View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rough Trade Records (@roughtraderecords)

“There wasn’t much commercial thinking behind starting a label out of the first Rough Trade shop, not much planning,” said Travis in a statement released alongside the announcement. “We were just doing things out of love really.” It was this enthusiasm and love for their craft that shaped Rough Trade into a forward-thinking, progressive record label that would split revenue 50/50 with artists, when other major labels would take 80%. According to Davy Reed of Cracked, their business practices were informed by the DIY ethos of punk, and feminist and left-wing politics.

The box set is limited to 1000 numbered copies worldwide, and contains some classic singles. Among the eight singles are Augustus Pablo’s ‘Pablo Meets Mr Bassie’, Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Alternative Ulster’, and The Pop Group’s ‘We Are All Prostitutes’, which reached No. 3 in the UK charts in 2016. The full tracklist is below.  

Augustus Pablo – ‘Pablo Meets Mr Bassie’  

Stiff Little Fingers – ‘Alternative Ulster’  

The Pop Group – ‘We Are All Prostitutes’  

Subway Sect – ‘Ambition’  

Swell Maps – ‘Read About Seymour’  

The Raincoats – ‘Fairytale in the Supermarket’  

Cabaret Voltaire – ‘Nag Nag Nag’  

Young Marble Giants – ‘Final Day’  

Included in the box set will be some promotional material such as posters and artwork, as well as an exclusive interview with Travis and Lee, conducted by music journalist Paul Stokes. Speaking on X, Stokes said of the pair, “both are as visionary as the artists who make up this brilliant collection.”  

The Rough Trade Records website has the preorder listed at £99.99, a hefty price tag for eight singles. One Reddit user said, “In 2025 it’s clear people will pay a premium for rare and hard-to-find releases in unique formats, pressings, etc., but this feels way more Record Store Day than Acoustic Sounds. Those are two totally different segments of the market, and this set looks to be giving customers the worst of all worlds.”

Comment
byu/big-slice-of-lemon from discussion
inVinylReleases

This isn’t the first retrospective for Rough Trade Records, having released another compilation, ‘Recorded at The Automat’, in 2015. That album earned four stars from The Guardian’s Phil Mongredien, describing the label as “​​an early champion of post-punk before becoming synonymous with jangling indie in the 80s.” This upcoming release, however, focuses solely on the formative years of the label, and the NME reports that a Volume 2 should be expected on September 26, this time focussing on tracks from 1980-1993.

With this first collection, Rough Trade Records has kept the punk spirit of those early days with a selection of worthy, but possibly under-appreciated tracks, and reaffirming their importance to the music that would follow. With a steep price tag, the collection is for hardcore fans, though a digital release would introduce a new generation to these landmark tracks.

Rough Trade’s relationship with Pulp dates back over 30 years, having managed the band throughout much of their career. Jarvis Cocker, Pulp’s iconic frontman, has also previously worked with the label on his solo projects. In a statement released by Rough Trade, the band expressed their excitement, saying: “Rough Trade have managed Pulp for over 30 years so it feels great to be finally on the label. We did it!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rough Trade Records (@roughtraderecords)

The signing aligns Pulp with a roster that includes modern indie icons like The Strokes and The Libertines, as well as a legacy that boasts post-punk pioneers The Smiths and The Fall. Rough Trade has a reputation for creative freedom, which adds to the anticipation of what Pulp might produce while signed with them.

While no official timeline for a new album has been announced, speculation is rife. Cocker was recently photographed in Walthamstow and reportedly revealed that the band had returned to the studio. Adding fuel to the fire, Pulp has been performing an unreleased track, ‘A Sunset’ on their current ‘This Is What We Do for an Encore’ tour. The song, co-written with fellow Sheffielder, Richard Hawley, debuted in 2024 at a show in Finland and could appear on any forthcoming release.  

Pulp’s reunion comes during a nostalgic revival of the Britpop era. Fellow icons Blur released their chart-topping The Ballad of Darren in 2023, and Oasis recently announced a massive reunion tour.  

