This Is Hardcore

This cover is certainly something. Given what the other Pulp album was like, I don't expect much from this. It isn't very engaging or good, and of course devolves into creepiness on the title track. The rest of the album is tolerable, but it doesn't really pique my interest much. This album isn't considered their best, let alone one of the best of the genre, so I don't know why it's even on this list.

I cry a lot on here about how much most britpop sucks. And truly, most of it IS so profoundly mediocre, and there is so much of that britpop mediocrity is featured on this site, that it becomes really easy to forget that there are a few britpop bands that actually are worth the listen. I think Pulp is one of those. This is Hardcore is interesting pretty much the whole way through. It’s got sort of a bummer vibe, but with hooks throughout. Jarvis Cocker’s voice is not probably conventionally great, but it works. And there’s some interesting arrangements going on here. I’ll be psyched to listen to it again, which honestly hasn’t happened very often with this project. 8.5/10

Seductive Barry almost ruined it for me

Yea, again, decent music sung by a British guy who cant sing. More more more! Lame britpop. No ome outside of Britain cares about this album which I would have been nicer about a few years ago but theres been so much of it now I dont care. Sorry

😒 yeah, I’m good

Love Jarvis.

Actually very enjoyable! 7/10

Ok

This is a good one! Sunday Morning, good surprise! 💪👍 Loved it!

As the glitter of Pulp’s mid 90s convergence with Britpop faced its inevitable loss of lustre, Jarvis was facing demons of his own. From the fallout though, the band crafted the perfect record to document the times just as accurately as ‘Different Class’ had during the era’s peak. “This is the sound of someone losing the plot Making out that they're okay when they're not You're gonna like it, but not a lot” - “The Fear” The last eight words of that quote could easily be misunderstood, and they are a multi-layered summary of the entire album that work more and more depending on how many of those layers the listener is able to strip back. This is not the place for it, but there is a thesis in waiting centred solely around that line, and I for one await with baited breath, the follow up to Cocker’s ‘Good Pop, Bad Pop’ for better insight. Outside of the core meaning , ‘This Is Hardcore’ as a listen is emotionally powerful and although the songs may seem less instantly singalong than before, each is written with a strong craft Pulp had developed across their extended gestation. Track after track presents Pulp as a band who knew what they wanted to do, and exactly how to go about it successfully (though I have no idea how that relates to the actuality of the situation). What is perhaps most satisfying about the album 30 years on is that it remains a triumph taken out of context. There are so many factors that influenced the creative process at the time, but somehow listening now is still a moving and rewarding experience.

Moja najobľúbenejšia skupina v rámci žánru Brit pop...

Sets the tone during its first two notes. Vacillating between the dramatic and mundane. Incredible pacing. .

Me re gusto. hace mucho que no me gustaba uno, seguro es un 3.5, pero tambien es muy bueno asique 4 por amor. lo disfrute

Due to the album cover and name, I thought this was going to be a metal/hard rock album. Now knowing that it isnt, the cover is not very compelling. I do really enjoy the logo for Pulp though, it blends nice into the cover and its just solid. This album is awful though. The first song is AMAZING, The vocals on The Fear is so great, if the rest of the album was like that, this would have been like a 4. Unfortunately this song just makes me disapointed at what could have been. Cannot stress enough how good the first song is compared to the rest of the album. Completely uninterested in the rest, not just because it didnt fit my preconceived notions of this album, but because its just bad. Best Song: The Fear. Worst Song: Dishes.

Some girl wrecked this dude so bad he sang about doing the dishes

Definitely not hardcore. It's pretty good, but not hardcore. The vocals are an immediate feature that I dislike, and it made it slow to start. As I listened more, I found myself enjoying the general sound, but still, the vocals are repulsing to me. Though, again, the backing instruments and melodies are wonderful in many songs. Perhaps I'll listen again, and maybe I will start to like his voice, maybe I won't, but for now, I think that aspect knocks one star off, from 4 to 3.

Hadn’t heard this album before. Really enjoyed it. Now I can say I am officially a Pulp fan. This just didn’t have the cohesion of Different Class for me on the first listen, but we’ll see next time. I did appreciate the evolution of their sound and the Bowie/ glam bits. Still, Different Class is a desert island 5 album for me. This wasn’t quite that. 4 Boolean: True

Never got Pulp. This didn't change anything. The songs I like by them aren't on the massive albums that got them over in the UK. Can't say this did much for me.

