Magazine


Preview: Jarvis Cocker

by David Sue
16/ 2/2007

IN a recent interview with a music magazine, former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker opined: "I don't get all the fuss about the Arctic Monkeys. They're being acclaimed for writing about everyday life. It's that obvious. What else is there to write about?"

Cocker (right) had a decent point but in a way he was also cheekily electing himself as the current Britpop scene's sage elder statesmen. After all, just over a decade ago, Cocker, then the vocalist and mouthpiece for Sheffield's popsters Pulp, was documenting the state of Britain with similar wit, panache and uncontrived romanticism.

Best exemplified by Pulp's most famous hit, Common People, Cocker proved that pop music, intelligence and working class politics could make an awesome triumvirate, if you had the right minds. Without him, certainly no Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs or The Long Blondes.

No wonder then, that Cocker, who always wore his intellect and indignation on his sleeve anyway, feels much more at home as an elder statesmen. After five years out of the music biz, in which he relocated to Paris to start a family, Cocker finally re-emerged last year with a debut solo album.

Minus a proper band, the music perhaps lacks a certain potency but, as with Pulp, Cocker's off-kilter but always sharp lyrical observations are at the forefront anyway.

Last year's comeback single Running The World had him casting his eye on global politics and sociological affairs with an added Victor Meldrew factor.

Writing about everyday life? True, anyone can do it.Yet it takes someone special - like Mr Cocker - to do it even better as they approach old age.

Jarvis Cocker is at the Academy 2 on Monday.


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