Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker

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Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker: Episode 3

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker, Episode 3

Pulp rehearse in Jarvis’s grandparents’ front room before their first concert.

After a period of rehearsing in Jarvis’s grandparents' front room, Pulp play their first concert at school during lunchtime, wearing homemade costumes.

Jarvis Cocker  delves into the contents of his loft and considers each item before deciding whether to keep or cob (throw away) and, in doing so, explores the origins of his creativity and what exactly makes good pop work and why bad pop fails. 

This inventory takes the form of a coming of age memoir revisiting Sheffield in the1980s against the backdrop of the miners strikes and rising unemployment. With the aid of a collection of 1980s pop objects and a gallery of interesting shirts, Jarvis charts the early days of the band Pulp, from the humiliation of a concert in the school hall at lunchtime to an invitation to record a session for John Peel. This period of his life, living in a disused factory while trying to get the band off the ground, comes to a sudden end after a disastrous stunt to impress a girl changes his life - and his attitude to music making.

Jarvis Cocker grew up in Sheffield in the 1960s and 70s, founding the band Pulp with his friends while he still was at City School despite not being able to play an instrument. The band went on to perform regularly in local venues in the 1980s until eventually they found fame in the 1990s with the success of the single Common People, which made their name, and the albums His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995). 


Good Pop, Bad Pop
Written and read by Jarvis Cocker 
Abridged by Isobel Creed and Jill Waters
Produced by Jill Waters 
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4

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Jarvis Cocker explores what exactly makes good pop work and why bad pop fails.

Book of the Week. Jarvis Cocker delves into the contents of his loft, exploring the origins of his creativity and what exactly makes good pop work and why bad pop fails.

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