Editing Pulp (band) (section)

===Early years: 1978–1983===
Pulp were formed in 1978 at [[The City School (Sheffield)|The City School]] in Sheffield by Jarvis Cocker, then 15 years old, and Peter Dalton, then 14. Cocker's original preference was to name the band after the film ''[[Pulp (1972 film)|Pulp]]'' starring [[Michael Caine]], though it was decided that this was too short. Instead, the two took inspiration from a copy of the ''[[Financial Times]]'' which listed the [[Coffee arabica|Arabicas]] coffee bean in its commodity index. Cocker and Dalton used this, with a slight spelling change, and the band became "Arabicus".<ref>Sturdy, p. 7.</ref> Early rehearsals took place in Cocker's house and featured Cocker, Dalton and Dalton's younger brother Ian. After finally deciding on "Arabicus Pulp", a fixed line-up was then established: Cocker, Dalton and two friends of theirs, David "Fungus" Lockwood and Mark Swift.<ref>Sturdy, p. 9.</ref> The band played their first public gig at [[Rotherham College of Arts and Technology|Rotherham Arts Centre]] in July 1980.<ref name="Record Collector">Reed, John. "The Complete History of Pulp". ''Record Collector''. December 1994.</ref> Later that year, Cocker met future member Russell Senior, who recognised Cocker from his charismatic sales techniques in his part-time job at the local [[fish market]].<ref>Sturdy, p. 22.</ref>

Pulp's musical style at this time was varied, approximately described as "a cross between [[ABBA]] and [[The Fall (band)|the Fall]]".<ref>Sturdy, p. 17.</ref> A local fanzine also noted this eclecticism, describing them as sounding "as if they listen to the [[John Peel]] show every night in an endless quest for influences".<ref>Sturdy, p. 25.</ref> Indeed, in October 1981, they gave a [[demo tape]] to Peel, who granted them a [[List of The Peel Sessions artists#P|Peel Session]].<ref>Sturdy, p. 34.</ref> The session was a giant leap forward for the young band, who became well known on the local music scene as a result. The tracks recorded were in the typical [[Sheffield#Music|Sheffield sound]] of the time (cf. [[the Human League]] and [[Comsat Angels]]): [[electronica|electronic]] [[New wave music|new wave]] and [[post-punk]]. These tracks were released in 2006 on ''[[The Peel Sessions (Pulp album)|The Peel Sessions]]'' compilation.

Despite their exposure on national radio, success was not forthcoming and, apart from Cocker, most of the core line-up left for university. Soon, a new set of musicians were gathered: [[Simon Hinkler]] (who later joined [[Mission UK|the Mission]]), David Hinkler, [[siiiii|Wayne Furniss]] (who switched to guitar after playing drums in the previous lineup), Peter Boam, Gary Wilson, and Cocker's sister, Saskia. They managed to get enough local backing to record a mini-album in late 1982, entitled ''[[It (Pulp album)|It]]'' (the title was a pun on [[pulpit]], as if the band were preaching to the audience<ref name="Record Collector" />), which was released in April 1983 by [[Red Rhino Records]]. This largely consisted of [[folk music|folkish]], romantic pop songs influenced by [[Leonard Cohen]] and was a change of direction from the Peel Sessions two years earlier. The album was later released by [[Cherry Red Records]].

Though ''It'' failed commercially and fame was still elusive, the band continued to seek commercial success even to the point of recording a single, "Everybody's Problem"/"There Was". The single demonstrated a style shift advised by Red Rhino's Tony Perrin who had convinced Cocker that he "could write commercial songs like [[Wham!]]".<ref>{{cite web|author=Anthony |title=Everybody's Problem |url=http://www.mlp.cz/space/Opatrilp/Pulp/Everybodys_Problem.disc.html |access-date=31 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311035153/http://www.mlp.cz/space/Opatrilp/Pulp/Everybodys_Problem.disc.html |archive-date=11 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This approach also failed and the ''It'' lineup soon dissolved.