‘Ebeneezer Goode’: The chart-topping rave single that Jarvis Cocker thought was “despicable”
It’s an oddity of the last century that every decade seems to have its own prominent recreational drug. The 1960s had acid, the 1970s had heroin, the 1980s had cocaine, and the 1990s had ecstasy. These substances seem to hold sway over the art of the era, too. With pupils pinging and minds racing, the ‘90s were awash with rave music.
It was an age of hard partying. And alongside Britpop, the most profound new subcultures were rave and garage. However, it is not always the case that subcultures prove commercial. By definition, they avert the mainstream. But despite this, ‘Ebeneezer Goode’ by The Shaman managed to top the charts for four weeks.
A hell of a lot of people were furious about this. With a chorus that chants, “E’s are good, E’s are good, E’s Ebeneezer Goode,” it was brutalised by politicians for apparently advocating drug use. The mainstream media hounded the members of The Shaman, hoping to out them as rather more literal drug dealers. And even a few fellow musicians weren’t happy.
However, you wouldn’t necessarily expect Jarvis Cocker to be someone who was sticking his oar in and deriding the strange smash hit from 1993. After all, the Pulp frontman would go on to write ‘Sorted for E’s & Wizz’ only two years later. But that didn’t stop him from airing his grievances with The Shaman.
According to the BBC, the Sheffield singer rallied against the track, stating, “I thought it was a despicable record. With a clever play on words they covered the fact that they thought E’s were good and got it to number one.” Seemingly, his ire was with the fact that it merely seemed to be a marketing slogan for an illicit substance rather than anything truly subversive or artful.
In a strange twist, the band themselves denied it was about E’s at all. “We never intended the track to be an advert for Ecstasy,” frontman Colin Angus protested. “It makes me really angry that people have taken that attitude about the song. The song is about this shady character, based on a lot of music business people, who is the life and soul of the party. People who think the song is about Ecstasy have got the wrong end of the stick.”
If he was really angry, then you could say he was hoisted by his own petard on this occasion. There are plenty of songs about shady geezers, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ‘Red Right Hand’ springs to mind, but not many of them are littered with an absolute abundance of rogue Es in the lyrics.
However, in time, the pressure told and the band were pretty much bullied into withdrawing the single from the charts after four weeks of hardship and cash, in equal measure. Along the way, it has pretty much gone on to define an era, too.
