Different Class by Pulp
Different Class is the fifth studio album by English Britpop band Pulp. It was released in 1995 at the height of Britpop, and led to the band being regarded as part of that movement. Two of the singles on the album - "Common People" (which reached number two in the UK singles chart) and "Disco 2000" (which reached number seven) - were especially notable, and helped propel Pulp to nationwide fame. A "deluxe edition" of Different Class was released on 11 September 2006. It contains a second disc of B-sides, demos and rarities. The album was the winner of the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. In 1998 Q readers voted Different Class the 37th greatest album of all time; a repeat poll in 2006 put it at number 85. In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2004 it was voted number 70 of Channel 4's 100 greatest albums. It has sold 1,255,000 copies in the United Kingdom as of September 2011. The inspiration for the title came to frontman Jarvis Cocker in Smashing, a nightclub on Regent Street in London. Cocker had a friend who used the phrase "different class" to describe something that was "in a class of its own". Cocker liked the double meaning, with its allusions to the British social class system which was a theme of some of the songs on the album. A message on the back of record also references this idea: "We don't want no trouble, we just want the right to be different. That's all."
Britpop was in full swing when Pulp unleashed 1995’s <i>Different Class</i>, which topped the UK album chart and received the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. However, the Sheffield troupe weren’t necessarily interested in joining (or conforming to) any sort of movement. That was obvious from the <i>Different Class</i> album artwork, which contained a prominent plea: “Please understand. We don’t want no trouble. We just want the right to be different. That’s all.” It was also obvious from the pointed lyrics penned by vocalist Jarvis Cocker, a lanky presence known for arch statements, Bowie-esque vocal tone and unsparing social commentary.<br /> Look no further than the neon-hued, synth-punk dance-floor anthem “Common People”, a cutting portrayal of a rich clubber who wants to “do whatever common people do”, which Cocker told <i>The Face</i> targeted “a certain voyeurism on the part of the middle classes, a certain romanticism of working-class culture, and a desire to slum it a bit”. Other songs were just as direct, whether slamming empty hedonism (“Sorted for E’s & Wizz”) or praising the value of smarts over wealth when faced with class warfare (“Mis-Shapes”). <br /> Sonically, <i>Different Class</i> was equally refined. Although other Britpop stars drew inspiration from The Beatles and the Stones, ’70s power pop and colourful ’80s New Wave, Pulp favoured debonair textures indebted to noir music and moody art rock—as heard on the strings-swept, ’60s-mod-pop homage “Something Changed” and the eerie, Leonard Cohen-reminiscent “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.” <i>Different Class</i> was a commercial hit whose anthems for misfits and outsiders elevated the quality of mainstream music discourse.
