

After 18 years of waiting, Pulp were finally in the right place at the right time when they released Different Class. The motorik-disco class fable “Common People” is probably the greatest U.K. No. 2 single since “Strawberry Fields Forever." And yet the album fulfilled all the promise of that hit—a consistently strong LP where losers are draped in victory flags (“Mis-Shapes,” “Disco 2000”) and Jarvis Cocker’s lyrics pull back the yellowing curtains of suburban Britain.