60 Songs That Explain the '90s

Pulp—“Common People”

Mar 24, 2021
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INSIGHT

An Anthem, Not Irony

  • "Common People" is a deliberately earnest, anthemic class critique rather than ironic Britpop posturing.
  • Jarvis Cocker wrote it as a committed class anthem that ventilation real anger and observation.
INSIGHT

Privilege Can't Be Cosplayed

  • The song targets a posh woman who fetishizes working-class life and will never truly understand it.
  • The lyric exposes how privilege lets her pretend and then retreat while others remain trapped.
ANECDOTE

Trust Funds Versus Stuck Lives

  • Nick Banks recounts encountering southern toffs in London who could always "call in the trust fund and bugger off."
  • That contrast stuck with Jarvis and fed the song's anger at unequal options.
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