Editing Different Class (section)

==Critical reception==
{{Music ratings
| subtitle = Initial reviews (in 1995/1996)
| rev1      = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
| rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/05/02/pulpdifferent-class-island-star-star-star-12pulp/ |title=Pulp: ''Different Class'' (Island) |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=2 May 1996 |access-date=7 December 2015 |last=Goulding |first=Steve |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919073248/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-05-02/features/9605020253_1_pulp-jarvis-cocker-brit-awards |archive-date=19 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev2      = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|4}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-18-ca-37266-story.html |title=Pulp, 'Different Class', Island |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=18 February 1996 |access-date=7 December 2015 |last=Ali |first=Lorraine |author-link=Lorraine Ali |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306203353/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-18/entertainment/ca-37266_1_album-review |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev3      = ''[[NME]]''
| rev3score = 8/10<ref name="NME19951028" />
| rev4      = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="QDec95" />
| rev5      = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="RS19960404" />
| rev6      = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
| rev6score = {{rating|5|5|full=U+25A0.svg|empty=U+25A1.svg|rating=medal}}<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Roy|last=Wilkinson|url=https://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2011/12/differentclass.jpg|title=New Albums|magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|date=December 1995|page=100|access-date=10 December 2024|author-link=Roy Wilkinson}}</ref>
| rev7      = ''[[Smash Hits]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Gill|last=Whyte|url=https://sites.google.com/view/smash-hits-remembered-1994-5/home/1995/441-25th-october-7th-november-1995|title=Albums: Best New Album|work=[[Smash Hits]]|date=25 October 1995|page=65|access-date=1 March 2025}}</ref>
| rev8      = ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''
| rev8score = 9/10<ref name="SpinMar96" />
| rev9      = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev9score = A−<ref name="VV19960409" />
}}
{{Album ratings
| subtitle = Retrospective reviews (after 1995/1996)
| rev1      = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Allmusic">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/different-class-mw0000182602 |title=''Different Class'' – Pulp |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=25 July 2010 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}</ref>
| rev2      = ''[[The Guardian]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/sep/01/popandrock.shopping5 |title=CD: Pulp, ''Different Class'' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |date=1 September 2006 |access-date=1 September 2013 |last=Lynskey |first=Dorian}}</ref>
| rev3      = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev3score = 9.3/10<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22054-different-class/ |title=Pulp: ''Different Class'' |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=3 July 2016 |access-date=3 July 2016 |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds}}</ref>
}}

''Different Class'' received widespread acclaim from music critics in the UK. In the ''[[NME]]'' John Mulvey summarised the record as "funny, phenomenally nasty, genuinely subversive, and, of course, hugely, flamingly POP!... ''Different Class'' is a deft, atmospheric, occasionally stealthy and frequently booming, confident record."<ref name="NME19951028">{{cite magazine |last=Mulvey |first=John |url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000043reviews.html |title='Class' A |magazine=[[NME]] |page=52 |date=28 October 1995 |access-date=7 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001013070201/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000043reviews.html |archive-date=13 October 2000 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[[Melody Maker]]'' awarded the album its star rating of "bloody essential", and its critic [[Simon Reynolds]] observed that "the album's title alone announces that Cocker's broadened his scope, has another axe to grind: social antagonism", and stated that Pulp was "not so much the jewel in Britpop's crown, more like the single solitary band who validate the whole sorry enterprise".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |title=Working-Class Heroes |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |page=37 |date=28 October 1995}}</ref> In ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' Robert Yates felt that "the range of ''Different Class'' is impressive: tracks such as ["Live Bed Show" and "F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E."] render more redundant than ever the view of Pulp as kitsch",<ref name="QDec95">{{cite magazine |last=Yates |first=Robert |title=Quotable |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=111 |page=142 |date=December 1995}}</ref> while in ''[[Vox (magazine)|Vox]]'' Keith Cameron awarded the album eight out of ten and wrote that "no other Pulp album of recent years froths around the mouth so unselfconsciously... Pulp have managed to elevate their grandiose, popoid vision-thing to new and greater heights, without crashing into the realms of extreme fantasy."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Keith |last=Cameron |title=Polyester day once more |magazine=[[Vox (magazine)|Vox]] |issue=62 |pages=112–13 |date=December 1995}}</ref> In ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' [[Bob Stanley (musician)|Bob Stanley]] stated, "You'd have to be a fool or a low-fi obsessive not to concede that it's easily the closest that Pulp have come to realising their potential... ''Different Class'' is curiously sparse yet lush enough in all the right places, warm and soulful where unnecessary electro-clutter used to be", and concluded, "Arguments about Blur versus Oasis are irrelevant. Pulp are in a different class."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Bob |last=Stanley |author-link=Bob Stanley (musician) |title=Let Them Eat Cocker |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |issue=24 |page=108 |date=November 1995}}</ref> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' ranked the album at number one in its end-of-year list of the 50 best albums of 1995.<ref>{{cite journal|title=50 Albums of the Year|journal=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|date=January 1996|issue=67|pages=78–79|url=http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2012/03/50albums.jpg|access-date=13 January 2017}}</ref>

