Party Like It's 1997

Awaiting yesterday's election results, I couldn't help but compare to the 1997 UK general election where Tony Blair and his New Labour movement came to power in a convincing landslide. It was an awesome couple of years we had there, with a government with a proper mandate and a clear ideology – even if they've later disappointed me on many counts (Iraq, ID cards, etc...), I'd still rather have them than the sleazy, obnoxious and complacent Conservatives they displaced.

Anyway, this morning I woke up and for some reason Pulp's Mis-Shapes was going around my head. When it was released, my naive 15-year-old self thought it was all about the rise of britpop/indie music and nerdy guitar bands having their day in the charts. I must have listened to it hundreds of times* without really thinking about it. Thankfully it's bubbled up into my consciousness on a wave of late 90s political memories to remind me that it's all a bit deeper than I first thought.

Listening now, of course this 1995 hit is about meaningful political change, about being sick to death of right-wing politics, about setting things right, about doing things our way:

"Brothers, sisters, can't you see? The future's owned by you and me. There won't be fighting in the street. They think that they've got us beat but revenge is going to be so sweet. We're making a move. We're making it now. We're coming out of the sidelines. Just put your hands up – it's a raid. We want your homes, we want your lives, we want the things you won't allow us. We won't use guns, we won't use bombs We'll use the one thing we've got more of – that's our minds. And that's our minds. Yeah."

Jarvis Cocker's a smart cookie. Go Listen!

* maybe thousands of times – the double A-side single was one of the only CDs I had, and the fact that you could use any CD as the soundtrack to Ridge Racer on the PlayStation meant that the song was on repeat in my life for most of that year.