Confessions of a Fanboy

Welcome to the dawn of a temporary obsession…

How quickly the day the day can change, eh?  We began with the life affirming title We Love Life — not to be confused with actual life affirmations — but the descent into something darker has already begun because This is Hardcore.

I should have known I’d never be able to talk about Hardcore without listening to it.  Some records are so good you want to buy them twice.  I bought the deluxe, import edition of this album and I was more than a little tempted to buy a brand new copy of the same deluxe, import edition.  You know- just in case something happened to the one I have now.  I’m still thinking about it right now.  I know I need help.Isn’t it interesting how a person can identify with a record that is so different from their own life?  I’ve never been famous or coked up.  I’ve never lived the seedy life.  What debauchery I have experienced in my life doesn’t even rise to the level of amateur, yet I connect with This is Hardcore.  Why? 

To quote George Harrison, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”  Angry, sad, scared, happy, disgusted, debased, demoralized, self-loathing- these are universal emotions and experiences.  We may take different paths, but we’re all likely to feel these things in our lives.  Even though we’re unique, one man’s sad isn’t impossibly different from another’s.  We recognize it when we see it, when we hear it.

Besides all that, the music is just fucking brilliant.  The music fills in the gaps of the stories Cocker tells in his lyrics.  Pulp’s music is dark and dramatic.  It’s sinister, sleazy, slinky and sexy.  There’s a great tension between the lyrics and the music.  The lyrics don’t paint pretty pictures, but the music is seductive.  Are our protagonists having as bad a time as the lyrics suggest?  Even if they are, the music tempts us.

The morning after may be awful, but would we let that scare us away from the night that preceded it?  The words warn but the sounds seduce; there’s an angel and a devil sitting on your shoulder.  Who are you going to listen to?

This is hardcore.

Filed under: Tags: Pulp