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Details
- Release date: 22 May 1995
- Label: Island
- Formats: CD (2 versions), cassette, 12" (in 1996), 7" (in 1996)
- Recorded: January 1995 (The Town House, London) - except the acoustic versions
- Chart position: 2 (UK)
Credits
- Logo and artwork: The Designers Republic
- Photography: Donald Milne
Releases
|
Date |
Formats and catalogue numbers |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
22 May 1995 |
CD1 'day-time sleeve' - CID613 CD2 'night-time sleeve' - CIDX613 Cassette - CIS613 |
Original UK release. CD1 'day-time sleeve':
CD2 'night-time sleeve':
CD2 came with a silver Pulp sticker. Cassette:
|
|
1995 |
CD - PHCR8341 |
Japanese release. Tracklisting: |
|
1995 |
12" vinyl - 854 465-1 |
German promotional release.
Tracklisting: |
|
1996 |
CD - 854 689-2 |
European release. Tracklisting: * Same as the 7" edit except the word 'screw' is muted. |
|
February 1996 |
CD - 854 577-2 |
French release. Tracklisting: Black Session tracks recorded 30 October 1995 (France Inter, Paris). |
|
20 November 1996 |
12" vinyl - 12IS613 7" yellow vinyl - IS613 |
UK vinyl release. 7": 12": |
|
7 July 2023 |
Streaming and digital download |
Newly uploaded to streaming services as "Common People EP", with a scan of the CD1 artwork; the fourth of a series of Island Records-era EPs reissued to coincide with the 2023 tour. Tracklisting:
|
Notes
On the original CD singles, both Common People and Underwear run fractionally faster than they do on the Different Class album, likely just a consequence of being transfered from analogue tape masters (CD2 runs 1.5 seconds faster than the album, CD1 is just 0.8 seconds). Underwear starts and ends with silence, where on the album it segues out of F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. and continues directly into Monday Morning.
The first upload of the 2023 digital EP erroneously copied Common People and Underwear from the Different Class album, and the 7" edit faded out slightly early. These tracks were corrected sometime before 18th August, with both replacement tracks labelled "Single Version".
Sleeve notes
There is a war in progress - don't be a casual(ty). The time to decide whose side you're on is here. Choose wisely. Stay alive in '95.
Commentary
The release of the digital EP in 2023 was heralded by the following commentary from Pulp's social media accounts, believed to have been written by Mark Webber:
“Common People” had its live premiere at the Reading Festival on 27 August 1994 & it was clear from the outset that this song was something special. With the legendary Chris Thomas as producer, we worked together to create a huge wall of sound. Everyone got so excited about the track that we wanted to release it as soon as possible - even though we hadn’t really started working on the rest of “Different Class”, which we knew wouldn’t be ready until much later in the year. Sometimes it feels so right that you just have to do get on and do it.
The single was teased by a series of “You can’t buy …” billboards and adverts in the music press & then it crashed into the charts at No. 2. (Sadly kept from the top spot by a couple of crooning actors.) Suddenly Pulp were everywhere, all over the radio and daytime television. And then we went to Glastonbury … It was an exhilarating time & another new beginning for the band.
So it might seem strange to have these older songs as b-sides, but the truth is that at the time we weren’t exactly prepared for the relatively new (rip-off) concept of releasing CD1 & CD2 versions of a single. We just didn’t have anything else ready. After searching through tapes we settled on these three tracks that had been recorded live in the GLR Radio studios on 22 March 1994 for the Pete Aherne Show. They’d previously been released in France on a limited edition CD single of “Do You Remember the First Time” & we thought we should make them more widely available.
Now, can you still do the “Common People” dance?
Promotional video
Details here.
Reviews
Mirth-quakingly obvious single of the week
When 'Common People' was first aired at Reading last year it seemed to your correspondent the most potent political statement of cultural ambivalence since the Manic Street Preachers. But that's festival "fever" for you. Herein lies a simple truth: artistic rich people are forever wishing to be artistic skint people in the name of empathy with the belaguered because guilt is the price of privilege. A sound pop idea honed eloquently into a grand colossus of vindication in velveteen trews, this is the one that bestrides Jarvis' gifts for jocular panache and moulded songsmithery and radiates in the pop nook this week as Pulp's very own 'Sympathy For The Devil'. With even more jokes.
'Underwear' is a calmer affair, with a sombre Jarvis noting, "If fashion is your trade / When you're naked / You must be unemployed, yeah?" thus skewering the very souls of several pop notables of the day, including himself. Peerless perfection. So next time some gimp supposes "You're that amusing curiosity from oop North, show us the pineapple up yer cardy" Jarvis can feel free to bend their limbs into an approximation of a poodle and attend his new Ronnie Corbett hairdo for Top Of The Pops with measured aplomb. Ruddy superb.
Charts and sales
UK Singles Chart
|
Week |
Date |
Position |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
3 June '95 |
2 |
|
2 |
10 June '95 |
2 |
|
3 |
17 June '95 |
3 |
|
4 |
24 June '95 |
6 |
|
5 |
1 July '95 |
11 |
|
6 |
8 July '95 |
13 |
|
7 |
15 July '95 |
18 |
|
8 |
22 July '95 |
23 |
|
9 |
29 July '95 |
31 |
|
10 |
5 August '95 |
38 |
|
11 |
12 August '95 |
46 |
|
12 |
19 August '95 |
60 |
|
13 |
26 August '95 |
71 |
UK Sales Awards
|
Award |
Copies sold* |
Date |
|---|---|---|
|
Silver |
200,000 |
1 July 95 |
* Awards are based on wholesale rather than retail sales.