''Different Class'' was released in the US on 27 February 1996,<ref name="Billboard"/> and received equally enthusiastic reviews from American critics. [[David Fricke]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' called it "a brilliant, eccentric, irresistible pop album about fucking and fucking up... The record is rife with sexual combat and bitter recrimination." He concluded, "Even in a truly classless society, sex separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the romantics from the mere runters. ''Different Class'' is the sound of Jarvis Cocker keeping score – with delicious accuracy."<ref name="RS19960404">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pulp/albums/album/125517/review/5941861/different_class |title=Pulp: ''Different Class'' |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=731 |pages=61–62 |date=4 April 1996 |access-date=7 December 2015 |last=Fricke |first=David |author-link=David Fricke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080929030416/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pulp/albums/album/125517/review/5941861/different_class |archive-date=29 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Robert Christgau]] wrote in ''[[The Village Voice]]'' that "1996 won't produce a more indispensable song than "Common People", and described the album as neither Blur nor Oasis, but "[[Culture Club]] with lyrics... Smart and glam, swish and het, its jangle subsumed beneath swelling crescendos or nagging [[keyboard instrument|keybs]] and its rhythms steeped in rave".<ref name="VV19960409">{{cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv396-96.php |title=Consumer Guide |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |location=New York |date=9 April 1996 |access-date=7 December 2015 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}</ref> In ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' Barry Walters described the album as "songs about naughty infidelities, sexless marriages, grown-up teenage crushes, twisted revenge fantasies, obsessive voyeurism and useless raves; songs that demand your full attention and deserve it".<ref name="SpinMar96">{{cite magazine |last=Walters |first=Barry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBPGqtlp_kUC&pg=PA108 |title=Pulp – ''Different Class'' |magazine=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |volume=11 |issue=12 |page=108 |date=March 1996 |access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref>

===Legacy===
In a retrospective review, [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of [[AllMusic]] declared that ''Different Class'' "blows away all their previous albums, including the fine ''[[His 'n' Hers]]''. Pulp don't stray from their signature formula at all – it's still grandly theatrical, synth-spiked pop with new wave and disco flourishes, but they have mastered it here. Not only are the melodies and hooks significantly catchier and more immediate, the music explores more territory&nbsp;... Jarvis Cocker's lyrics take two themes, sex and social class, and explore a number of different avenues in bitingly clever ways. As well as perfectly capturing the behavior of his characters, Cocker grasps the nuances of language, creating a dense portrait of suburban and working-class life."<ref name="Allmusic" /> Writing about the album in 2011, [[BBC Music]] stated that "over 15 years since its release [it] continues to reward the listener with some of the smartest, slinkiest, sauciest, spectacular pop songs of a decade that was, looking back, not that brilliant once the bucket hats and ironic anoraks are whipped away."<ref name="BBCMusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/pjnv |title=Review: Pulp – ''Different Class'' |publisher=[[BBC Music]] |date=2011 |access-date=1 September 2013 |last=Diver |first=Mike}}</ref>

