Notes

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Jarvis Cocker's update on Bryan Ferry's lounge lizard persona works because he recognizes the sleaziness beneath the style. Instead of chronicling the lives and times of jet-setting club-hoppers, Cocker sneaks into the closet of his girlfriend to watch her sister have sex, reveals a fetish for pink gloves among other things, and remembers the first time. Pulp's fake, synthetic backdrop sounds like it was constructed on bargain Casio keyboards, adding an extra layer of seaminess to Cocker's songs. That sense of cheap, faux-glamour is essential to the success of His 'n' Hers, Pulp's commercial and artistic breakthrough. It's the sound of a poor man giving up everything he has so he can act out his expensive, elegant fantasies. He may never get there, but the approximation of glamour is more appealing and compelling than the reality, which is what gives His 'n' Hers a grand tragic romanticism.