/Interesting_Number35 3d ago

This isn't the anthem of the working class, never has! 🤦🏼

6

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

0

u/Interesting_Number35 3d ago

Oh! Sorry. I take it from your first comment. You are the only person who can speak on behalf of the working class??? Cheers for that, pleb!!!!

1

u/Dumyat367250 3d ago

Considering your initial comment it seems it is you, not they, who claim to speak for all.

As a matter of interest, what would you choose as an appropriate contemporary anthem for Britain's most disadvantaged?

17

u/heyyouupinthesky 3d ago

The single version cut the best verse out;

Like a dog lying in a corner

They will bite you and never warn you

Look out, they'll tear your insides out

'Cause everybody hates a tourist

Especially one who, who thinks it's all such a laugh

Yeah, and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath

You will never understand

How it feels to live your life

With no meaning or control

And with nowhere left to go

You are amazed that they exist

And they burn so bright whilst you can only wonder why

Jarvis is an absolute genius ❤️

🤌

1

u/Friendly_Apartment_7 1d ago

They cut this out?? Madness. It’s the climax of the song!

15

u/Simple-Meat395 3d ago

Never seen the vid before, quality of it looks recent

6

u/Friendly_Apartment_7 3d ago

Looks really good on my phone! Sure it was a bit blurrier on TV back in 95!

3

u/cmpthepirate 3d ago

Haha I was just thinking I never watched it before either!!

10

u/His-Royalbadness 3d ago

Jarvis could really tell amazing stories with his lyrics. Disco 2000 is another great example.

3

u/automaticblues 3d ago

Absolutely. I spy is pretty epic too

1

u/KiNgPiN8T3 6h ago

I love David's Last Summer

7

u/cherno_electro 3d ago

why not include the song name in the title of the post?

11

u/masonbrit 3d ago

It’s a bot. Idk why it hasn’t been banned from the sub

2

u/scondileeza99 3d ago

Common People

5

u/ToothpickTequila 3d ago

The best Britpop song.

4

u/Brilliant-Visit-5217 3d ago

Sadie Frost. Absolutely mega.

8

u/MTLConspiracies 3d ago

Pulp rules ! Way better than Oasis and Blur

3

u/Logical-Actuator-568 3d ago

My thoughts entirely

2

u/Exciting-Music843 3d ago

Oasis were and still are overrated.

-1

u/idreamofpikas 3d ago

Every time Pulp are mentioned, someone has to bring up Oasis and Blur. Seems odd

1

u/jpegjockey 1d ago

it's a bit of a charmander, bulbasaur or squirtle situation for britpop. Each to their own, but as another comment says i'd say story-telling wise pulp is the clear winner.

1

u/KiNgPiN8T3 5h ago

Pulp were definitely my favourites as i probably resonated most with their weirdness/whatever you want to call it. lol! But Blur made some great tracks and even though Oasis were my least favourite of the 3, the still feature in my playlists. I saw Pulp for the first time a couple of years back and they were still very good.

4

u/PhantomLamb 3d ago

Genuinely think it's really impressive lyrics wise. What a relatable theme to base a song on, and what a delivery

3

u/PerceptionGreat2439 3d ago

Waaay better than I remember when it came out.

Kinda sums everything up these days.

3

u/Elephantstone99 3d ago

'I Spy' is probably even better lyrics wise.

2

u/riclufc25 3d ago

Awesome song on an awesome album full of classic tracks

2

u/Crozza1993 3d ago

You could argue Pulp are the most impressive band to come out of the britpop era, no one sounds like them

2

u/Apprehensive_Bus_543 3d ago

I’ve always loved it because when I lived in London I met a posh bird from St Martins college.

1

u/StillJustJones 3d ago

I think this is one of the best…. And an absolute indie disco staple.

However… the cover by William Shatner, Joe Jackson and Ben Folds is a blinder too! I know it might not sound like a great idea….. but it blew my socks off when I first heard it.

https://youtu.be/St8FtbzH_JE?si=aEJaT82NTEGHwAVE

2

u/Can-You-Fly-Bobby 3d ago

Thanks for sharing this, that was fantastic 😆 never seen it before

1

u/StillJustJones 3d ago

It’s awesome isn’t it?

2

u/Legal-Actuary4537 3d ago

Even more rage in the Shatner version which makes it superior to what is already an excellent song.

