Discovering Music

Discovering: Pulp (1x10)

Data di messa in onda: Feb 25, 2014

Pulp were arguably the greatest and most idiosyncratic pop group of the 1990s. This slight but hit-packed profile, cobbled together using archive stills, videos and some available talking heads, pays tribute to their glittering legacy. Although they formed in Sheffield in the early 1980s, their career didn't take off until the release of their 1994 album His 'n' Hers. After that, with epoch-defining records such as the volcanic Common People, they became one of the linchpins of Britpop. Their charismatic leader Jarvis Cocker was even a bona fide national celebrity and, with his NHS specs and charity shop clobber, an unlikely style icon. But having achieved fame at a relatively late age, it all proved too much for the band. Jarvis succumbed to cocaine addiction - thankfully, he's long since recovered - and their star eventually waned. Nevertheless, as this programme reminds us, the gangling bard of Sheffield remains one of the wittiest social commentators in the annals of pop. Music critics and journalists Michael Bonner, Hamish MacBain and John Aizlewood explore the band's frustration at the reception of their first three albums.