Pulp's "Common People" named best britpop song.

[Capetan Mihali]

Hmm, never thought of it that way.  I don't know Britpop well enough, but there was certainly a general media glamorization in the form of "lad culture" (mk. 1), wasn't there?

I don't think it was mk. 1 when it comes to the glamorization of "lad culture". I mean, in many ways working class youths in Britain seem to serve the same cultural function as Black subcultures do in the US - as a font of co-optable creativity and "authenticity". If you look at any of the distinct subcultures coming out of Britain in the last fifty years at least, most of them came from working class youths, most of them had laddish qualities to them, and most of them were glamorized in various ways as they grew in popularity.

By mk. 1 I just meant the phrase "lad culture" itself, since my recollection is that it went away for a while and then got picked back up again within the last few years.  Otherwise, I agree with your analysis.  "Lad culture" seemed to refer to something a little more generalized than the various working-class youth-derived subcultures that have waxed and waned in post-WWII British pop culture, though.

[Norgy]

They're all chavs now, so why bother.

[Josquius]

I know a lot of working class lads who've shagged way above their station by being the only ones in the pub to chat up the foreign chicks.

Well sure, but did said lads take said foreign birds along to Tesco's to show them what 99p frozen pies look like while making their way back to bed?

They love that sort of thing.

As much as I'm a class warrior, I kind of think "Common People" is, lyrically, a supreme cheap shot (Spoiled students? Check. Continental eurotrash? Check. Clueless posers? Check.), as well as a supremely fanciful narrative.  Maybe Britain is really like this, I don't know, but a pampered aristocratic lady buying drinks for a working-class hunk in a pub and then asking him to take her around and show her what it's like to be not-rich and probably lay her a few times along the way... strains credibility for me.

And if it's fanciful, it does hark back to some great cultural touchstones ("Lady Chatterly's Lover," Angry Young Men/kitchen-sink dramas), but it's not a fantasy I find all that engaging.

I recall a documentary about the different class album. Jarvis cocker said it was loosely based on a true a story, though he didn't sleep with her. Iirc they even interviewed the actual Greek lady.
The song really speaks to me, the whole thing about it all being a game for upper class posers but for us born into it there is a genuine risk that our lives can just slide out of view.

[celedhring]

My last relationship was pretty much "lady of rich family messing with the working class to see how it's like to drink in seedy bars", so there' still something to the cliché.

[Monoriu]

My last relationship was pretty much "lady of rich family messing with the working class to see how it's like to drink in seedy bars", so there' still something to the cliché.

A miilion voices cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced

[Warspite]

I want to write a song about being from a highly educated family of modest means so you're stuck between the mannerisms of the well off and the resources of the poor, which seems to earn the contempt of people above, below and around you. I could call it 'Uncommon People' and make millions.

[celedhring]

My last relationship was pretty much "lady of rich family messing with the working class to see how it's like to drink in seedy bars", so there' still something to the cliché.

A miilion voices cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced

Butchering the language is the only violence I allow myself.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Back in my coal-mining days my best mate was at Durham University; during term time I used to go over there for intelligent conversation and women. I can confirm that, at least in the 1970s, southern middle-class women were pretty interested in working-class men, happy days 

[Syt]

I imagine having a coal miner's physique helped a bit, too.

[Monoriu]

My last relationship was pretty much "lady of rich family messing with the working class to see how it's like to drink in seedy bars", so there' still something to the cliché.

A miilion voices cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced

Butchering the language is the only violence I allow myself.

I'll be very happy if any languishite marries a rich woman.  I'm just a little sad that the opportunity was lost. 

[celedhring]

Was never meant to happen, after she had fun with the popular classes she's gone back to where she belongs. She's currently dating an executive from a pharma company.

[Warspite]

If you want to marry a rich woman, come to London and date a lawyer. This has the added advantage that they'll be so busy that you'll never have to actually spend time with them, allowing ample opportunity to pursue one's own interests, such as drinking with the guys or starting a synth-based electro-pop group.

[PDH]

The down side is, of course, being married to a lawyer.

[Barrister]

If you want to marry a rich woman, come to London and date a lawyer. This has the added advantage that they'll be so busy that you'll never have to actually spend time with them, allowing ample opportunity to pursue one's own interests, such as drinking with the guys or starting a synth-based electro-pop group.

Do you have some news you want to share?

[Josquius]

If you want to marry a rich woman, come to London and date a lawyer. This has the added advantage that they'll be so busy that you'll never have to actually spend time with them, allowing ample opportunity to pursue one's own interests, such as drinking with the guys or starting a synth-based electro-pop group.

-dating
-London
+drinking
+synth-based electro-pop