Podcast #25: The Beat Is the Law

MusicFilmWeb: See It Loud

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Coinciding with the reunited Pulp’s first tour in nine years, The Beat Is the Law – Fanfare for the Common People traces Jarvis Cocker and company’s long, bumpy ride to Britpop stardom against the backdrop of musical and social ferment the 1980s wrought in their hometown of Sheffield.

Due out on DVD tomorrow, Eve Wood’s documentary threads Pulp’s story with that of a decade-plus in which the northern English city was riven by industrial and economic decline and its music scene – briefly the national vogue with the experimental/electronic pop success of the Human League, ABC, and Cabaret Voltaire (the subject of Wood’s acclaimed prior feature Made in Sheffield) – was seemingly in remission. But The Beat Is the Law paints 1980s Sheffield as a hotbed of creativity where musicians and artists on the dole carved out new creative spaces and a largely forgotten band’s sole single spawned a dance music empire and indirectly led to the founding of powerhouse indie label Warp.

Together, Wood’s films recount the story of Sheffield music from the mid-’70s to the mid-’90s as told by the Jarvis Cocker, Human League’s Phil Oakey, and other scene stalwarts. In this edition of See It Loud, featuring musical snippets from Clock DVA, Heaven 17, and Chakk, she talks to fellow South Yorkshire transplant Andy Markowitz about discovering the Sheffield scene, tossing a guitar off an apartment building, and chronicling the birth, extended adolescence, and seemingly sudden rise of Pulp.

The opening theme by Los Musicos de Jose comes from Mevio’s Music Alley.

Movies in this one:

Made in Sheffield

The Beat Is the Law – Fanfare for the Common People

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