Oxymoron (band)

He was playing on the following tour through Europe ("Spirit of the Streets" - with Pistol Grip and the Beltones) as well, which was to be the last one so far. They brought out a greatest hits package: Hits and organised a music festival: Auto (held at Rotherham's Magna centre) where they played their last gig before embarking on a temporary hiatus from the music industry. Davey, actually the driver, offered to do the job and saved the day. In 2002 the band announced they were leaving their label, Island. But the guitarist who was finally found there left again while the "Chaos across the Nation" US-Tour was going on, leaving the band stranded overseas.. Produced by Scott Walker, it was a much happier and more popular album than Hardcore. In the meantime the headquarters had been moved to Berlin, where everybody lived now. Pulp then spent a few years in the wilderness before reappearing in 2001 with a new album, We Love Life, symbolising another new phase in Cocker and Pulp's development.

Unfortunately Martin, an original member, had left the band having offspring, and so Chrissy once again stepped in temporarily. Pulp also collaborated with Patrick Doyle on the song "Like A Friend" for the soundtrack to the movie Great Expectations. Europe- and especially Germany - was recently toured as well, with a different line-up though. Many of the fans who had so enjoyed the happier, more amusing and light-hearted approach of Different Class were somewhat turned off by the darker tone of the new record. Six weeks on the road from coast to coast, this "Pure Punk" tour was played side by side with Dead Empty, The Boils and The Forgotten. The fallout of all of this, and the ensuing depression induced by finding the one thing he'd been after all his life (fame) and then deciding that it wasn't really up to much, was the subject matter of the follow-up album This Is Hardcore: a trawl through the seedy world of Soho, which during its more navel-gazing, depressed-singer-in-a-hotel-room moments stylistically approached Pink Floyd's The Wall. So they withdrew for a couple of months in order to work on it, and recorded what was going to be called "Feed the breed" in the summer of 2001 (which is available in Europe since november already and will be out on GMM Records in the USA this april), just before returning to the States again. Cocker was also having difficulty with the celebrity lifestyle, resulting in the breakup of a long-term relationship.

But the time was also right for the OXY's to put out a "real" new album as well. It was during this period of intense fame that long time member and major innovator in the band's sound, Russell Senior, decided to call it a day to spend time with his family (and out of the tabloid press). In the fall of 2000 the compilation "Best before 2000" was released by Knock Out Records (and Cyclone Records in the States) because of the demand for the sold out 7"es and rare material - including all the singles and stuff from various comps. This incident propelled Cocker into even greater notoriety in the UK, and having spent the last 15 years trying to be famous, he grabbed the attention with both hands. Chrissy left the band after the tour to have more time for his own project and fortunately Morpheus showed up. But domestic attention was never really equaled in the rest of the world, and if Pulp are known beyond the UK at all it is perhaps more likely the result of Cocker's antics at the infamous 1996 Brit Awards, when he invaded the stage in protest during Michael Jackson's performance (for which he spent the night in the cells on the ungrounded charge of having injured some of the children that Jackson was "healing"). This seven weeks coast-to-coast affair in the company of the Dropkick Murphys (with whom another split-single had been done) and the Ducky Boys turned out to be a great success and should become one of the best things they had done so far. saw the opportunity to steal the crown, and "Common People" was arguably the stand-out single of the year, if not the decade.

As a four-piece again the Oxy's set out in '99 on a full scale attack on various countries of Europe, playing more gigs than ever before as well as touring the whole USA. While Blur and Oasis were fighting it out over which band were the true kings of Britpop, Jarvis Cocker and co. So without further ado Chrissy stepped in, who temporarily had been a second guitarist and used to play bass on the first US tour already. This album, with its disco-infused pop-rock, and the trademark sordid yet witty lyrics about sexual encounters and working class life, is for most fans what Pulp are about. And last but not least Arne left the band just weeks before the recording sessions for the "Westworld" mini-album were supposed to be. 1995 saw the peak of Pulp's fame, with the release of their No.2 UK Hit single "Common People", their much loved performance at the Glastonbury festival (standing in for the Stone Roses at the last minute) and their Mercury award winning album Different Class (the first album featuring Pulp fan-club president Mark Webber, who became a permanent member of the band on guitar and keyboards). Besides Sucker had to go to hospital for a while due to a nervous damage and everything slowed down. This sudden increase in popularity was certainly helped by the massive media interest in a new wave of Britpop ushered by the likes of Suede and Blur, the latter of which Pulp supported on a US tour in 1994.

