Nothing did more to further the cause of Alternative Nation-building than 120 Minutes, MTV’s Sunday-night video showcase of non-mainstream acts. For nearly two decades, the program spanned musical eras from ’80s college rock to ’00s indie, with grunge, Britpop, punk, industrial, electronica and more in between. MAGNET raids the vaults to resurrect our 120 favorite and unjustly forgotten videos from the show’s classic era.
#111: Pulp “Disco 2000”
As we move into the final 10 entries in 120 Reasons To Live, there is a slow, dumb realization of the waves of regret that will come crashing down on us after there is no more space to fill. Did we really use up a spot just to make fun of Killing Joke? Two Lemonheads videos? The rest of the self-analysis will be saved for a special after-the-fact director’s commentary post. Maybe. Pulp’s popular era (circa 1996) is disconnected from the prime 120 Minutes era by a good half-decade, but if Blur was counted in our list then it’s a crime not to include the better (OK, best) band of the Britpop movement.
If the riff to “Disco 2000” sounds familiar, maybe it’s because Jarvis Cocker is a huge fan of Laura Branigan’s appearance on an episode of CHiPs.
