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A review by thebobsphere
Good Pop, Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker
5.0
For me, Pulp’s breakthrough album, A Different Class was a special record: great melodies and witty memorable lyrics. Lead singer Jarvis Cocker also gave interesting interviews to the press. Later on when Pulp split, I began following Jarvis’ equally interesting solo career.
However, I have been wanting a Jarvis Cocker autobiography for a very long time. I do know that’s he good at writing and I was sure he’d have tons of anecdotes. After all, Pulp started in the early 80’s and were a cult band until the mid 90’s then became sort of cultish after. There has to be a wealth of stories.
Good Pop, Bad Pop is that autobiography and in typical Jarvis fashion he takes a different approach.
The premise is that Jarvis Cocker is cleaning out his loft and he explains the ephemera he find’s and it’s relevance to Pulp’s history. Thus little toys take him back to his childhood. Old records and tickets display his teenage influences, the centrepiece of the collection is a notebook detailing Pulp’s manifesto which Jarvis Cocker planned out when he was 15 years old.
Elsewhere we get glimpses of his fashion tastes, why he wears glasses, Pulp’s early gigs and the shifting line up. By the end of the book it is 1988, Jarvis has been accepted to art school. Pulp’s line up is building up to the one we know today. At this point no shift to a Fire or island records, no rise to fame, the Michael Jackson incident or the messy fallout. I assume those will occur in the next volume.
Good Pop, Bad Pop is entertaining, and is very funny. Jarvis Cocker has a knack for being critical of his youthful choices and manages to get a laugh out of the reader. Presentation is great too! with tons of pictures, coloured pages, different font sizes. This is a fun book. In fact you don’t even need to be a fan of the band as Cocker’s approach is accessible. If you read one rock autobiography this year…….
However, I have been wanting a Jarvis Cocker autobiography for a very long time. I do know that’s he good at writing and I was sure he’d have tons of anecdotes. After all, Pulp started in the early 80’s and were a cult band until the mid 90’s then became sort of cultish after. There has to be a wealth of stories.
Good Pop, Bad Pop is that autobiography and in typical Jarvis fashion he takes a different approach.
The premise is that Jarvis Cocker is cleaning out his loft and he explains the ephemera he find’s and it’s relevance to Pulp’s history. Thus little toys take him back to his childhood. Old records and tickets display his teenage influences, the centrepiece of the collection is a notebook detailing Pulp’s manifesto which Jarvis Cocker planned out when he was 15 years old.
Elsewhere we get glimpses of his fashion tastes, why he wears glasses, Pulp’s early gigs and the shifting line up. By the end of the book it is 1988, Jarvis has been accepted to art school. Pulp’s line up is building up to the one we know today. At this point no shift to a Fire or island records, no rise to fame, the Michael Jackson incident or the messy fallout. I assume those will occur in the next volume.
Good Pop, Bad Pop is entertaining, and is very funny. Jarvis Cocker has a knack for being critical of his youthful choices and manages to get a laugh out of the reader. Presentation is great too! with tons of pictures, coloured pages, different font sizes. This is a fun book. In fact you don’t even need to be a fan of the band as Cocker’s approach is accessible. If you read one rock autobiography this year…….