This Is Hardcore

This Is Hardcore is the sixth album by English band Pulp. Released in March 1998, it came three years after their breakthrough album, Different Class, and was eagerly anticipated. Background and release Friction grew in the band in the years following the massive success of Different Class, "culminating in the notable departure of guitarist and violinist Russell Senior; Cocker left for New York alone to decompress and write in isolation from the rest of the band." As with the band's previous album,This is Hardcore reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, but with far fewer sales, and was well received critically, earning Pulp a third successive nomination for the 1998 Mercury Prize. The cover photo was art directed by Peter Saville and the American painter John Currin who is known for his figurative paintings of exaggerated female forms. The model photographed is Ksenia Zlobina and the images were further digitally manipulated by Howard Wakefield, who also designed the album. Currin was also the art director for the "Help the Aged" video, based on his painting "The Never Ending Story". Advertising posters showing the album's cover that appeared on the London Underground system were defaced by graffiti artists with slogans like "This Offends Women" and "This is Sexist" or "This is Demeaning".