Which emo band covered Pulp’s ‘Common People’ for Radio 1’s Live Lounge in 2011?
“I’ve got a feeling that was My Chemical Romance.”
CORRECT.
“ I don’t think I ever heard it, but I heard about it.”
What do you think about the various ‘Common People’ covers over the years that include William Shatner’s memorable 2004 rendition…
“That’s good fun. I remember we played with Belle & Sebastian around 2011. We were on after them, and they covered ‘Common People’ which was cheeky considering the band that’s about to follow you. But that’s all right, you know. We showed them how it’s supposed to be done! [Laughs]”
In your raucous new memoir, So It Started There: From Punk to Pulp, you recount how you weren’t enamoured with ‘Common People’ when you first heard it…
“I wasn’t. You hear a badly tape-recorded version when it’s first presented to you, and it didn’t seem to have anything going for it, and in Sheffield to call someone a common person is an insult. So it was strange, but work was done on the song and eventually we got there. The moment I realised it was a hit was when we were sitting in the studio and the cleaner was hoovering. The producer Chris Thomas exploded: ‘Someone shut that fucking hoover off! We’re making a hit record here!’. Not we’re trying to make a hit record – it’s we are making a guaranteed hit record.”
For a bonus half-point: Pulp reportedly once refused the BBC permission for which of their children’s TV characters to cover ‘Common People’?
“Ooh… I’m thinking that would be the Teletubbies?”
CORRECT. Which they apparently wanted to rename ‘Tubby People’.
“Phew – that was a guess! You don’t need more silly voices on the airwaves, and we were all about keeping it real you see! No Teletubbies.”
Talking about things Pulp turned down: in the early 1990s, you rejected Oasis as your support act…
“It was Jarvis’ [Cocker, Pulp frontman] decision. They were offered to us and it was just after they had that kerfuffle on the ferry [in 1994] and our thinking was Pulp had always railed against that laddish boorish culture of ‘Whooo, get yer tits out for the lads’ and football. We were not part of that scenario; we were something different. Although it would have been a good laugh having Oasis on tour.”
On the subject of boorish sexism, there’s a story in your memoir where Pulp are playing a festival in the noughties with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who creepily invite keyboardist Candida Doyle on their tour bus for “fun”…
“They were backstage in matching velvet dressing gowns, and all about 6ft 4 inches tall, compared to Candida who’s 4ft-nothing. They leered to her: ‘Do you wanna come party with us?’, and we reacted: ‘Give over, you sleazy Americans!’ It was a good example of how different we would behave compared to other rockers.”
The video for Pulp’s ‘Bad Cover Version’ is a spoof of an all-charity record featuring celebrity lookalikes. Who is the only impersonated artist in it who was not alive at the time of the song’s release in 2002?
“That’s got to be Kurt Cobain.”
CORRECT.
“That was a fun video to do, hanging around with these lookalikes bossing them around.”
It wasn’t Pulp’s first dabbling with doppelgängers. During 1998’s ‘This Is Hardcore’ tour, you enlisted Gareth Dickinson, who had mimicked Jarvis on Stars In Their Eyes…
“He was a really nice kid. His main thing was imitating Freddie Mercury, but the Stars In Their Eyes producers said: ‘We’ve had loads of Freddie Mercury’s, anyone else you do?’. During the opening song, Gareth would take to the stage, striking poses, while the real Jarvis was singing behind the stage – then Jarvis would walk onstage, and the audience would do a double-take. Great fun!”
For another bonus half-point: name both the pop stars who cover Pulp songs on the B-sides to ‘Bad Cover Version’.
“I remember Nick Cave, but I’m going to have to pass on the second one I’m afraid.”
WRONG. Nick Cave did indeed tackle ‘Disco 2000’, but you missed Róisín Murphy’s version of ‘Sorted for E’s and Wizz’.
“Róisín, of course! I can’t say I listened to them a great deal, but they were all very entertaining.”
In 1994, which two acts did Pulp play between on the NME stage at Glastonbury?
“It was a Britpop sandwich, so I think Elastica were before us, and afterwards it was Oasis?”
WRONG. Chumbawamba and Inspiral Carpets (although Oasis played earlier in the day).
