The earliest exposure to Pulp I can recall is 2013, as I religiously listened to the soundtrack for the ‘The World’s End’ movie (hadn’t even seen the film at the time, I was just fascinated by everything to do with it as it was predominantly filmed in a neighbouring town) and lo & behold Do You Remember The First Time is featured on the tracklist. I credit that Br*tp*p-filled soundtrack as having almost entirely curated my teenage music taste (Blur, The Stone Roses etc etc) but I didn’t dive any deeper into the band’s catalogue at the time, the song came and went through my little head.
Flash forward to I wanna say 2018, I was sat in my parents’ car when Disco 2000 came on the radio. I’d been watching the show White Gold which features Laura Brannigan’s ‘Gloria’, and Disco 2000 interpolates it - and my silly brain exploded! Went on a full Different Class bender, eventually expanding to the other 2 “core” albums (reunited with Do You Remember The First Time!!!).
Flash forward to 2021, I’m at the Standon Calling festival watching Hot Chip, suddenly Mr Cocker appeared on stage for a song. I soon after bought tickets to see the JARV IS tour. Come November, I was stood outside the Albert Hall in Manchester at 4pm desperate to be right at the front of the barrier. I, along with 2 others (who I didn’t catch the names of!!! Hope you’re reading this) were the only people there for about 2 hours.
My obsession with the band stayed burning, just slightly in the background as I came to terms with the fact I wouldn’t ever be seeing them live.
UNTIL:
That Instagram post. You know the one!!! Kicked fully back into gear & with 2 tour date tickets under my belt, I went into this summer giddy and came out the other side with a lifetime of memories and some great friends (shoutout Susie and Heather and Ester!!!)