Many happy returns. 

I remember ordering it in from a bookshop in my hometown during the summer of 2003 and getting a good laugh from my brother and sister showing them some of the dodgy photos in the book - primarily the one of Russell and Jarvis topless in the 80s as well as that supposedly of a young Jarvis looking like a middle-aged woman (sadly, subsequently - but only recently, confirmed to be false by you on here).

It was my night-time reading for the first few weeks of university in Sep/Oct '03 when I wasn't out trying to impress female freshers (they weren't that interested in fellow first years) and although I haven't read it from start to finish since then, it has long been the number one go-to source (along, latterly with Pulpwiki) when obscure Pulp thoughts come to my mind like some half-remembered recording session with Stephen Street or how Anthony Genn got brainwashed by a religious cult. When the reissues came out in 2006 I found the book a marvellous guide to the stories surrounding the unreleased demo songs.

For someone in their early-20's to write such a detailed, comprehensive yet compelling story of  such an odd pop group with years of hitherto unchronicled details of their often haphazard, awkward existence is pretty damn impressive. Even moreso given your reluctance to be all fan-boy "Everything they did was ace" despite your obvious love for them. Your descriptions and critique of songs were that of a seasoned music journalist. Fair play to all the interviewees who humoured someone they could easily have dismissed as some daft kid. They all must have been pretty impressed when they got round to reading it. 

The last page of the book is my favourite part as you nailed the preceding five hundred odd pages really poignantly. 

A real pisser that Omnibus didn't see fit to allow you to revise and add to it last year. I'm not sure if you've done much writing in the past decade - and if not it's probably a bit of a shame really, but they must have been very impressed with your original manuscript and the decent reviews and sales it got.

Anyway, cheers Sturdy. To Truth And Beauty.

Aww, thanks folks.

Funnily enough Eamonn, the book had a similar effect on my chances with the opposite sex when I first went to university. When I arrived at Warwick it was the week after I'd been to Sheffield for the first time and met Russell, Wayne Furniss, Peter Dalton etc etc. I was physically incapable of talking about anything else for some time afterwards (look, I was young and geeky and excitable, alright?). It being 1997, there were plenty of people who were interested in Pulp, but not quite THAT interested.

That's very nice of you Panther. Do you mean you saw Pulp at the Leadmill in '83?

Aaah I see. Sounds like it was an interesting place back then, with the free entry for bus drivers, and corresponding black market trade in knocked-off bus drivers' uniforms!

This book knocks the socks off any other publication about the band. You have every right to be proud, Mark - it's an amazing achievement. My achievements in my early 20s revolve mainly around drinking pints of Guinness & not weeing myself on the night bus home. Well done. Welcome to the board, Panther!

weed wrote:

---

This book knocks the socks off any other publication about the band. You have every right to be proud, Mark - it's an amazing achievement. My achievements in my early 20s revolve mainly around drinking pints of Guinness & not weeing myself on the night bus home. Well done.

Welcome to the board, Panther!

---

Thanks for the kind words. I did manage a fair bit of that sort of behaviour in my early 20s myself, which might explain why the book didn't get finished till I was 24! (By which mean obviously I was, erm, busy at university)

-- Edited by Sturdy on Monday 26th of August 2013 09:02:23 AM

You know something? I still haven't read this bible, a really should and will. happy anniversary Sturdy to Truth and beauty.

Oh, yes, I would love an updated edition.

I imagine, Sturdy, you must have gathered more information than you could possibly fit into the book. Were there some gems you were forced to leave out?

It's a fantastic read; it really made me listen to their earlier stuff in a new light, seeing as I had very little idea of the context surrounding 'It' through to 'Separations'. I got given it as a Christmas present last year and I'm about half-way through it now(!). It's a brilliant companion during long bus journeys to and from college, and it's been one of the first items packed in any travel-bag. Haven't picked it up since I took my AS exams (had to read Psychology textbooks for a month or so rather than the history of Pulp, which was a bit of  bummer), so I'll look forward to getting back into again soon.