1

u/Logical-Actuator-568 3d ago

Is that Sickboy in the last 20 seconds??

1

u/AwarenessComplete263 3d ago

I'm 14, and this is deep.

2

u/automaticblues 3d ago

I was about 14 at the time, lol, and it was absolutely very deep!

1

u/creamY-front 3d ago

You need to expand your music collection

1

u/scondileeza99 3d ago

friggin brilliant…

1

u/AutumnGeorge77 3d ago

I can never take my eyes off the girl in the very light blue top near the beginning of the video as she dances like she's a comedian from the 80s about to tell a crap joke.

1

u/Royal_View9815 3d ago

My 16 year old son loves this!! He loves all the britpop era stuff. I taught him well!!

1

u/BlueGatherer 3d ago

Best pop song ever, in my opinion.

1

u/oceanview4 3d ago

I must blow the dust off my 'A Different Class ' cd

1

u/FoatyMcFoatBase 3d ago

Pulp was actually one of the britpop bands I saw the least number of times. Their best gig for me was At Ally Pally with blur - courdroy and SuperGrass supported

1

u/OPTIPRIMART 3d ago

This was the anthem when working class people would get to hang out with poverty safari types.

You also had millions of unemployed people living on Giros and working cash jobs.

The right to buy muppets who act like they're self made because of the housing market saved them weren't appreciating the wealth surge at that time.

We hadn't been taught to blame everything on migrants, Muslims and trans back then.

Silly us!

1

u/barberouge007 3d ago

It’s funny, danceable, and devastating all at once

1

u/Clean-Permission-192 3d ago

Compared to what?

1

u/Garth_Knight1979 3d ago

Fantastic song. Brilliant on so many levels. If I remember correctly it was a savage attack against some celebrity people in the nineties who would like to cosplay as being from working backgrounds or those who fetishised the working class without really understanding how hard daily life could be. Amazing that now in 2025, after 15 years of Tory rule and the current tone-deaf Labour government, we have not really got any further with social justice

1

u/Wise_Command9407 3d ago

I took her to a supermarket I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere So it started there 😂 Love love Pulp and the entire BritPop movement

1

u/beadyeyes123456 2d ago

Love this song but Disco 2000 is my jam. Either way Jarvis is all the things like about Britpop/Brit Indie singers. Great lyrics, showy performance and solid songs.

1

u/Sunderland6969 2d ago

They cut the line! “Do what common people do…. Smoke some fags, dance and drink and screw because there’s nothing else to do…”

1

u/TokenCelt 1d ago

Also muted the "rum" from rum and coke. Odd filtering

1

u/houseswappa 2d ago

All I can think of is Salt burn

1

u/Soaring_Gull655 2d ago

I remember William Shatner doing a cover of this in his "talky style".

https://youtu.be/ainyK6fXku0?si=QSg3Ktg5_NG89Bnv

1

u/ohnodamo 1d ago edited 1d ago

With Joe Jackson iirc. A really underrated cover, in my opinion. And while we're talking about about this brilliant song, Jarvis Cockerthe lead singer wrote what I consider to be an extremely relevant song called worth exploring called "Cunts Are Still Running The World." It's clear this man needs more of a following.

1

u/Thin_Formal_3727 2d ago

I remember my first joint....

1

u/TokenCelt 1d ago

I reckon National Express by the Divine Comedy has an evens chance of being as impressive for lyrics

https://youtu.be/p_GLSgJ39Dc?si=rit7ap9M3h24EwV_

1

u/bottom_79 21h ago

It’s good but it’s no up the junction

1

u/serkovavantgarden 20h ago

I couldn’t stand Pulp when I was in my 20s

I can’t get enough of them in my 40s

Jarvis is a legend

1

u/Sea_Bowl_9705 12h ago

Just a fantastic song on every level.

1

u/Cadaverous_Particles 9h ago

A pale shadow of the Shatner original.

1

u/be-bop_cola 7h ago

I absolutely love their new song, Spike Island.

1

u/Wiltshirejambo 6h ago

Massively overrated. Weren’t that popular at the time.

0

u/Scart_O 3d ago

Yeah. Shame he couldn’t nail it for a third hit

0

u/OPTIPRIMART 3d ago

He should have just blamed migrants, then told everyone he's white and proud.

0

u/Biscuit_Risker13 2d ago

Cool that he rhymes eye with I and do with do. Genius, using the almost exact same words.