While he was in 色色啦 last September for a two-night stand at History, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker did what any touring musician with spare time on his hands might do: he visited a local landmark.
But his itinerary didn鈥檛 include typical tourist attractions like the CN Tower or AGO or Kensington Market. During a between-song pause at the Britpop icons鈥 second History show, the big-screen backdrop showed a photo of Cocker posing inside his desired destination: which can be seen from the northbound lanes of the Don Valley Parkway between Eglinton and Lawrence.
This would make Cocker arguably the first visiting musician to willingly make a midday trip up the DVP.
鈥淲hat I tend to do聽when I’m on tour, if we’ve got a bit of time off, is I like to do a bit of exploration,鈥 Cocker explained during a Zoom call with the Star, a few weeks before the band’s Sept. 16 headlining gig at Budweiser Stage. 鈥淚 don’t really like to go shopping, so I have a look on Atlas Obscura, and it’ll show you places nearby. I saw that the tunnel was accessible, so me and (bandmate) Jason Buckle just went for a walk and saw it.鈥
When Pulp played History in 2024, they projected the DVP’s Rainbow Tunnel on the backdrop.
Stuart BermanCocker was already聽familiar with Johnson鈥檚 mural, because he鈥檚 a big fan of a painting of the painting 鈥 i.e., Scottish visual artist Peter Doig鈥檚 famous 1999 rendering of the tunnel, which fetched more than $15 million at a Sotheby鈥檚 auction in 2014. (A reproduction of Doig鈥檚 painting appears in the CD booklet for Pulp鈥檚 2002 best-of compilation, “Hits.”)
But Cocker鈥檚 act of art-inspired tourism is perfectly emblematic of Pulp鈥檚 longtime mission as a band: just as the bright colours of the Rainbow Tunnel can momentarily lift the spirits of miserable commuters stuck in never-ending traffic jams, Pulp鈥檚 music treats the humdrum concrete backdrop of everyday life as a canvas on which they present us with a more playful and stylish vision of the world.
If we are to think of the 鈥90s Britpop explosion as a chaotic “Big Brother”-esque reality show 鈥 with Oasis as the hot-mess scene stealers, Blur as their prim, preppy adversaries and Suede as the in-house drama queens 鈥 then Pulp were the eye-rolling dark-horse contenders who seemed far too smart and sophisticated to participate in the spectacle, thereby making them the ones you rooted for the most.
By the time Pulp made it to the top of the UK charts with their 1995 misfit manifesto “Different Class” and its epochal rabble-rousing anthem 鈥淐ommon People,鈥 the Sheffield band had already logged more than 15 years in the indie trenches, and brought an older sibling鈥檚 seen-it-all sense of perspective to a scene fuelled by youthful cigarettes 鈥檔鈥 alcohol hedonism (not to mention mountains of cocaine). They were also wise enough to know to bow out gracefully in 2002, when it became clear the Britpop party was over.
Earlier this year Pulp released “More,” their first album in more than two decades.
Tom Jackson鈥淲e had existed for a long time before that dreaded phrase 鈥楤ritpop鈥 was coined and we became part of it in people’s eyes,鈥 Cocker reflected. 鈥淏ut we never really felt that much part of it. I have to admit, it was exciting to be considered to be part of the scene: when it first started off, it seemed like it could be interesting, because it was slightly dodgy people getting on a mainstream stage for a short while. And it seemed like maybe that could cause some revolutionary change in the culture. But the culture is strong and it tends to sand off any rough edges, and so that’s what happened. It got blanded out, and you ended up with the Spice Girls and Robbie Williams, which was bad news for everyone.鈥
After sitting out the 2000s, Pulp reconvened for a handful of reunion dates in 2011-12, but in Cocker鈥檚 eyes, this wasn鈥檛 so much a comeback campaign as a proper victory-lap farewell for a group that had unceremoniously disbanded a decade prior.
鈥淚 felt the story of Pulp had just fizzled out,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 had moved to Paris and we lost contact with each other, and I just thought it would be nice to kind of tie it up in some way.鈥 And that鈥檚 how the Pulp story likely would鈥檝e ended, had an overzealous promoter not reached out to Cocker in 2022 and goaded Pulp into another go-round, culminating in the sold-out world tour that brought the group to History last year.
But the sheer surprise of seeing Pulp back onstage in 2024 was trumped by an even more startling development: the band had actually added new songs to the set list. And earlier this year, we received the fruits of that woodshedding experiment: Pulp鈥檚 first new album in 24 years, “More,” which magically retains the passion and panache of the band鈥檚 鈥90s classics, even as Cocker鈥檚 lyrical lens has shifted from tales of young lust and rebellion to portraits of middle-aged malaise.
Jarvis Cocker leads Pulp at the 59th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland last July.聽
Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via APBut if, at age 61, Cocker is no longer the stage-storming agent provocateur waging class war on behalf of the common people, in his eyes, writing songs about people working through the ups and downs of long-term relationships is a subversive act of protest in and of itself.
鈥淚’m still writing about the same kind of subject matter that I’ve always written about, but it’s from a different viewpoint,鈥 Cocker said. 鈥淭hat’s a bit of a recurrent theme on the record: how to keep relationships interesting. Because we live in a consumer society, and everything is about built-in obsolescence 鈥 you don’t expect something to last your whole life. You buy a fridge and you know that you’re going to buy another fridge in four years’ time. Or you always trade in your car for another model. But to make a commitment to a person and say, 鈥楻ight 鈥 I’m going to spend my life with you,鈥 that goes against that whole consumer concept, really. So it’s something that is a difficult thing to deal with 鈥 but you have to deal with it.鈥
At the very least, Cocker can rest assured that he鈥檚 cleared one major hurdle in his own marriage.
鈥淭he first person that I played the songs to as we were recording them was my wife,鈥 Cocker said. 鈥淪o I obviously had to be confident that she wasn’t going to divorce me after she heard them.鈥
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