Sorted For LPS And Gios

From first-ever purchases to formative influences and failsafe floor-fillers, Jarvis Cocker reveals the records that mean the most to him.

- Jason Draper

It's been a triumphant year for Jarvis Cocker and Pulp. Three decades on from entering the public consciousness with the Common People single and Different Class album, they once again captured the mood of the times, issuing the Mercury-nominated More, their first long-player in 24 years, which debuted at the top of the UK charts this summer. Then there was a welcome return to Worthy Farm and Glastonbury Festival, where, in June 1995, the group stepped in as last-minute replacements for The Stone Roses, after guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone in a cycling accident. No mere patch-up job, Pulp delivered the performance of their lives, winning over a crowd that immediately took these pop misfits to its heart.

Thirty years on, the You Deserve More and Here Comes More legs of Pulp's latest tour have seen them fill UK arenas; light up festivals in Spain, South Korea and France; and make their first appearance at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl, co-headlining a two-night stand with LCD Soundsystem that brought the More celebrations to a close this past September. But as Cocker tells RC, there is – yes – more to be done.

"The show that we've got at the moment is quite complex," he says, "but I'm always trying to make it more complex. And that can sometimes be a problem."

A commanding frontman in almost anti-frontman guise, the 62-year-old singer recalls how, during early Pulp shows, he hid behind an abundance of tinfoil and toilet roll, using diversionary set dressing as "a defence mechanism. I was so nervous about going onstage, I thought that if we had toilet paper all over the place, people wouldn't see me that well, or it would make it into an event."