This Is Hardcore is the sixth album by English band Pulp, first released in March 1998. It came three years after their breakthrough album, Different Class, and was eagerly anticipated. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 166 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Background and release
As with the band's previous album, Different Class, it reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, and was well received critically, earning Pulp a third successive nomination for the 1998 Mercury Prize. A subsequent release in the UK later in 1998 came with a bonus live CD entitled "This Is Glastonbury". A deluxe edition of This Is Hardcore was released on 11 September 2006. It contained a second disc of B-sides, demos and rarities. The cover photo was art directed by Peter Saville and the American painter John Currin who is known for his figurative paintings of exaggerated female forms. The model photographed is Ksenia and the images were further digitally manipulated by Howard Wakefield who also designed the album. Currin was also the art director for the "Help the Aged" video, based on his painting "The Never Ending Story". Advertising posters showing the album's cover that appeared on the London Underground system were defaced by graffiti artists with slogans like "This Offends Women" and "This is Sexist" or "This is Demeaning". The music video for the title track was directed by Doug Nichol and was listed as the No. 47 best video of all time by NME.
Commercial performance
The album had first-week sales of just over 50,000, 62% fewer than Different Class first-week sales of 133,000. The album was certified gold by the BPIApril 1998 for sales of 100,000. As of 2008, sales in the UnitedStates have exceeded 86,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Reception and legacy
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album was very well received in the States with the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, all awarding the album three and a half stars out of four. In 2014, US LGBT magazine Metro Weekly placed the album at number 46 in its list of the "50 Best Alternative Albums of the '90s". In 2017, Pitchfork listed the album at number seven in its list "The 50 Best Britpop Albums."
