‘Common People’ at 30: What does the Pulp anthem say about society three decades on?
When a Greek girl who studied sculpture at St Martin’s College first materialised into Jarvis Cocker’s view, no one could tell how the story of this naïve culture shock romance would go on to change the world. But through a breakneck journey through city streets, supermarkets, and damp squalor, Pulp’s ode to the ‘Common People’ was one that invigorated a nation, and became the shining, if poverty-stricken, beacon of the blazing Britpop movement.
By the midpoint of the 1990s, change was afoot in the fabric of the UK, and the soundtrack of Britpop was the electrifying current that fizzled in the air. The Conservative government was a crumbling empire, the economy was in a worse-for-wear state, and the people had had enough. Working-class heroism was the answer, and it was something Cocker was more than happy to provide through his reflections on the financial and social dichotomies of London life.
In turn, exposing the real conditions that the everyday population lived through, but that were all too often hidden from the upper echelons of society, one dizzying train ride of a song became the ultimate anthem of power to the people, as well as of ‘90s culture as a whole. It was a true reckoning to a harsh truth that had been silenced for so long: “You are amazed that they exist,” Cocker sings, “And they burn so bright that you can only wonder why” – and, in many ways, was a protest and rebellion tune packaged into Britpop sonics.
Garnering Pulp their first chart hit, peaking at the number two position, there’s no denying that ‘Common People’ single-handedly changed the course of the Sheffield band’s life, hailing from small-town Northern insularity into the big leagues of rock domination. Between renting flats, cutting hair, getting jobs, smoking fags, and playing pool, ironically their lamentations on working-class daily life shot them into a whole different sphere of society – and they have never looked back.
But indeed, there comes a full circle moment in all of this as Pulp commemorate their biggest ‘90s anthem, just as they are about to begin a whole new sonic venture for the 21st century. ‘Common People’ is celebrating 30 years of release, meanwhile the band are set to embark on their first album in some 24 years, More, which comes out on June 6th. It’s a fitting clash of the timelines in which the past marries up with the present, and the path laid by Britpop deserves its rightful remembrance. But it also begs the question – how does ‘Common People’ resonate with today?
In some respects, there is a political mirror. Conservatism has fallen again, and the voices of the working classes are rising louder and louder in the fight for justice through the cost-of-living crisis. But equally, things aren’t the same as they were three decades ago – there are new threats, new ways of life to contend with, even more diverse sections of society who all have to find their place. Some people might say that a song like ‘Common People’ doesn’t hold contemporary weight, that’s its simply now a relic consigned to depicting an old reality of the past.
Yet, somewhere deep in there, there’s a heart that still beats. Yes, the landscape of life is wildly different now in 2025 as it was in 1995, but surely that darkness and light, naivety and grittiness that Pulp lament in ‘Common People’ still exists now just as much as it did then. This is not to say that Britpop is bound to face some sort of full-blown 2020s reinvigoration, but maybe it’s symbolic that the band have come back to grace us with new music in the era just when we are crying out for it most.
