You are hardcore
You make me hard
You name the drama
and I'll play the part
It seems I saw you in some teenage wet dream
I like your get up if you know what I mean
I want it bad
I want it now
Oh, can't you see
I'm ready now
I've seen all the pictures
I've studied them forever
I wanna make a movie
so let's star in it together
Don't make a move
'til I say: "Action"
Oh, here comes the hardcore life
Put your money where your mouth is tonight
Leave your make-up on
and I'll leave on the light
Come over here babe and talk in the mic
Oh yeah, I hear you now
It's gonna be one hell of a night
You can't be a spectator - oh no
You got to take these dreams and make them whole
Oh, this is Hardcore:
there is no way back for you
Oh, this is Hardcore:
this is me on top of you
And I can't believe that it took me this long
That it took me this long
Oh, this is the eye of the storm
It's what men in stained raincoats pay for
but in here it is pure, yeah
This is the end of the line
I've seen the storyline
played out so many times before
Oh, that goes in there
Then that goes in there
Then that goes in there
Then that goes in there
And then it's over
Oh, what a hell of a show
but what I want to know:
what exactly do you do for an encore?
'Cos this is Hardcore
I think sometimes you can be turned on by something that you know is wrong. It's like that simultaneous thing of being attracted to something and also repulsed by it. People don't like to admit to being into porn; there's a certain sadness - quite rightly so, probably - and I wondered what happened to the people in the films, especially the women in the films, because there's a voracious appetite for new flesh in that industry. People get used up very quickly, and I just thought: what happens to these people five years on? Is there a way back into normal society for them, or do they just end up in a clinic?
I was never a very big fan of this song. I can appreciate that it's good work, but I never really liked it from the outset. Jarvis didn't want people to expect an album of Common People and Disco 2000. He wanted to redraw the boundaries, and recently it's been a case of Jarvis' will overriding everyone else's common sense.
This Is Hardcore is the song I'm most proud of on the album. I think it's the best song we've ever written. If only in that song alone, we've achieved enough that makes this album important to me. That song has made it all worthwhile because we've stretched ourselves, and done something that - to me - still sounds exciting one year later.
Taking it all the way down the marrowbone. Hold tight.
Now is the time of the quickening. By the way - that goes in there.
Details here.