“Tsk! Stupid memory, eh?”
The year after, Pulp delivered one of the all time great Worthy Farm headline sets, replacing the Stone Roses after guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone. How did it feel to get the phone call?”
“Just like: Oh my God, are they are sure? Then cold sweat comes over you because you’re thinking of all the people there expecting to see [Stone Roses’] Ian Brown and getting us idiots instead. We felt it could be the most amazing thing ever or the biggest disaster – we thought we might get bottled off like Daphne and Celeste did later at Reading [in 2000]. Thankfully, it turned out differently! Trivia: our gig before Glastonbury – playing with Oasis – only happened because of another broken-bone when one of The Verve smashed their hand hitting someone, so they had to pull out.”
In your book, you recollect the the surreal Glasto post-performance sight of Robbie Williams regaling Jarvis with his poetry…
“He was swanning around with his blond hair, toothless grin and red trackie bottoms saying: ‘Ey lads, listen to me poetry’, and then he’d reel it off – it was quite good! The image of him spouting off to Liam Gallagher and Jarvis as they stood there looking nonplussed at a former Take That member’s fancy poetry was memorable.”
Which animal almost foiled your audition to join Pulp as drummer in 1986?
“A dog?”
CORRECT. Instead of playing at Jarvis’ home, you spent the audition getting rid of a random canine that had followed him back.
“We couldn’t do any music until this dog was removed so the idea was to walk around the streets and it’ll lose interest and wander off home. It didn’t, so we had to put it behind someone’s fence, with the dog whining as we scuttled off. So this weird audition didn’t involve any music. But I knew Jarvis a bit anyway and had been a massive Pulp fan, so that just gave us a chance to wander around talking about people we knew and music we were listening to. Jarvis has subsequently said if he’d heard me play, it would have been a no! [Laughs]”
Name any three other artists that appeared on the same 1994 episode of Top of the Pops that Pulp performed ‘Babies’ on.
“Obviously Wet Wet Wet were Number One. There was a reggae band called Big Mountain…no, I can’t come up with a third one!”
WRONG. Apart from Wet Wet Wet and Big Mountain, you could have had: The Beautiful South, Arrested Development, Pink Floyd or Mariah Carey. At the end of the performance, Jarvis famously flashed the inside of his jacket to the camera containing the message: ‘I HATE WET WET WET’. Did you ever receive any feeback from Marti Pellow and co?
“Never. We passed in the corridor and there was a bit of a sideways glance ‘cause despite their twee pop credentials, they were pretty tough Scottish lads under the pop sheen! But our paths never crossed again.”
An easy one: which comedian (and former solicitor) offered his legal services when Jarvis was arrested after crashing the stage during Michael Jackson’s messianic performance of ‘Earth Song’ at the 1996 BRIT Awards?
“That’s the wonderful Bob Mortimer who was in the next dressing room along when all the kerfuffle started and very gamely offered his services – whether that was pro-rata or full-rate, I’m not sure!”
CORRECT.
“He was well-refreshed so I’m not sure how good his advice would have been! It added to the surrealness where the bobbies were being very heavy-handed, Michael Jackson’s crew were ‘not happy’ and then Bob Mortimer’s coming in going ‘I can help!’ while giggling.”
“We’d already seen the run-through of the show earlier that day and were like: ‘What is this shit he’s [Michael Jackson] coming out with?’ We were sucking our cheeks in with our arms folded across our chest all day, so after much lubrication, we were watching Michael Jackson save the world for a second time while Jarv complained: ‘This is rubbish’. But Candida challenged him: ‘You’re not going to do anything about it. You daren’t! What’s the matter with you? If you’re so worked up, do something!’. So Jarvis replied: ‘Right! I will do!’ And off he went [to invade the stage and waggle his bottom]. We thought it was a good laugh, then chaos unfolded.”
