I’m very late to the Pulp party. Growing up in the U.S., I had never knowingly heard a Pulp song until I was 32, in 2018. It was “The Fear.” If anything could sum up the feelings of being in my early 30s, this cheeky-yet all-too-relatable lyrics of this song did the trick. “And when you're no longer searching for beauty or love
Just some kind of life with the edges taken off,” was the most relatable thing I could have possibly heard at that time where I beginning the slide downhill toward middle age, in a country seemingly on the brink of fascism, on a seemingly doomed planet. Who was this band? I began to research. I found “Common People,” and was just delighted by the wit, the snark, the sarcasm. I barreled into Pulp at full force. Different Class was so relevant that I could time my ride home from work that, if I started “Mis-shapes” in the parking lot, I would pass by boss’s house at the lines, “ What's the point in being rich
If you can't think what to do with it?
'Cause you're so bleeding thick.” The album This is Hardcore became the cot I would lie upon when I became disillusioned. “Dishes” became my security blanket. Pulp came to me like a survival kit at a time when I needed it most, and I’m still listening to them 5 years later. I’ve never been able to see Pulp in concert, but I really hope to some day.