Interesting post! I disagree, reading can always surprise you...but it's an interesting concept of understanding writing as the past tense.

the form of today's post is innovation & i like firsts.

Dan, this entire post is pretty astonishing. Way to go, man.

Brilliant.

Dan. you're lovely. No one ever writes about Pulp. I love Pulp. They're the best. So sexy. And your presentation is so innovative.
Love ya, Dan.

that's why reading a book for the first time can be the absolute best thing imaginable because, it's an entire surprise. and if you have a memory like mine, it's there to read again in several years, ready to surprise you all over.

keeep up the good work.

Pulp was coming to San Francisco, mid-'90s. I have no idea what was going on that night, but I couldn't get anyone to go with me, so I simply showed and went alone. Or maybe I went with someone dull. Either way, not my favorite way to see a show.

They were playing the Fillmore, which I thought was a little big for them. This was late '94. The set list, of course, is online. That's how I know.

Throughout, it was a mixed show. They worked hard, but the surprisingly packed crowd did not respond that much. JC (nice inits, huh?) tried to tell them how it went; he would hand off the energy to us, we were to hand it back. Good moments ('Razzmatazz', say) mixed with slack ones.

Then he launched into Common People, which as I remember had not been released. The crowd perked up a little. Mr. Cocker sang his skinny little heart out. It worked. It worked in a way I have rarely seen before or since. A crowd full of strangers who had never heard a tune before that moment responded in a wave, in that way of which I am suspicious when the response is to a band's Big Hit. Except none of them had ever heard the song before. It was electric. That moment, I was convinced Pulp were the greatest band in the universe. I was, alas, equally convinced nobody else would ever care again. When has a great song ever guaranteed anything?

That their composition became an international sensation was extremely gratifying.

Still, never as great as that one moment. I think we recognized ourselves in those lyrics, we privileged hipoisie It was our confessional.

Plus, it is an amazing tune.

So yeah, thanks for the Pulp. Nice reminder.