This Is Hardcore (song)

"This Is Hardcore" is a song by British indie band Pulp, and was released as the second single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. Written as a commentary on fame using pornography as an analogy, the song includes a sample of the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra's "Bolero on the Moon Rocks."

"This Is Hardcore"
Single by Pulp
from the album This Is Hardcore
Released9 March 1998[1]
Recorded1997
GenreAlternative rock, art rock[2]
Length6:25 (album version)
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Chris Thomas
Pulp singles chronology
"Help the Aged"
(1997)		 "This Is Hardcore"
(1998)		 "A Little Soul"
(1998)
Alternative cover
Cover of CD2

Released as a single in March 1998, the song reached number 12 in the UK and number 38 in New Zealand. It has since seen critical acclaim, as has its music video.

Background

"This Is Hardcore" was based on Jarvis Cocker's self-described "mixture of revulsion and attraction" to pornography.[3] In a 1998 interview, Cocker stated that he found it "fascinating" how, in pornography, people "need to see new faces all the time, so what happens to the older people when they've been used up and had everything done to them?"[4] He then predicted that the internet would be the "next step for porn."[4] In another interview, he explained of the song's meaning:

'This Is Hardcore' is a bit about fame, actually... I ended up watching a lot of porn - hah! - on tour. If you get back to the hotel and you've got nothing to do, you put the adult channel on and have a look... It's the way that people get used up in it. You'd see the same people in films, and they'd seem to be quite alive, and then you'd see a film from a year later and there's something gone in their eyes. You can see it, that they've done it all and there's nowhere else to go. There seemed to be something really poignant about that to me. It seemed to be very similar to the way people get used in the entertainment business.[5]

Musically, Cocker cited easy listening music, such as Tipsy and Stock, Hausen, & Walkman, as inspirations for their "creepy, profoundly uneasy listening." The song also features a sample from "Bolero on the Moon Rocks" by the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra, which Cocker recalled "jigsaw[ing] together" throughout the song.[6] Cocker explained, "It started off as an experiment. ... I was really pleased with it because I'd been thinking vaguely before doing this record to get away from the verse-chorus-verse-middle bit-double chorus-end kind of structure, but still have a melody ... we kind of achieved it on that song."[5]

Release

"This Is Hardcore" was released as the second single from This Is Hardcore on 9 March 1998. The song's selection for single release was controversial in the band. Bassist Steve Mackey stated, "I think it's got a place. To me 'This Is Hardcore' is like a challenge in song, it's a gauntlet for the rest of the year. It's like when Radiohead put out 'Paranoid Android' in 1997: here you are, deal with this."[4] Guitarist Mark Webber, meanwhile, was less approving:

"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 has been a case of Jarvis' will overriding everyone else's common sense."[4]

The single charted at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also the band's only top-fifty hit in New Zealand,[7] reaching number 38 on the RIANZ chart in April.

Music video

"This Is Hardcore" was accompanied upon release by a music video directed by Doug Nichol. The video features the members of the band alongside several other actors recreating vintage Hollywood scenes, including, in the words of writer Paul Pearson, "a sprawling Busby Berkeley dance sequence with Jarvis Cocker sullenly traipsing through a minefield of frozen-smiled dancers and way too many feathers."[8] Pitchfork Media also named its music video the 16th best of the 1990s.[9]

Reception

"This Is Hardcore" has generally seen positive reception from critics, despite its lack of commercial viability. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the song "the centerpiece of the album" and stated, "Drum loops, lounge piano, cinematic strings, and a sharp lyric create a frightening monument to weary decadence."[10] Sylvia Patterson of New Musical Express wrote, called it "possibly the creepiest single released by a commercial 'artiste' in recording history" and concluded, "It is awful. And brilliant. Preposterous, eh?"[6]

NME readers ranked the song as Pulp's sixth best in a fan vote,[11] as did Stereogum's Ryan Leas, who wrote, "[The song's parts] are alternatively some of the dirtiest and saddest sounds to ever make it into a Pulp song."[12] The Guardian named it as one of Pulp's ten best songs, writing, "It's not about sex but power, narcissism, performance and ego, and it's as grim as they come."[13]

In October 2011, NME placed it at number 120 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[14] Three years later they ranked it at number 254 on "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."[15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Mark Webber and Peter Thomas; except where indicated.

CD one and 12"
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."This Is Hardcore" (album version) 6:27
2."Ladies' Man"Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber4:44
3."The Professional"Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber5:09
4."This Is Hardcore" (End of the Line Mix) 3:02
CD two
No.TitleLength
1."This Is Hardcore" (album version)6:27
2."This Is Hardcore" (4 Hero Remix)6:25
3."This Is Hardcore" (Swedish Erotica Remix)4:59
4."This Is Hardcore" (Stock, Hausen and Walkman's Remix)5:15

"This Is Hardcore" (End of the Line Mix) is an extended version of the violin-centred instrumental section in the middle of the original song.

"This Is Hardcore" (Swedish Erotica Remix) plays the original vocals in reverse to make them sound Swedish.

Personnel

Charts

References
  1. http://pulpwiki.net/Pulp/ThisIsHardcore
  2. Snapes, Laura. "The 50 Best Britpop Albums". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  3. Plummer, Sean. "Uncommon People". Access Magazine. Acrylic Afternoons. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  4. Dalton, Stephen. "Talking Lewd!". NME. Acrylic Afternoons. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  5. Sturdy, Mark (2009). Truth And Beauty: The Story Of Pulp. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-103-5.
  6. Patterson, Sylvia (21 March 1998). "Pulp – This Is Hardcore". NME. Archived from the original on 2 October 2000. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. "Search for: pulp". Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  8. Terich, Jeff (30 March 2018). "Pulp's This Is Hardcore is still a shattering piece of work after 20 years". Treble. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  9. https://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7849-the-top-50-music-videos-of-the-1990s/4/
  10. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "This Is Hardcore – Pulp". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  11. Elan, Priya (19 August 2017). "Pulp's 10 Best Songs - As Voted By You | NME". NME. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  12. Leas, Ryan (8 August 2013). "The 10 Best Pulp Songs". Stereogum. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  13. Hewitt, Ben (24 June 2015). "Pulp: 10 of the best". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  14. https://www.nme.com/list/150-best-tracks-of-the-past-15-years/248648/page/4
  15. http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/nme_500_greatest_songs_2014.htm
  16. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  17. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15 no. 14. 4 April 1998. p. 10. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  18. "Pulp: This Is Hardcore" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  19. "Lescharts.com – Pulp – This Is Hardcore" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  20. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (23.4. – 30.4. 1998)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 24 April 1998. p. 30. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  21. "Charts.nz – Pulp – This Is Hardcore". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  22. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  23. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  24. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 100 – Vinsælustu Lögin '98". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 2 January 1999. p. 34. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
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