Ian wrote:

---

It was definitely worth the wait and covers the band's early period a lot better than any of the other books out there. The launch party was a really good night (despite getting lost on the way there!), the room was well decorated with Pulp memorabilia, the soundtrack was spot on and it was great to meet Nick and Richard (really friendly people) as well as some of the former band members and associates i.e. Steven Havenhand, John Nicholls. It was kind of like a trip through Pulp-land throughout the years but the funniest thing has got to be when "Silence" was played as the last song of the evening and when either Magnus or Tim (can't remember which one) heard the chorus, he said "Shut up, Jarvis!".

---

Ha, I didn't know about that! I do remember seeing Magnus playing air keyboards on Silence and air drums on Back in LA, and singing along to Everybody's Problem with him and Tim! They were both word perfect too...

Panther wrote:

---

Oh, yes, I would love an updated edition.

I imagine, Sturdy, you must have gathered more information than you could possibly fit into the book. Were there some gems you were forced to leave out?

---

Not that much actually - the main thing was a bunch of facts and figures that were going to be in the appendices (appendixes?) that got cut because there wasn't room. I sent them to Will and all that information is on Pulpwiki now.


Revised edition is very unlikely to happen I'm afraid. I did pitch the idea to my publisher when Pulp reformed, but the best they could offer was a fairly derisory amount to stick an extra chapter on the end, which wasn't really of interest to me.

Fran wrote:

---

Beetlebum wrote:

---

had to read Psychology textbooks for a month or so rather than the history of Pulp, which was a bit of  bummer

---

 Surely the history of Pulp is a psychology text book?

---

 Ha, I'd have gladly revised for a 'Pulp' exam. As long as there weren't questions involving dates. I'm rubbish at dates.

Frisko2000 wrote:

---

Truth and Beauty is in my top 3 music biographies of all time. But it also came out when no one was saying anything about Pulp anymore. There was really just this board and that book for a while. Or am I misremembering? 

---

No, that was pretty much it! One of the reviews (in Q I think) pointed out that the book had arrived when interest in the band was at an alltime low, six months after the Hits album had stiffed. Blame Omnibus for turning it down in 1996!

In fairness to them, I'd have been 17 in 1996 so the book probably wouldn't have been much cop if they'd signed me up at that point!

I think the complaint (mainly in the Guardian review, which STILL comes up on the first page if you Google the book, grr) was more that the book focused on factual detail at the expense of juicy personal revelations. I can see why that sort of thing would be more to some people's taste, but it's just not the sort of book I'd ever be able to write.

Yeah, Kitty Empire is a good writer but she seemed to aim that review towards general Guardian readers rather than intelligent music fans.
Maybe you should have asked Nick to get Victoria Segal (fine music journalist and I believe sister-in-law of Nick's) to review it!

It's an excellent book Mark, especially when you consider your age when you were putting it together. I think we worked out on here once that we're the same age and I could have only dreamed about writing as well as that back then. My wife says sometimes I should write a Pulp biography and I have to remind her the perfect one is already out there.

I count myself lucky enough to be have been one of the kind recipients of an invite to the book launch, of which I'll always be thankful of. Ten years has passed far too quickly for my liking! Not having been on the internet scene for a few years by that point, I'd lost track of how the book was progressing from the days of corresponding via the Razzmatazz forum (at least, that's what I think it was called). Then low and behold, quite some time later, I saw an article by Mark in Mojo and got in touch.

The evening contains lots of great memories for me. Up until that point, I hadn't met Mark face to face, any Pulp luminaries, or indeed never having had the chance to even see Pulp live. (Although thankfully I was able to tick off that last one in 2011!).

Having been delayed on the train to Sheffield that evening after work, I was already late for the party and spent most of the rest of the night at the bar, with Magnus, drinking lots of cider. Mark kindly introduced me to Nick Banks, who in turn introduced me to Richard Hawley, who was "guilty [of being in Pulp] by bloody 'ard work!". The evening flew by and I remember returning back to the hotel around 3am, ready for train back to work about 2 and a half hours later....Zzzz!

It was a blinding night. It was then the best book about Pulp, and it still is!