Dober

The follow up to Different Class, the album that put Pulp on the map finds the band in a pretty different focus, much more introspective than social analysis. It might not hit those high heights, but it’s still great. The title track is my pick (possibly my favourite Pulp song) and embodies the album’s creepy Bond theme sound, with dramatic strings combining with scuzzy guitars and Jarvis Cocker’s typically off-beat lyricism about fame and pornography. Aside from ‘Seductive Barry’ there are no duds here for me. Just as Blur parked Esturary Britpop for a US-influenced sound, Pulp take their own homegrown tales to strange new places here, and it’s great.

Following up 'Different Class', a landmark album, was always going to be difficult. But here, Pulp have managed to follow it up with something nearly as good. The album to my ears has a more expansive sound, which I enjoy, but maintains a lot of the elements that made their previous album great. There's so many highlights, particularly in the first half. The opening track 'The Fear' gets things off to a roaring start, followed by 'Dishes', 'Party Hard' whose sound puts me in mind of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, and the excellent title track. The second half is a bit slower, but has beautiful songs like 'Sylvia' which remind you how great Britpop can sometimes be.

I've never listened to this before, which is weird. Good album!

The keyword of "boring" does this justice. Nothing original or good here.

I like Pulp and without a shadow of a doubt. Different Class deserves to be on this list but this album seems to be Pulp mixed with a bit of Blur and Oasis to attempt to be the brit-poppermost of all.

I should know better by now, but Pulp always catch me unawares. I've never realised how much I enjoy them, no matter how many times they surprise me. Great songs, great lyrics, a unique sound. They've never tried to sound like anyone else, and are so British it hurts. There's so much variety on this album, every song is a new journey. I love it.

Okay I definitely do like glam rock. Brits, however.. Let's give it a listen. Ok sounds like Star Trek. Oh ghostbusters now. Ok phantom of the opera. What am I getting myself into bruh. Oh my god. I'm gonna like it, but not a lot?? Really. Oh no. I'm starting to think I really only like glam rock because it's bowie, not because it's glam rock. Because this kinda fucking sucks. Or maybe this has inspired that sort of insipid, irreverent style of music nowadays where everything sucks. Idk. Because imo, it sucks. I am not Jesus, though I have the same initials?? Fuck you. Oh god. This is the amazing devil. Oh god. Oh no. I just know thirteen year old me would've fucked this up hard. Holy shit this sucks so bad. I really just want it to be over. It really does sound like they were sniffing glue while making this ngl. This is putting me in a bad mood ngl. Wow this is really not good. Seductive Barry. Are you yoking me right now. Wait maybe I am a man. Tiny little redeeming quality. Unfortunately outweighed by how much the rest sucks. They locked in a little bit just for the last few songs icl. Still bad though. Favourite: I'm A Man Least favourite: Dishes

Liked this more than I thought I would. Pulp is still one of my lesser-favorite of the Britpop bands (those vocals are just bad), but the music here was pretty cool, and it zipped along pretty nicely for over an hour long. Some of the lyrics are solid, too. Otherwise not too much stuck with me. Decent 3. Fave tracks: - Dishes - Party Hard - Help The Aged - This Is Hardcore - A Little Soul - Sylvia - Like A Friend

Floyd Bowie Pulp?

In 1998, I was deep into my studies as a music student in undergrad - most of my listening time was spent with classical and jazz and whatever garbage Carson was peddling on TRL. So, I missed this album and maybe that's for the best. I was pretty depressed back then and Jarvis Cocker's lyrics would have likely hit me with a force I wasn't equipped for. I immediately love this, I'm a sucker for Britpop, Art Rock, theatricality, hooks, banality. Bowie is here, Talk Talk is here, Leonard Cohen is here, XTC is here, the Kinks. The production is so wonderfully layered and not overly compressed - I especially love how the vocals are always up front - Chris Thomas is a legend. This is the kind of album with enough variety to bring you back again and again, finding a new favorite track each time you listen. But each track is truly essential to the rest, once I hit play, I'm in it for the whole album. Once I can find a copy on CD, this will be in regular rotation for me. First listen was 4-stars - second time through and I'm convinced it's a 5-star effort.

Songs were a bit long. Bowiesque vocals, interesting music... But I don't feel like I need to own this album.

The first Pulp album I've listened to. Was pretty good!

Löng plata, en algjörir bangerar í bland við mjög solid stöff. Team Pulp hér á þessum bæ, og takk fyrir mig.

Pulp have style, they're fun, they make me nostalgic, Jarvis is a good front man with good taste. But what about the songs?

