Fact #152311
When:
Short story:
Pulp release their sixth album, Full article:
Funny business, this music lark. Women in the London underground, taking exception to the vacant Barbie on the posters advertising this album, have been scrawling out the word ‘Hardcore’ and replacing it with ‘Sexist’. A national daily quality paper says that the woman ‘looks as if’ she’s being raped. ‘Looks as if’? According to who? Might she not equally be contemplating one of the unfathomable dilemmas of quantum mechanics? Or regretting last night’s curry? Or wondering if her nail varnish matches her lipstick?
But, OK, let’s concede that the cover is sexist, not because of what it ‘looks as if’ might be happening but because it uses a woman’s sexuality to sell product. Why is it singled out when countless similar covers aren’t? And why is it singled out when those nudge-nudge bra ads smirk ‘I do two push ups every morning?’ Maybe it’s because the album title begs a graffiti response. If it was called, say, Lipstick Babe, a witty defacement would be harder come up with.
For those of you still interested in the music, This Is Hardcore got four stars in Q magazine; ditto in the Daily Mail who called it “an impressive coming of age”. Mojo agrees, calling it “the fascinating sound of Pulp getting into their stride.” In The Times it is hailed as “a challenging and theatrical masterpiece”. The Independent On Sunday reckons it will end up among “the 10 Best Albums of 1988”. The Sunday Times declares it “an impressive album, mingling refinements of their established sound with more expansive numbers.” Only The Observer seems disappointed, noting that it “lacks the crisp wit and bounce that made Pulp famous”. Me, I was intensely bored by track five but soldiered on to the end on your behalf. I doubt I’ll be playing it too often.
(Source : Johnny Black, review in Hi Fi News, July 1998)
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But, OK, let’s concede that the cover is sexist, not because of what it ‘looks as if’ might be happening but because it uses a woman’s sexuality to sell product. Why is it singled out when countless similar covers aren’t? And why is it singled out when those nudge-nudge bra ads smirk ‘I do two push ups every morning?’ Maybe it’s because the album title begs a graffiti response. If it was called, say, Lipstick Babe, a witty defacement would be harder come up with.
For those of you still interested in the music, This Is Hardcore got four stars in Q magazine; ditto in the Daily Mail who called it “an impressive coming of age”. Mojo agrees, calling it “the fascinating sound of Pulp getting into their stride.” In The Times it is hailed as “a challenging and theatrical masterpiece”. The Independent On Sunday reckons it will end up among “the 10 Best Albums of 1988”. The Sunday Times declares it “an impressive album, mingling refinements of their established sound with more expansive numbers.” Only The Observer seems disappointed, noting that it “lacks the crisp wit and bounce that made Pulp famous”. Me, I was intensely bored by track five but soldiered on to the end on your behalf. I doubt I’ll be playing it too often.
(Source : Johnny Black, review in Hi Fi News, July 1998)