Did Pulp create the ultimate festival anthem?
Gaining popularity during the Britpop boom of the 1990s, Pulp remain one of the best-loved bands in Britain. Their seemingly endless trove of classic hits have soundtracked the lives of so many, and frontman Jarvis Cocker continues to prove his incredible songwriting talent through his solo work and with Jarv Is.
This year, Pulp returned to stages nationwide with a hugely successful reunion tour, including multiple dates at summer festivals. With ever-changing setlists composed of fan favourites, cult classics and a few curveballs, the reunion delighted audiences up and down the nation. Their festival appearances, such as their headline spot at the iconic Isle of Wight Festival, harked back to their 1990s glory days, a time when the band arguably constructed the ultimate festival anthem.
Of course, Pulp have no shortage of sing-a-long festival classics. ‘Common People’, for instance, was one of the defining tracks of the 1990s. Often finishing the encore with the song during their reunion tour, the sheer volume of the audience singing it back to Cocker and the rest of the group is surely enough to cement ‘Common People’ as one of the band’s most iconic tracks.
Although Pulp, in some form, had been active since 1978 during Cocker’s school days, their mainstream success came with their legendary 1995 performance at Glastonbury Festival. A last-minute replacement for The Stone Roses after guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone and shoulder blade during a mountain biking accident, the headline set was a massive opportunity for Pulp, and the band took full advantage.
The Glastonbury set is the thing of Britpop legend, but the performance of ‘Sorted for E’s and Whizz’ was undoubtedly a standout moment. The track was inspired by Cocker’s visits to raves during the acid house scene, with the title coming from the story of his friend attending the infamous Stone Roses gig at Spike Island, “which she said was full of dodgy blokes walking round going, ‘Is everybody sorted for Es and whizz?’” the frontman shared, “The phrase stuck in my head, and since we were replacing the Stone Roses at Glastonbury, it all seemed to fit in perfectly.”
Expanding on the track, Cocker has since revealed that the song was meant to be about the disappointing reality of acid house. He said in a 1995 interview: “People’d be shaking your hands, saying, ‘Yeah, all right, geezer, you’re my best mate,’ and then as soon as the thing had finished and you were trying to thumb a lift off these same people, they’d be like, ‘Fuck off’.” Whatever the true meaning of the track was, it certainly proved to be a hit at Glastonbury and, indeed, at all of Pulp’s future festival appearances.
Anybody who has had the pleasure of seeing the band perform at a major event can attest to the euphoric joy of hearing the track. When you’re standing in a muddy field, unwashed with tired legs, nothing comes close to the feeling of hearing Jarvis sing, “Is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel? Or just twenty thousand people standing in a field?”.
It is an electrifying experience and acts as Pulp’s ultimate festival anthem, if not an entire generation of audience members.
