Mis-Shapes

This one is for the misfits, or as Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker calls them in the song, "Mis-Shapes." Growing up in Sheffield, England, he was a non-conformist, choosing music instead of steady work as a member of the proletariat, and dressing in hand-me-downs from his dad or thrift store duds (he used to wear lederhosen to school). His milk-bottle glasses also made him a soft target. This made him easy to spot among the local blokes (the "townies") who blended together with their white T-shirts and black trousers. Cocker told Q magazine in 1996: "It's based on the feeling of a Saturday night in Sheffield when the beer monsters are out, wanting to smack you because you're wearing funny glasses, a funny haircut and orange trousers – and you have to run away." "I don't object to townies really, but the trouble is, they can't just get on with being ignorant in isolation," he added. "They want to take it out on other people."

The first time Pulp played this song live was on a major festival stage: the Glastonbury Festival on June 24, 1995, a few months before the song was released. It was a headline slot that they landed because The Stone Roses had to cancel when their guitarist, John Squire, got in a biking accident.

"Mis-Shapes" was released in a double A-side single with the controversial "Sorted for E's and Wizz" in 1995, reaching #2 on the UK Charts - the band's second successive #2, after the classic "Common People." This was in the thick of the Britpop era, when Pulp finally gained a foothold after toiling throughout the '80s. They did not, however, conquer America, where they never landed a hit.