Russian politics and reality TV: Who is the woman on the cover of ‘This Is Hardcore’ by Pulp?
Although they are often discussed with reference to the Britpop scene of the 1990s, Pulp and Jarvis Cocker were so much more than a trendy guitar-led group akin to the Blurs and Suedes of the world. Pushing the boundaries of acceptability in pop music, Cocker was unlike any songwriter that had come before him, which is perhaps why it took Pulp such a long time to get off the ground, from their early days in 1970s Sheffield.
During their early period, with a revolving cast of musicians, Pulp were certainly finding their feet. Their first few releases, including It and Freaks, are certainly interesting efforts, with some undeniably solid songwriting and impactful tracks, like ‘They Suffocate at Night’ and ‘My Lighthouse’. Arguably, though, it was not until 1994’s His ‘n’ Hers that Jarvis really landed upon the golden age of his songwriting talents. The album established Pulp not just as a fairly interesting guitar band from the North but as an incredible and diverse group capable of echoing the beauty of normality and everyday life.
Building upon this reputation, Pulp constructed Different Class – likely their greatest commercial effort. Containing truly iconic tracks like ‘Common People’ and ‘Disco 2000’, Different Class is probably the go-to album for most casual Pulp listeners. However, Cocker’s undisputed masterpiece came after Different Class, with the sinister eroticism of This Is Hardcore in 1998.
Marking a move away from the youthful optimism of Britpop, This Is Hardcore was a much more mature effort, influenced by art rock, glam and even jazz. Despite its daring content and distinct lack of commercialism, the album still proved to be a roaring success for the band, proving that they had a kind of staying power not afforded to many of their Britpop contemporaries. Aside from the actual musical content of the album, This Is Hardcore’s cover art was a big draw, too. Featuring an unnamed blonde woman, seemingly naked atop blood-red sheets, the provocative image reflected the overtly sexualised songs within the album.
Who is the woman on Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’ album cover?
Whereas previous albums had either featured the members or, in the case of records like It and Separations, abstract artwork overlayed with the Pulp typeface, This Is Hardcore broke from the norm by featuring a person outside the band. The blonde woman on the front, almost giving the impression of a static figure or doll, is actually the Russian actress and politician Ksenia Sobchak. The politician has not referenced her modelling work for Pulp too much across her career, focusing more on her journalistic and political endeavours. However, she did once tell VH1, “The shoot was fun. Jarvis is very nice, very shy.”
Following on from her appearance on the cover of Pulp’s defining album, Sobchak pursued a career in the Russian media. Over there, she rose to prominence as a television presenter for Dom-2, the longest-running reality show in Russia. Nowadays, she is probably best known for running against Vladimir Putin during the 2018 presidential election, during which she said, “In a system created by Putin, it is only possible for Putin to win. I am realistic about who will become the president.”
Despite her comments on Putin, Sobchak is still alive and well. Currently, she is said to be hosting the television programme Dok-Tok, a talk show which promotes deep and detailed discussions on a variety of important topics. However, due to the nature of information available from Russian sources, there is no way of telling whether that description is accurate.
What was Pulp’s biggest hit?
Although he found early inspiration in the rebellion of punk and post-punk scenes, Jarvis Cocker has always had a fascination with the art of pop music – as detailed in his recent work Good Pop Bad Pop. As such, Pulp were able to perfectly toe the line between edgy nonconformism and commercial success. The band witnessed their fair share of chart placements, though it took them longer than expected to get there.
In 1993, well over a decade after the band’s inception, Pulp had their first flirtation with the singles charts, reaching number 50 with ‘Lipgloss’. In the years that followed, they would become a mainstay of the charts, with their two best-selling efforts coming with ‘Common People’ and ‘Mis-Shapes’, both of which landed them number two spots in the UK charts – kept off the top spot by Robson & Jerome and Simply Red, of all people. Thankfully, Pulp did manage to top the album charts on two occasions, first with Different Class and then, of course, with This Is Hardcore.