This Is Hardcore is the sixth album by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 band Pulp

Pulp (band)

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....

, first released in March 1998

1998 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...

. It came three years after their breakthrough album, Different Class

Different Class

Different Class is an album by English Britpop band Pulp. It was released in 1995 at the height of Britpop, and led to the band being regarded as part of that movement. Two of the singles on the album – "Common People" and "Disco 2000" – were especially notable, and helped propel Pulp to...

, and was eagerly anticipated. As with the previous album it reached number one in the charts, and was well received critically, earning Pulp a third successive nomination for the 1998 Mercury Prize

Mercury Prize

The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...

. Initial pressings in the UK 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

B-Sides

B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...

, demos and rarities.

The cover photo was art directed by Peter Saville and the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 painter John Currin

John Currin

John Currin is an American painter. He is best known for satirical figurative paintings which deal with provocative sexual and social themes in a technically skillful manner. His work shows a wide range of influences, including sources as diverse as the Renaissance, popular culture magazines, and...

 who is known for his figurative paintings of exaggerated female forms. 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

Help the Aged (song)

"Help the Aged" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp, and was released on 10 November 1997 as the lead single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore...

" 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

Doug Nichol

Doug Nichol is an American filmmaker and commercials/music video director.He won a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for Sting’s Ten Summoner's Tales and also received two other Grammy nominations for work with Aerosmith and NKOTB. He has won several MTV awards including Best Rock Video...

 and is listed as the #51 best video of all time.

CD release

This Is Glastonbury bonus disc

Deluxe edition bonus disc

Tracks 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 were previously unavailable

Limited edition double vinyl LP

Singles

In the UK, there were four singles released from the album:

1. "Help the Aged
   Help the Aged (song)
   "Help the Aged" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp, and was released on 10 November 1997 as the lead single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore...
   
   " (10 November 1997)
2. "This Is Hardcore
   This Is Hardcore (song)
   "This Is Hardcore" is a song by British indie band Pulp, and was released as the second single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. It was released on 16 March 1998 and charted at #12 in the UK Singles Chart . It uses a sample of "Bolero on the Moon Rocks" by the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra...
   
   " (16 March 1998)
3. "A Little Soul
   A Little Soul
   "A Little Soul" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp, from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. It was released on 8 June 1998 as the third single from the album, charting at number twenty-two in the UK Singles Chart ....
   
   " (8 June 1998)
4. "Party Hard
   Party Hard (Pulp song)
   "Party Hard" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp. The song was released on 7 September 1998 as the fourth and final single from the album This Is Hardcore, charting at #29 in the UK Singles Chart...
   
   " (7 September 1998)

• "The Fear" was released as a promo-only CD single in the US in 1998. The single features the 4:29 radio edit and a 0:10 research hook. There was never a commercial single release for the song.

Chart positions

Title	Release date	UK	US
This Is Hardcore (album)	30 March 1998	1	114
"Help the Aged Help the Aged (song) "Help the Aged" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp, and was released on 10 November 1997 as the lead single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore... "	10 November 1997	8	-
"This Is Hardcore This Is Hardcore (song) "This Is Hardcore" is a song by British indie band Pulp, and was released as the second single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. It was released on 16 March 1998 and charted at #12 in the UK Singles Chart . It uses a sample of "Bolero on the Moon Rocks" by the Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra... " (single)	16 March 1998	12	-
"A Little Soul A Little Soul "A Little Soul" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp, from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore. It was released on 8 June 1998 as the third single from the album, charting at number twenty-two in the UK Singles Chart .... " / "Cocaine Socialism"	8 June 1998	22	-
"Party Hard Party Hard (Pulp song) "Party Hard" is a song by British alternative rock band Pulp. The song was released on 7 September 1998 as the fourth and final single from the album This Is Hardcore, charting at #29 in the UK Singles Chart... "	7 September 1998	29	-

Personnel

• Lyrics - Jarvis Cocker
• Music - Doyle, Cocker, Webber, Banks, Mackey, Peter Thomas ("This Is Hardcore"), Antony Genn ("Glory Days" and "Cocaine Socialism")
• Artwork (art direction) - John Currin, Peter Saville
• Artwork (design and Smart blur 'painterly effect') - Howard Wakefield, Paul Hetherington
• Photography - Horst Diekgerdes
• Engineer - Pete Lewis
• Producer - Chris Thomas
• Programmed By - Magnus Fiennes, Mark Hayley, Matthew Vaughan, Olle Romo