1998 didn't mean it good with the Oxy's and they had to take few blows, because some tours planned for a long time were cancelled just weeks before or had be called off for some reasons. These were followed by the Ed Buller produced album His 'n' Hers which reached No.9 in the UK charts, and which, sonically, was not a million miles away from Suede. The most exciting tour however was to come in summer of '97, when they had the chance to play in Japan for almost three weeks (along with the Discocks), and certainly went for it. Island Records then released the singles "Do You Remember the First Time" and "Lipgloss", to modest chart success. Roughly one year later their second long-player "The Pack is back" was consequently released by Knock Out, and it smoothed the way for the band when they hit the road in various countries of Europe again. The three singles released on Gift were later compiled on the album Intro which was released when they were signed up by Island Records. Mosch from Knock Out Records had become an ever-present companion of the band, who was running his label for some years already and had done much good for the streetpunk scene with his publications, so they decided to sign to him. Fire attempted to capitalise on this by finally releasing Separations.

This was a chaotic two odd weeks affair along the East Coast together with Braindance and the Casualties, which went down very well for them after all. Frustrated that Separations still hadn't been released, Pulp signed to Warp Records imprint Gift Records in 1992. In the spring of 1996 the "Crisis Identity" single was released on Arne's and his wife's short-lived label Rough Beat Records, followed by the band's first trip to the USA. In the meantime, however, in 1991, a 12" recording - "My Legendary Girlfriend" became music periodical The NME's single of the week, and it was this that ushered Pulp's first steps towards fame. Thus they played a lot at the Oi! festivals that were taking place again more and more often in the meantime, with the likes of Cock Sparrer, Angelic Upstarts, Major Accident, Test Tube Babies etc. Like Freaks, its release was delayed, to an extent lessening the potential impact. Since OXYMORON always were a mixed band and stood for unity between the tribes both punks and skins attended their shows from the very beginning. This album, Separations, was a progression of the style of Freaks, with Leonard Cohen-esque ballads on side one and a more disco / Acid House infused track-listing on side two.

With their pal Arne joining in a few weeks later and taking over the bass, they seized the opportunity and started gigging abroad, too, as well as in Germany, where they had been touring twice in the company of Braindance (with whom a split-single was released at the same time, named "Mohican Melodies"). They recorded another album for Fire after a separate deal fell through. The response and reviews Oxymoron received for this album were more than anyone ever had expected and lots of fanzines and indie music mags became attentive all over the place. The fold was short-lived however, and a new line-up, consisting of Cocker, Senior, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks (drums) and Steve Mackey (bass) emerged. The band paid the studio from their own money that they somehow managed to raise, but it was well worth it. This gave Cocker ample time to consider his direction, and when, later, Freaks failed to be a success, Pulp folded, with Jarvis going off to London to study film. "Fuck the Nineties - Here's our Noize", as it was eventually called, had to be recorded as a three-piece because Filzlaus left after one tour and couldn't be replaced immediately. It was during this mid-80s period that Cocker fell out of a window while trying to impress a girl, and ended up in hospital, and temporarily wheelchair-bound.

This single finally came out in early '94 and was subsequently reissued by Bob Burridge from Helen Of Oi! Records, who had picked it up and apparently liked it since he offered the band a record deal for a full-length album as well. It is either loved or hated by fans, and might be considered the antithesis of the happy and optimistic It. Practising in a mouldy former beer cellar which they called the Oxyfactory the time was right in the summer of '93 for recording their debut-ep "Beware, poisonous!" which they produced and released off their own bat (on the provisional "Oxyfactory Records" label, that never put out any further records). Its release ended up being delayed for a year, and the record was not well received. After this show they got offered some gigs as support for more established acts all over Germany. These releases were followed by an album, Freaks in 1986, recorded in one week due to pressure from the label. Originally coming from Erlangen / Nuernberg - Germany their first real appearance was at the annual punk festival in their home town along with other local bands. These tracks were much darker in tone than those on It, and often veered towards the likes of The Fall.

