In October of 1981, an 18-year-old Jarvis Cocker nervously approached a legend. The BBC’s John Peel — new music booster du jour — had just finished a live DJ set at Sheffield Polytechnic. As Peel began carrying record crates back to his car, Jarvis managed to get a demo tape into his hands. One month later, the enthused, youthful amateurs of the first Pulp lineup (Jarvis, Peter Dalton, Wayne Furniss and Jamie Pinchbeck) recorded their first Peel Session. For most nascent bands, a Peel Session often served as the first step to indie-bred acclaim. As Jarvis would wryly note years later, for Pulp it resulted in a 12-year period of struggles, frequent line-up changes and near-constant indifference from the UK music scene. And they didn’t record another Peel Session until 1993.
Of the four songs from that first session, “Please Don’t Worry” shows most clearly the roots of the classic Pulp sound. A fairground organ lurches drunkenly onto center stage, while a comically large synth-drum sound punctuates each measure in the verses. He’s not even 20, but Jarvis is chronicling a lifetime of disillusion; it appears that drinking, sex (or the lack thereof), and financial issues have already been preying on his mind for some time. And for the chorus, he just repeats the line “Please don’t worry, I feel fine” until you can’t tell if he’s mocking or trying to convince himself and others.
The pop hooks never let up on “Please Don’t Worry” and the whole thing is perfectly timed at 3 minutes and 21 seconds. Seriously, you mean to tell me not one tiny label owner in 1981 wanted to put out a 7-inch of this?
Nevertheless, this particular Peel Session became part of the Pulp legend, and thanks to a re-airing during the band’s imperial phase, the recordings got passed around online by the fandom, before an official release in 2006.
During the recording sessions for their first album, It (1983), a completely revamped Pulp lineup attempted a new “Please Don’t Worry.” Left on the cutting room floor, it remained unearthed until the 2012 reissue.
Music From a Bachelor's Den 