Poco hardcore para ser hardcore. Canción fav: Sylvia Lo volvería a escuchar? se

Musically, I can get behind most of this, but the lyrics here are absolutely atrocious at times. Maybe I'm just not as perpetually horny as Jarvis Cocker. By the time this released, Brit Pop was already well on its way out. Critics seemed to like it. Maybe I'm missing something here. 5/10

This is an odd one. Kinda creepy, This Is Hardcore gives off older 80s style Britpop with a 90s flair. The vocals are mostly whispered and give off a definite stalker vibe. But despite that I kinda liked it overall. I feel like I drifted in and out of this album. I'd lose focus, then some catchy melody or guitar riff would bring me back in. Standouts were "Help The Aged" "A Little Soul" and "Seductive Barry" I didnt like it enough for it to break above a 3/5, but it was pretty alright.

“I am not Jesus though I have the same initials” is a very funny lyric to me. I don’t know why it got me so bad. This album is really good. It pretty much sounds like if David Bowie’s prime was the 90s. I like it a lot.

2.5

A middling 90s rock album that borrows too much from early glam rock era Bowie and T. Rex. Not enough originality. Lyrics are fairly atrocious. And with the exception of "Help the Aged", the subject matter was the kind of juvenile ideas that only a 12 year old could appreciate. A better 1998 album that never made the list and was more forward thinking in both sound and lyrics was VAST's VAST (Visual Audio Sensory Theater). I would recommend that album instead of another middling Brit Rock album from the 1990s.

This album makes me feel smarter than I am

Disappointing - nothing stood out - not sure this is a great album.

2.5

I’m sure it’s someone’s cup of tea …. Just not mins

c'est vraiment basic album 90, ça reste bien qd meme

9/22/26. Think I found this album too late. Really good songs and lyrics, but think I would've appreciated this more when I was getting into the big "Britpop" bands when I was younger. A bit predictable, but still enjoyable.

Great album. They manage to sound fresh while doing stuff that's been around for a long time.

this is awful

Neat

I’ve tried but I just can’t get into pulp

Like Pulp. This is a jump off from the glitz album, a fairly dark maybe seedy album, the voices in the songs aren’t you grandstanding rocker for sure and sort of cinematic in that kitchen sink way. Yeah the Bowie thing filters in and out. Always got time for Pulp of the so called Britpop bands. 4 Star

½★

No

#449 Pulp This is Hardcore 1998 I’m not actually sure I’ve listened to this before but there are a few I know as singles. There is a definite Bowie feel to this album, and also it’s rather cinematic in feel. It’s perhaps a touch long but I don't think it outstays its welcome. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ✅ Listen before you die? ✅ Fave track(s): I’m a Man; Glory Days Rating: 7/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

feels nostalgic to listen to. i liked the guitar on this a lot

Another gorgeous album cover Title is a bit misleading But overall I had a good time :)

I gave it 4 for Isaac. I liked it. But it didn't sweep me away. Some cute moments though. Like Seductive Barry

Trop bien, à réécouter un max

Awesome.

yeah duh of course i like this, it was already in my music library.  i really like pulp a lot and i'm not a bit sorry about that.  i like overly theatrical british music where someone is pretending to be sexy while at the same time telling you just how unsexy they are in no uncertain terms.  i do skip seductive barry, an overly long song i've never enjoyed, but it's still a 5/5 for this listener

The most misleading cover of all time

selv de gode albums i den her genre er en krig at komme igennem, efter det her projekt tager jeg en LANG pause fra britpop

Ville ønske vi havde haft flere britpop plader med så meget støj!

Cool album.

This is Pulps cocaine album, a bit too long and a bit too much filler not enough killer

Upon seeing the title, I thought the album was going to be way noisier than it was - good. Some of the songs were fine. I liked the first track and songs like Party Hard. It has a kind of gothic, sometimes The Cure-like, vibe to it in some parts.

england

Not bad. Needs another listen

I a core memory of Pulp performing a preview of the track ´This is Hardcore’ on Top of the Pops. I can imagine the conversation… ´Yeah, the track is just like Common People… No, you don’t need to hear it first…´… Cue a 7.30pm performance with hand gestures to accompany ´and that goes in there…´ The album is generally great, though it does tail off in the second half a bit. The title track, The Fear, Dishes, Help the Aged are up there with their best work. Kudos for having a track called ´Seductive Barry’.

