Instruction Manual: Pulp

The last time when music meant a bit more than available download was mid-nineties. In that time, two things were going on with music – a guitar revolution going back to rock’n’roll basics in America, called Grunge, and the other, similar in idea, but going on in Britain, and by the name of Brit Pop. Basically, those were two sides of the same process, in which rock music had a role to play in society for the last time, and was what people call the spokesperson of the generation. Of course, this was before the Internet.

In this time, music would also have a poetic message, which gathered people and made them stay together. Oasis gathered the most, in fields and football pitches, Blur did this on distance, by airing biggest radio hits we could here everywhere, from malls to pitches, and Pulp – well, people listened to them in the privacy of their own homes. As pop groups for the masses, Oasis and Blur gained epic size and attitude, whereas Pulp presented a ‘human face’ of Brit Pop, a way for small people to feel like somebody was speaking out for them too. Finally, they had several all-time melodies, regardless of whether we are talking about specific preferences between "Common People", Disco 2000" or "Do You Remember the First Time".

Pulp actually offered a possible Brit Pop peak – their wanted wittiness and charm, joy of life found in the things little and plain, high artistic desires hidden in a disposable form of mass entertainment. In the midst of all that, Jarvis Cocker constantly proved that it’s not hard to be both clever and fun, to lecture in college and have a pop music career, turning in time into one of the most interesting pop culture phenomena. A next-door intellectual, passionate connoisseur of British music and political history, and an unusual singer, Jarvis became a private icon – a star whose close presence doesn’t blind, but spiritualises the common man.

Back then, as the third among the great they were still the first to many, and now, there is not a single European festival who didn’t take the sudden Pulp return as an event with a special meaning. This is probably the biggest proof that Pulp, and their music is something that an unforeseen number of people take as a sign that stars in the sky can be reached.

Dragan Ambrozić, Main Stage program manager

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Poslednja vremena kad je muzika predstavljala nešto više od available downloada bila su sredinom devedesetih. U to vreme se se dve stvari dešavale sa rock muzikom - jedna gitarska revolucija ka korenima rock n roll muzike u Americi, koja se zvala grunge - i druga, slična po ideji povratka na proverene vrednosti i spontanost, a koja se dešavala u Engleskoj i zvala brit pop. U suštini, radilo se o dve strane istog procesa u kome je rock muzika poslednji put imala društvenu ulogu i bila ono što se nekad nazivalo glasnogovornikom generacije. Bilo je to, naravno, pre interneta.

U to vreme muzika je ponekad imala i poetsku poruku, oko koje su se ljudi okupljali i ostajali zajedno. Oasis su ih okupljali u najvećim brojevima na poljanama i stadionima, Blur su ih okupljali daljinski kroz neviđen niz radijskih hitova koji su se mogli čuti svuda, od robnih kuća do fudbalskih stadiona - a Pulp - e pa oni su se slušali po kućama. Oasis i Blur su kao narodne pop grupe obezbedili epsku veličinu i stav, ali Pulp su bili "ljudsko lice" brit popa, način da i mali ljudi osete da neko govori u njihovo ime - konačno, imali su nekoliko melodija za sva vremena, bez obzira da li je vaš izbor "Common People", Disco 2000" ili "Do You Remember the First Time".

Pulp su ustvari ponudili jedan mogući vrhunac brit popa - njegovu željenu duhovitost i šarm, životne radosti u malom i običnom, te visoke umetničke pretenzije skrivene u potrošnoj formi masovne zabave. U središtu svega toga, Jarvis Cocker je dokazivao da uopšte nije tesko biti pametan i zabavan, predavati na fakultetu i voditi pop karijeru, pretvarajući se s vremenom u jednu od najzanimljivijih pojava u pop kulturi. Intelektualac iz susednog ulaza, pasionirani poznavalac britanske muzičke i političke istorije, i neobičan pevač, Jarvis je postao intimna ikona - zvezda čije blisko prisustvo ne zaslepljuje, nego produhovljuje "običan svet".

Posmatrano iz prošlosti, kao treći od najvećih i dalje su za mnoge bili prvi u srcu, a posmatrano iz današnjice, ispostavlja se da nema bitnog festivala u Evropi koji iznenadni povratak grupe Pulp nije shvatio kao događaj od posebnog značaja.To je verovatno i najvažniji dokaz da su Pulp i njihova muzika nešto što neslućeno puno ljudi shvata kao važan dokaz da se zvezde sa neba mogu dotaći.

Dragan Ambrozić, Main Stage program manager