''[[PopMatters]]''{{'}} retrospective review in 2004 opined that "nearly nine years after its release, ''Different Class'' has aged very well, possessing that timeless quality that is present in all classic albums, but is still obviously a product of its time, a snapshot of mid-'90s life in the UK. Along with Blur's ''[[Parklife]]'', it remains the high point of the Britpop era; music, lyrics, production, artwork, it's as perfect as it gets."<ref name="PopMattersMay2004">{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/pulp-differentclassmft/ |title=Pulp: ''Different Class'' |work=[[PopMatters]] |date=19 May 2004 |access-date=1 May 2014 |last=Begrand |first=Adrien}}</ref> Reviewing the 2006 deluxe edition, Garry Mulholland of ''Q'' stated that the album "defined the mood of the day",<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Garry |last=Mulholland |title=Top of the Fops |magazine=Q |issue=242 |pages=116–17 |date=September 2006}}</ref> while ''[[Drowned in Sound]]'' described ''Different Class'' as "easily the best album of its year of release and arguably the best album from the Britpop era" and went on to call it "a certifiable masterpiece that not only lived up to the sky-high expectations heaped upon it with appalling ease, but surpassed them."<ref name="DiS">{{cite web |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/8036/reviews/1168562- |title=Album Review: Pulp – ''Different Class'' (2006 re-issue) |work=[[Drowned in Sound]] |date=26 September 2006 |access-date=1 May 2014 |last=Cowen |first=Nick |archive-date=2 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502005326/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/8036/reviews/1168562- |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Accolades===
The album was the winner of the 1996 [[Mercury Music Prize]].<ref name="UK sales"/> In 1997, it was ranked at number 34 out of 100 in a "Music of the Millennium" poll<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/channel4.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060710095521/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/channel4.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=10 July 2006 |title=Channel 4 / HMV Best music of this millennium |access-date=5 October 2009 }}</ref> conducted by [[HMV]], [[Channel 4]], ''[[The Guardian]]'' and [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]]. In 1998 ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' readers voted ''Different Class'' the 37th greatest album of all time;<ref>{{cite journal |title=The 100 Greatest Albums Ever |periodical=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |publisher=[[EMAP]] |location=London, England |issue=137 |date=February 1998}}</ref> a repeat poll in 2006 put it at number 85.<ref>{{cite journal |title=100 Greatest Albums Ever |periodical=Q |publisher=EMAP |location=London, England |issue=235 |date=February 2006}}</ref> In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.<ref>{{cite journal |title=100 Greatest British Albums Ever |periodical=Q |publisher=EMAP |location=London, England |issue=165 |date=June 2000}}</ref> In 2005 it was voted number 70 in [[Channel 4]]'s ''The 100 Greatest Albums''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 100 Greatest Albums |publisher=[[Channel 4]] |date=17 April 2005}}</ref> In 2006 ''[[British Hit Singles & Albums]]'' and ''[[NME]]'' organised a poll in which 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and ''Different Class'' was placed at number 54 on the list.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=David |editor-last=Roberts |title=[[British Hit Singles & Albums]] |publisher=Guinness World Records |location=London, England |pages=400–01 |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-904994-10-7}}</ref> The album was ranked at number 35 on ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''{{'}}s "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)" list.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2015/05/the-300-best-albums-of-the-past-30-years-1985-2014/5/|title=The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)|work=Spin|author=Zaleski, Annie|date=11 May 2015|page=5|access-date=6 August 2015}}</ref>

Released in 1995 at the height of the Britpop era, it is often considered an album which best defines the era and has featured at the number one position on several best Britpop albums polls, including ''[[The Village Voice]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/the-10-best-britpop-albums-of-all-time-or-at-least-since-1993-or-so-6633707|title=The 10 Best Britpop Albums of All Time (or At Least Since 1993 or So)|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|last=Laws|first=Mike|date=11 December 2014|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref> [[BuzzFeed]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/the-official-britpop-album-ranking-1993-1997|title=The Official Britpop Album Ranking|last=Perpetua|first=Matthew|date=9 January 2014|publisher=[[BuzzFeed]]|access-date=13 September 2020}}</ref> ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=The 50 Best Britpop Albums|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/?page=5|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=30 May 2017|date=29 March 2017}}</ref> ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lindsay |first=Cam |title=The 25 Best Albums of the Britpop Era |url=https://www.spin.com/2020/09/the-25-best-albums-of-the-britpop-era/ |website=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |access-date=1 October 2020 |date=30 September 2020}}</ref> Exactly twenty years on from its release, ''[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]'' magazine declared ''Different Class'' as "the most important Britpop album."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Yoonsoo Kim|first=Kristen|title=Why Pulp's 'Different Class' Is The Most Important Britpop Album 20 Years Later|url=http://uk.complex.com/music/2015/10/pulp-different-class-20th-anniversary-important-britpop-album|magazine=[[Complex (magazine)|Complex]]|access-date=19 January 2017|date=30 October 2015}}</ref> Having not featured in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'''s 2003 list of the [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]], the album was ranked at number 162 in their revised 2020 list.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/ |date=22 September 2020 |access-date=22 September 2020 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> The album was also included in the book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.<ref>{{cite book|first=Kylie|last=McLaughlin|editor-first=Robert|editor-last=Dimery|chapter=Pulp: ''Different Class''|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|publisher=[[Universe Publishing]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7893-1371-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/1001AlbumsYouMustHearBeforeYouDie/page/n383/mode/1up 766]}}</ref>