Mostly influenced by early Eighties' punk and Oi! stuff it was quite obvious what it would sound like in general, but it was a long way until they finally made it on stage. Following her first performance with the band, they were signed to a label called Fire Records, and began to record a number of singles that were later released as the compilation album Masters of the Universe. The main intention behind it all was to have a laugh and to get the kind of music across they were into, and since the early Nineties didn't seem to have a lot of punk let alone skinhead bands being around anymore they felt an urge to get out and do it themselves to keep it going. Having survived a number of ill-fated gigs, Allcard left to be replaced on keyboards by Doyle's sister Candida. Formed by Sucker and his drumming cousin Bjoern and completed by their mates Martin on the guitar and Filzlaus on the bass the original line-up needed a couple of years and various efforts to see the light of the day under the name OXYMORON. The three of them established a new, more experimental, artier, and noisier direction for Pulp, and were subsequently augmented by Peter Mansell (bass) and Tim Allcard (keyboards, saxophone, poetry).
Oxymoron was called into being in late 1992 actually, although the roots of the band go back further to the fall of 1989. He was all set to throw the towel in and go to university, when he decided to hold a practice with Russell Senior (violin, guitar, vocals) and Magnus Doyle (drums).

Please format this article according to the guidelines laid out at Wikipedia:How to edit a page, then remove this notice. But fame was still not knocking, and Cocker was becoming unhappy with his chosen musical direction, especially after being forced to cut a single in the style of the then prevalent pop-group Wham!. This music article needs to be wikified. This largely consisted of jangly, happy-go-lucky, folkish, romantic pop tunes, and was a change of direction from the Peel Sessions. For help, see How to Edit a Page and the Style and How-to Directory. They managed to get enough local backing to record a mini-album in late 1982 entitled It. After the article has been cleaned up, you may remove this message. A new set of musicians was gathered: Simon Hinkler (who later joined The Mission and produced All About Eve), David Hinkler, Wayne Furness, Peter Boam, Gary Wilson, and Cocker's sister, Saskia.

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality. Despite the exposure on national radio, success was not forthcoming, and most of the then line-up left for university. Amazingly they landed a Peel Session, and the tracks they recorded were pretty much in the typical Sheffield sound of the time (cf. Human League, Comsat Angels) - sort of electronic new wave. They played their first proper gig at Rotherham Arts Centre in July 1980, and made a demo tape the following year which they gave to the DJ John Peel. The first line-up was Cocker, David Lockwood (musician), Mark Swift and Peter Dalton, though this soon disintegrated into a fairly un-set membership of Cocker and whoever else was around at the time.

They are most famous in the UK, where their blend of disco-influenced pop-rock coupled with the amusing down-to-Earth kitchen-sink lyrics of lanky, rubber-limbed front-man Cocker, saw them become popular during the mid 1990s. They were originally known as "Arabacus Pulp", but this was soon shortened.
The pop group Pulp were formed in Sheffield, England, in 1978 by then 15-year-old school-boy Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar). Mark Sturdy, Truth & Beauty: The Story of Pulp (Omnibus Press, 2003) - comprehensive biography.

April 2002 "Bad Cover Version" #27. October 2001 "Sunrise/The Trees" #23. September 1998 "Party Hard" #29. June 1998 "A Little Soul" #22.

March 1998 "This is Hardcore" #12. November 1997 "Help the Aged" #8. April 1996 "Something Changed" #10. December 1995 "Disco 2000" #7.

October 1995 "Mis-Shapes/Sorted for E's and Wizz" #2. June 1995 "Common People" #2. June 1994 "The Sisters EP" (Babies / Your Sister's Clothes / Seconds / His 'n' Hers) #19. April 1994 "Do You Remember the First Time" #33.

November 1993 "Lipgloss" #50. Hits - greatest hits compilation (2002) #71 UK. Countdown 1992-1983 (1996) #10 UK. Masters of the Universe - non-album singles compilation (1994).

Intro - non-album singles compilation (1993). We Love Life (2001) #6 UK. This Is Hardcore (1997) #1 UK, #114 US. Different Class (1995) #1 UK.

His 'n' Hers (1994) #9 UK. Separations (1991). Freaks (1986). It (1983).