Pulp - This Is Hardcore (Adult Version)

What this video is

Released March–April 1998, 'This Is Hardcore' arrived at the precise moment Britpop was exhausting its own mythology. Written as a commentary on fame using pornography as an analogy — Cocker exploring what happens to people 'used up' by the entertainment machine — the video translates this into a visual language of hollow glamour: Hollywood's golden age rendered as beautiful artifice. The use of mid-century studio…

Why it matters

A defining artefact of post-Britpop British art-rock, this video demonstrated that the music video format could sustain genuinely cinematic ambition. Its influence on prestige-era music video production — high-concept, long-form, visually literate, thematically dense — is substantial. TIME…

The director

American filmmaker, director, and cinematographer. Graduate of USC School of Cinematic Arts. Began career as DP on music documentaries including Madonna's Truth or Dare and U2's Rattle and Hum. Won Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video (Sting's Ten…