Razzamatazz – Pulp

Glastonbury 1995. Perhaps the peak of the summer of Britpop. A victory snatched from the jaws of a defeat. Sandwiched between Oasis on Friday and The Cure on Sunday the headline band on Saturday Night were supposed to be the Northern King Monkey’s The Stone Roses. The party band of all the drugged up loved up floppy hat baggy mob. They were to come, to conquor and to help everything peak.

Classic tragic tale of rock and roll decadence. The Roses had been caning it since Sally Cinnamon at the very dawn of it all. They’d signed bad contracts. Then been given millions by a major label to deliver an album that alienated the original Mad Ferrits who had put the band where they were (I prefer their second album for what it’s worth). So it came to pass The Roses fell apart the day before the gig and a new headliner was sought on the quick.

Step forward Jarvis Cocker and his road hardened polyester clad retro funsters Pulp. This band had toiled in obscurity for well over a decade before 1993’s His N’ Hers had started to catch on in the Indie discos and college radios. Classics like Babies and Do You Remember The First Time? had got the curious among us looking back into their synthy jangly back catalog. Razzmatazz is the final track on His N’ Hers. It’s a lot of fun.

Just a few weeks before Glastonbury the single from the next album Common People had gone top ten. On it’s flip side an acoustic version of the final track on their previous record. It might as well have been a book end. Small time Indie was before Glastonbury. Every smart kids favourite retro glam nerd guitar pop disco band was after and for the rest of the 90’s.

Common People may have been the break out. But things went better with a little bit of Razzmatazz