The former Pulp frontman has joined the ranks of David Attenborough and Peter Ustinov ? and become a family favourite
Last week, Jarvis Cocker finally took the professional summit that has been his for the taking for well over a decade: he became a national treasure. There may be people who have never even heard a Cocker lyric (although they must live far outside the land of pop radio). But in narrating Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf at the Royal Festival Hall last week, the former Pulp frontman has joined the ranks of David Attenborough and Peter Ustinov ? and become a family favourite. This transition is not something that Cocker can be accused of aiming at. Some of his early songs would scare the very children he was entertaining at the RFH; others flaunt a sexual frankness (such as Do You Remember the First Time?) unfriendly to radio playlists. Saccharine the man is not, however charming his current image as an Open University escapee from 1982. Yet he has the true national treasure's ability to hit a nerve: Common People and its tale of a posh art student slumming it will forever be a favourite for any TV producer after a soundtrack to summon up the mid-90s. And his bum-waggling stage invasion during Michael Jackson's Brits performance in 1996 provided a rare moment of excitement during a reliably dreary awards ceremony. Always more interesting than the rest of the class of 90s Britpop, Cocker has a range of interests in art and books that he now puts to good use on the BBC's 6 Music ("I am going to put the boringness back into Sunday," he declared when launching his show). Nice line in ties, too.
Kylie Bax Diora Baird Laura Prepon Ashley Scott Michelle Behennah
No comments:
Post a Comment