This Ivor Novello Award is presented to British or Irish songwriters who have written a consistently outstanding body of work.
Awards Outstanding Song Collection
Outstanding Song Collection Do you remember the first time you heard a Pulp song? Such is the idiosyncratic genius at work within their finest tunes, that most listeners can recall that exact moment, whichever era of this most treasured of bands is involved. The band started in Sheffield as far back as 1978, but in contrast to some of today’s firework-style careers, it took them a while – and several false starts – to get going. By the late ‘80s, however, the band had a settled line-up, with keyboard player Candida Doyle, drummer Nick Banks, bassist Steve Mackey and guitarist Russell Senior alongside frontman Jarvis Cocker. Another guitarist, Mark Webber, arrived in 1995, completing the line-up that saw the band become one of the most successful of the Britpop era. Pulp had written great songs before that period – My Legendary Girlfriend, I Want You – but from 1994’s His’N’Hers album until the band’s split in 2001, they penned classic after classic, ensuring a legacy that would last long after Camden’s Britpoptastic Good Mixer pub ceased to be a tourist attraction. Many of those songs – Lipgloss, Babies, Common People, Something Changed, Disco 2000, Help The Aged, A Little Soul, Bad Cover Version and yes, Do You Remember The First Time? – became huge hits. But there was always much more to Pulp than melody; they provided a musical edge and a lyrical window on a seedy subterranean underbelly that you just didn’t get with other chart stars. That’s why their 2011 reunion was so rapturously received and why fans still long to see them back amongst us. It’s also why this prestigious Ivor is so richly deserved. And why, in the unlikely event this is the first time anyone is hearing their songwriting skills, they’ll probably never forget it.
The 2017 Ivor Novello Awards 35
