This Is Hardcore by Pulp

This Is Hardcore, Pulp's sixth studio album, came out on Island on 30 March 1998, and it's the hangover after the party that was Different Class. Success had frayed the band, Russell Senior walked, and Jarvis Cocker decamped to New York on his own to clear his head and write. What he brought back was darker, more art rock than Britpop, with a glam streak and a creeping sense of dread.

Chris Thomas produced, and the sessions dragged from November 1996 to January 1998. Cocker, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks, Steve Mackey and Mark Webber lean into widescreen, cinematic arrangements, and the title track is a queasy, slow-motion epic. "Help the Aged" led the singles, with "A Little Soul" and "Party Hard" coming after. It still went straight in at number one in the UK, though it sold far less than its predecessor, and earned a third Mercury Prize nomination in a row.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.