On the one hand there was Tight Fit, loincloth-favouring male/female vocal group about to take the number one spot with their lithesome re-working of Karl Denver's 'Wimoweh', where, famously, " the lion sleeps tonight". On the other there were the archetypal misfits, a Sheffield troupe called Pulp about to release their debut album with a line-up that included future Mission guitarist Simon Hinkler. Thirteen years later it's Pulp who are worrying the chart peaks. But – " Mis-shapes, misfits, mistakes" – Jarvis and friends aren't ready to forget the long years bleakly frittered away as outsiders, terminally out of place and out of cigs. For example, in I Spy, he wants nothing more than the husband of his mistress catching them at it, he longs for this big confrontation if only to force a change in his life, not caring whether the outcome of it is good or bad. Zaleski, Annie (11 May 2015). "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)". Spin. p.5 . Retrieved 6 August 2015.

Guitar [Gibson Es 345, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Firebird], Acoustic Guitar [Sigma], Keyboards [Casio Tonebank Ct-470], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Roland Juno 6] – Mark Webber All Britpop is steeped in a certain degree of English culture, but nothing quite like this. This oozes Englishness from top to toe. Jarvis' sharp and witty lyrics about every day working class northern British life are brilliant, he gives the characters he speaks about a strong sense of identity and he paints a very vivid picture of these characters surroundings and mundane lives. From supermarkets, to discos, to bars, to bedrooms, to bedsits this album has it all. Because of how English it is, it's easily relatable.The album was the winner of the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. [4] In 1997, it was ranked at number 34 out of 100 in a "Music of the Millennium" poll [27] conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q readers voted Different Class the 37th greatest album of all time; [28] a repeat poll in 2006 put it at number 85. [29] In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. [30] In 2005 it was voted number 70 in Channel 4's The 100 Greatest Albums. [31] In 2006 British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organised a poll in which 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and Different Class was placed at number 54 on the list. [32] The album was ranked at number 35 on Spin 's "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list. [33] It might be a long stretch to link this quote from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being to this specific record you are looking at. Even so, since I first heard Different Class, I have been enthralled by it without being able to pinpoint the reason for that. It is definitely not entirely out of my musical tastes, not at all actually, but I hardly ever attach so much meaning to what is essentially and primarily a collection of pop songs as I did and still do with this particular album. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. Common People' is clearly the best song of the last one thousand years, a tumult of bombast and fury underpinned by withering pathos -- "if you called your dad / he could stop it all, yeah". It's sudden flashes of a brutal real like that which set Pulp apart. What other culture redefines the 'chav' (hateful word) stereotype as owner of a bitter secret heart? What does reserve labour think of alone in its cell after lights out?

Released in 1995 at the height of the Britpop era, it is often considered an album which best defines the era and has featured at the number one position on several best Britpop albums polls, including The Village Voice, [34] BuzzFeed, [35] Pitchfork, [36] Spin. [37] Exactly twenty years on from its release, Complex magazine declared Different Class as "the most important Britpop album." [38] Having not featured in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the album was ranked at number 162 in their revised 2020 list. [39] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [40] Commercial performance [ edit ] Ali, Lorraine (18 February 1996). "Pulp, 'Different Class', Island". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016 . Retrieved 7 December 2015. Pitchfork Staff (28 September 2022). "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork . Retrieved 26 April 2023. ... Different Class, a full-length that alchemized bubblegum, glam, and luxe new wave into artful pop.Lynskey, Dorian (1 September 2006). "CD: Pulp, Different Class". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 1 September 2013. a b Sexton, Paul (20 January 1996). "Pulp Travels Toward U.S. With 'Class' ". Billboard. Vol.108, no.3. p.14 . Retrieved 21 October 2020.

Lamacq, Steve (host) (8 February 1999). "Different Class". Classic Albums of the 90s. London. BBC Radio 1. The Different Class Story. Towards the end of the proceedings here, the realization of the complete emptiness of it all, of the never ending cycles that make up your life, is even more apparent. Is this the light of a new day dawning? A future bright that you can walk in? No it's just another monday morning, we'll do it all over again. A brilliant album and one that not only captured Pulp at their absolute peak but is also one of the most important recordings ever submitted to wax in British music history. The seediness, the wink and nudge as well as the many references to taste, society and above all class make this album an essential social document of sorts and as a consequence it could be argued that their legacy is every bit as important in defining Englishness as are groups like Fairport Convention, Pentangle et al. a b Hawkins, Chris (10 April 2014). "How a Wedding Picture Ended Up on the Cover of an Iconic Britpop Album..." HuffPost . Retrieved 30 April 2014.a b Walters, Barry (March 1996). "Pulp – Different Class". Spin. Vol.11, no.12. p.108 . Retrieved 7 December 2015. Mark Webber: Gibson ES 345 guitar, Gibson Les Paul guitar, Gibson Firebird guitar, Sigma acoustic guitar, Casio Tonebank CT-470, Fender Rhodes piano, Roland Juno 6 a b c d Copsey, Rob (22 September 2020). "Mercury Prize: The best-selling winning albums". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 17 September 2018. Top tip - never buy an album just to impress someone you are desperately trying to get the attention of, it almost always ends up in disaster.

Laws, Mike (11 December 2014). "The 10 Best Britpop Albums of All Time (or At Least Since 1993 or So)". The Village Voice . Retrieved 12 January 2017. IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 1996". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 16 July 2012. Organ [Farfisa Compact Professional II], Synthesizer [Ensoniq ASR 10, Korg Trident II, Minimoog], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Roland Juno 6], Synthesizer [Roland SH-09] – Candida Doyle Goulding, Steve (2 May 1996). "Pulp: Different Class (Island)". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015 . Retrieved 7 December 2015. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? Then why do we feel it even when the observation tower comes equipped with a sturdy handrail? No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. London, England: Guinness World Records. pp.400–01. ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7. Lindsay, Cam (30 September 2020). "The 25 Best Albums of the Britpop Era". Spin . Retrieved 1 October 2020.