B-side "Ansaphone" Label Island | Format CD
7"
12"
Cassette | |
Released 27 November 1995 (1995-11-27) Genre Alternative rock
Britpop
dance rock Length 4:33 (album version)
4:51 (7" mix) | ||
"Disco 2000" is a hit single by British band Pulp, released in 1995. It reached No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart. It was the third single from the album Different Class, following "Common People" and the double A-side "Mis-Shapes"/"Sorted for E's & Wizz", both of which reached No. 2.
Contents
The song tells the story of a narrator falling for a childhood friend called Deborah, who is more popular than he is and wondering what it would be like to meet again when they are older. The song is based on true events. Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker said "the only bit that isn't true is the woodchip wallpaper."
Deborah was based on a real life childhood friend of Cocker's, Deborah Bone, who moved away from Sheffield to Letchworth when she was 10. As the lyrics suggest, she did marry and have children.
It is believed that the fountain referred to as the meeting place was Goodwin Fountain, formerly located on Fargate, in Sheffield city centre. The song's riff is said to be influenced by Laura Branigan's 1980s hit "Gloria".
Due to its millennial subject matter, Pulp removed the song's synchronisation licence, effectively banning the song from being used in TV and radio trailers throughout 1999 and 2000.
Music Video
The music video for "Disco 2000" sees the daily going on for a girl and a boy as they prepare for the weekend. As they make their way across town the life sized photographic cut outs from the band members used on the cover for "Different class" appear in shops, in the bus, on an escalator and even in the disco where the boy and girl meet. The video ends with two live sized photographic cut outs of the boy and girl together in bed and them complaining about Jarvis being on television again.
CD
All lyrics written by Jarvis Cocker; all music composed by Jarvis Cocker, Nick Banks, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior, Candida Doyle and Mark Webber.
7"
In popular culture
"Disco 2000" was featured in Episode 7 of the first series of Life on Mars, where DI Sam Tyler hears it come on the radio in 1973, and mentions to DCI Gene Hunt that he had seen Pulp play the Manchester Nynex in 1996, to Hunt's bemusement. The song also appeared in a party scene in the 2013 Seth Rogen film This Is the End, and again in the "The End of the Tour" in 2015.
In 1996, it featured on the UEFA Euro 1996 official album, The Beautiful Game.
In September 2015, the song featured in an advert for airline company easyJet to mark the company's 20th anniversary.
Cover versions
The song was covered by Nick Cave as a b-side for the single "Bad Cover Version".