This still holds up and probably my favourite in Pulp’s discography. Nihilistic but with the satirical bent that Cocker’s lyrics bring to it. Brilliantly instrumented and I really like that it isn’t afraid to go off on a tangent rather than sticking to the standard verse/chorus. The title track is a great example of this with the coda being possibly the pinnacle of the album.

I had heard they were the third wheel of the Oasis/Blur Brit pop duality, but I liked it. Might not return to it too often, but it was good.

It's alright. I don't like the general slowness and whinyness but it has some good parts.

Tolles Album, mir gefällt der Sound!

Gleichförmiger Britpop.

This is the one album I don’t really know, but enjoy every time I hear it. It has less antics and just straight vibes.

This is hard work

Jarvis leading a sweaty, chaotic dance around my existential bonfire. It's a sultry, sprawling melodrama that builds like a storm. Spins: 3 Playlist Additions - The Fear - Dishes - Help the Aged - This Is Hardcore - A Little Soul

será que os caras passaram quanto tempo absorvendo a alma do bowie pra fazer esse?? pqp é incrivelmente parecido dito isso, achei meio mid pra baixo, mas nunca gostei de pulp

não eh surpresa que eu gosto MTO de pulp esse aqui eh mais puxadim prum glam rock, né. esse fim da era britpop deixou as bandinha tudo perdida. PORÉM, o pulp não errou não, conseguiu seguir numa linha bem bacana e condizente com a SAFADEZA deles (mesmo que seja vista de forma ruim nesse aqui). ENFIM, sou clubista, logo, achei pedradaça. melódico, bonito e maduro. bão demais

4/5

woof. oscillated between 2 and 3 here, although it pulled me at times beyond either number. shades of sexy emo ugly. definitively not hardcore. sucker for the closer.

#89 Darker and edgier than most other Britpop. Lots of variety in sound, there is definitely an art-rock influence here. Not the biggest fan of the singer's voice and delivery, and it is a bit too long, but overall I liked this. Highlights: The Fear, Dishes, Help The Aged, TV Movie, Sylvia

I don't like it as much as Different Class, mainly because I think it drags on in places. That said, I do indeed like it.

Meh... it's not totally awful but feels really pretentious. Much of this sounds like Bowie glam-era worship. When it's not trying to do that it just kinda stinks in a boring way. I'm not hearing much I'd consider Britpop at all. It's mostly listenable, but doesn't bring anything new to the table so I'd just rather put on some Bowie if I was in the mood for this.

Probably enjoyed this more than the rating indicates

Honestly, pretty chill

Pulp strikes me as a fitting band name here - I also would have accepted Crap Artist. Mainly due to Cocker‘s atrocious vocal performance of all things pretentious and douchey.

been wanting to get into pulp lately cause common people went doube, triple, quadraple and all that platinum in my household this album is just okay though, some of the last songs are gems for me (tv movie, im' a man and sylvia) overall panic at the disco vibes if you're into that then u should like it

heel medium, david bowie achtig maarja dat vind ik ook niet heel geweldig

Hade inte jättehöga förväntningar, bland annat pga titel och omslag, men jag blev positivt överraskad. Ok+, svag fyra.

Fel pulpskiva, och helvete va lång den både var och kändes

Det var fett ball? Tror jag... Fuck hann bara lyssna en gång, men tror det var fett bra!

picks: Fear, Like a Friend

hated it

Liked it. A bit too long.

5/10 Best songs: This Is Hardcore, I'm A Man Though there are a couple truly excellent songs on this album, the rest are mid at best. It's a very average late-90s/2000s Britpop album, with Jarvis Crocker's godawful voice truly rubbing it in (because if there's one representative aspect of 90s Britpop it's the ubiquity of vocalists with unique voices who are curiously incapable of singing). Anyways, is this an album you should listen to before you die? Lol, no.

This was at times hard to listen to and at times just ok enough for me to enjoy the song.

Lite för enahanda. Låter lite Bowie när han inte är på topp. Ännu en lång skiva som skulle må bra av att kortas ner lite. 2,5 av 5.

Yet another example that there can be good britpop, thanks lads The title track is just monumental Now that I've gotten to Seductive Barry, I think it's unfair to pigeonhole this into the britpop label, it's an impressive record, a treatise on malaise

Bien, le podria dar 2 o 3. Nada q me cambie la vida, pero tampoco me jodio escucharlo. Interesante la banda.

I didn’t like this quite as much as I liked Different Class. But the songwriting is still smart, and the sound is still distinctive. What a great band!