Thursday, August 30, 2007

Why Didn't Someone Tell Me About Pulp?

I'm not sure how, but I managed to completely miss Pulp back in the 90s.

That changed recently when I saw this clip of William Shatner covering 'Common People' with Joe Jackson and Ben Folds on the Tonight Show in 2004 (can't embed it, unfortunately).

I was watching it for the Shatner kitsch factor, but then Joe Jackson jumps in with his vocals and the song really takes off. It especially starts kicking ass when they duet.

(Take note around 2:19, when Jackson laughs a bit in reaction to Shatner over-emoting on the "everyone hates a tourist" line.)

Anyway, it rocks. I was curious about the original, which also rocks:

I'm kind of obsessed with both versions right now. I keep playing them back-to-back, then all of sudden, I see an hour has gone by.

And while I doubt I'll pick up the Shatner Has Been album, Different Class is definitely on my list.

4 comments:

Matt said...

Oddly, I picked up the version from Has Been a few months ago on iTunes after a similar what-the-hell-was-that moment on the local independent radio station, KEXP.

Joelogon said...

Hrm. iTunes, there's a thought.

Anonymous said...

I had that on my blog a few months ago... the song rocks, the band rocks.... you get the message.

Joelogon said...

Hrm. I don't think I watched that video, but I'm sure you raised my awareness of their brand (or something). -- Joe