Jarvis was questioned by the police overnight on suspicion of causing injury towards three of the children in Jackson’s performance, until footage shot by David Bowie exonerated him. You had performed ‘Sorted for E’s & Wizz’ at the BRITS earlier; ironic as it was Pulp’s second biggest tabloid scandal when the original single sleeve – containing humorous instructions on how to fold it into a drugs wrap – led to a Daily Mirror front page ‘BAN THIS SICK STUNT’ and even a set-up by tabloids trying to get a picture of a baffled guitarist and violinist Russell Senior taking cocaine that had been offered by a reporter posing as a young fan…
“It just confirmed all your thoughts about the tabloid press. It was shocking because if this kid had approached other members of the band, they’d have got their photograph probably. But Russell’s a bit more strait-laced and then he saw the photographer’s lens. We got lucky.”
Pulp appeared on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast in 1995, judging viewers’ talents down the telephone line. But can you name any of the callers’ impressive skills?
“Pfft! All I remember was being instructed by my missus to get Zig & Zag’s autograph – one of the perks of having to get up at six in the morning”
WRONG. One viewer performed Italian opera, another tap-danced, a boy impersonated the bagpipes, and a 12-year-old sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in the style of Donald Duck.
“Strange that they’ve not affixed themselves in my memory! [Laughs]”
The video to Pulp’s 1998 single ‘This Is Hardcore’ features future ‘90s pop star Lolly*. But can you name any of her hits?
“I can give you two: ‘Viva La Radio’ and her cover of Toni Basil’s ‘Hey Mickey’”.
CORRECT. Reading the book, making ‘This Is Hardcore’ proved a difficult follow-up to 1995’s Mercury-winning ‘Different Class’, and you all feel the prize carried an inbuilt curse…
“We were convinced the Mercury was cursed because we’d seen all the other people who’d picked it up beforehand struggle afterwards and lose something that they’d had. When we won, nobody wanted to actually touch it ‘cause we thought the curse would be transferred. Mark [Webber, guitarist] relented and picked it up in the end otherwise we’d have left it on the stage. After that, everything got harder. Compared to ‘This Is Hardcore’, the previous records were so much easier. Songs were falling out of the ether, but ‘This is Hardcore’ was like pulling teeth. It became almost like ‘second album syndrome’ even though it was our sixth album.”
You say that Jarvis had a mental health episode at the beginning of recording ‘This Is Hardcore’, but you didn’t notice…
“He isn’t a person to sit everybody down and go: I’m struggling. He’s a northern bloke who bottles it up. Because he’d gone through that period of being an outsider for so long, and then success allowed the urchin who’d been looking through the sweetshop window to go inside and eat as many sweeties as he liked until he felt sick. Realising that life ambition to become someone on the inside was like discovering the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain which affected him – coupled with the pressure of having to follow up a mega-successful record. Whereas before, we’d know when a song was done, no-one could ever tell when a song was finished on ‘This Is Hardcore’. Some confidence was lost or we were trying to do too much, and it hurt.”
*Lolly is the woman in the blue dress in the video.
Which Albion-loving band did Pulp’s label Rough Trade once suggest you tour-manage?
CORRECT.
“I said to Rough Trade that I could do a bit of tour-managing while I’m not doing Pulp stuff and they said ‘We’ve got this young band called The Libertines…’. I’d never heard them, but they started getting some notoriety, and my manager rang up and said: ‘Do you know what? I don’t think the Libertines should be the band for you’. ‘Cause thee would just be bones tossed out of the van window as we’re going down the M1. A bullet dodged! A twee band would have been lovely rather than a double-headed Hydra monster to try and tame. But around that point, I realised I didn’t want to be on the road anymore.”
Which Grand Theft Auto V radio station features a remix of Pulp’s ‘After You’?
“Not being a gamer, I’m on the backfoot, but my kids have said that song has been a hit on Grand Theft Auto.”
WRONG. ‘After You (Soulwax Remix)’ appears on the Soulwax FM station. That 2013 single was the last material Pulp released. Any chance of the band recording another album or releasing new music?
“To be honest, it would take a good three-five years out of your life – to write, record, release, and tour it, and you think: ‘Gosh, it’s hard enough to get together to rehearse and play a few gigs, let alone work out what we’re going to be able to do to make a new record’, so I think it would be highly unlikely.”
The verdict: 6.5/10
“That’s all right! I’ll take that!”
‘So It Started There: From Punk to Pulp’ by Nick Banks is released September 28 via Omnibus Press and is available to pre-order. He tours the country with an in-conversation series about his book from September 12