However, Pulp’s observational lyrics and class-based themes set them apart, often providing sharp social commentary. Their greatest example of this is their track ‘Common People’ from the album Different Class. Telling the story of a woman who wants to “live like common people”, the track explored themes of class disparity, and summing up this form of cultural tourism will the line “If you called your dad he could stop it all”. The song recently went viral on TikTok, with the audio being used to highlight the struggles ordinary people face.

Fans will be curious to see how this perspective evolves if the band chooses to address contemporary issues in any new material. While Pulp’s music is inevitably viewed through a Britpop lens, there’s room for the band to explore fresh directions while maintaining their distinctive sound.

Pulp’s legacy as one of the “big four” Britpop bands—alongside Blur, Oasis, and Suede—is well established. From their meteoric rise in the ’90s under Island Records to their celebrated Glastonbury 1995 set, which included the debut of “Sorted for E’s and Wizz,” the band’s influence on British music is still felt today in bands like Yard Act.   Yet, despite their historic successes, Pulp has not released new material since the 2013 single “After You,” which failed to break into the top 100.   

As fans take to social media to celebrate the Rough Trade signing, many are speculating about Pulp’s future. Could this mean a Glastonbury 2025 headline slot? Will ‘Sunrise’ serve as a gateway to more new music?

@glastonbury would be the perfect place to try any new material (and play all the old tunes of course). Just saying…. — travelmeerkat (@travelmeerkat) December 12, 2024

Whether or not a new album materialises, Pulp’s partnership with Rough Trade has reignited excitement for one of Britain’s most beloved bands. For now, the band seems content, currently touring the US and now signed with one of the UK’s most recognisable record labels. 

On morrisseycentral.com, The Smiths’ frontman’s personal blog, Morrissey stated that, “I invented the group name, the song-titles, the album titles, the artwork, the vocal melodies, and all of the lyrical sentiments came from my heart … and so it’s a bit like saying Mick Jagger had nothing to do with the Stones.” Grandiose comparisons to Mick Jagger aside, Morrissey believes that other ex-Smiths members are taking credit for his work. In reference to the Smiths’ 1983 signing to Geoff Travis’ Rough Trade records, Morrissey said: “Several news sites now claim that the initial meeting at Rough Trade Records was with “Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke,”. Morrisey’s website lacks any citation or direct reference to the “several news sites” he mentions. A quick google search will reveal that Wikipedia and several major news publications credit both Morrissey and Marr with the signing.

While the specific claims made by the 64-year-old singer may be unverified, it is true that many fans and industry veterans have turned their back on Morrissey. However, rather than a result of greedy ex-band-members, Morrissey’s poor reputation is the result of his right-wing political opinions. Although The Smiths’ original material expressed relatively progressive messaging around class, the monarchy, and organised religion, Morrissey’s more recent affiliations with far-right politics has pushed him away from the mainstream.

In a 2019 performance on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, the singer wore a badge that featured the logo of the now-defunct For Britain Party. For Britain was a far-right fringe party led by Anne Marie Waters that promoted an anti-Islamic, anti-immigration policies which was host to ex-members of the British Nationalist Party (BNP) who were deemed too extreme for the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Speaking with Fiona Dodwell on blogsite Tremr in 2018, Morrissey expressed sympathy for Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, saying: “it’s very obvious that Labour or the Tories do not believe in free speech… I mean, look at the shocking treatment of Tommy Robinson”. For those who don’t know, Tommy Robinson is the far-right nationalist founder of the English Defence League (EDL), who has been convicted of multiple crimes that include assault of a police officer, ownership of a false passport, and the stalking of a journalist.

Morrissey has an esteemed past and a solidified position in British music cannon which will never change however, Morrissey’s claim of “cancel culture beings at home” mirrors that of many allegedly disgraced celebrities whose politics frequently land them in hot water. It is not ex-band-members who are tarnishing the legacy of the Smiths, but it is instead the reactionary far-right politics which he continues to promote.