Why Arctic Monkeys and Pulp are banned from being played in one Sheffield pub
Jarvis Cocker may fancy himself as a bit of a hometown hero whenever he heads back to Sheffield. But despite many people having inevitably bought him a fair few pints over the years, there’s one boozer he and the rest of Pulp are never going to set foot into.
Indeed, there’s some kind of poetry in the fact that the big stars like Cocker are instantly brought back down to Earth from the second they come back to Sheffield, as only 400 metres along from the city’s train station, there’s one pub in which they are very much not welcome – or, at least, their music isn’t, in any case.
But at the same time, that’s all part of the allure of The Rutland Arms. Its art deco facade and red brick exterior make it an imposing presence on the local scene, and certainly not without an air of a Victorian schoolhouse. If anything is clear, however, this definitely is the place where more than a few Sheffield acts will receive an education.
Don’t be fooled – the pub isn’t known for some sort of cutthroat live music stage, but instead for a frankly even more intimidating jukebox that sits in the corner of the room, yet still commands all the attention. It’s not as simple as sticking in your quid and picking some frivolous tune or karaoke classic. The jukebox at The Rutty, as it’s known in local quarters, is a meticulous art form.
And if you wanted to pay homage to one of Sheffield’s finest kings, from Pulp to Arctic Monkeys to Richard Hawley, you would be out of luck, as all three have found themselves on the so-called ‘permabanned’ list. That’s exactly what it says on the tin: artists who are permanently banned from ever being played in The Rutty’s hallowed halls.
Some of the fellow permaband inmates are there for pretty understandable reasons. U2, Foo Fighters, and Taylor Swift are all also on there, and do you really need to say more? Yet it does seem like a tough luck of the draw on local hometown heroes such as Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys, so the real question is: why?
The even funnier answer is that there is no real reason. They claim there’s no personal vendettas and that the list of exiles is chosen purely based on whims or the mood of the moment. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard were known to be banned once, but only in the rebellious spirit of rebuking the most recent royal coronation.
Essentially, there’s no justification for Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys being taken off the rotation, other than the irony of the city’s finest sons being blacklisted for the sake of it. Sure, in Sheffield they’re more likely to be overplayed than most other places, but giving them an outright red card is another thing entirely.
For as long as The Rutland Arms continues to pour its pints, it seems like they will never relent on letting two of Sheffield’s finest rock and roll exports back through the door, at least in a sonic sense. What would be interesting is if they turned up en masse, demanding to be reinstated – then the pub might really have a problem on their hands.
