Jarvis v Jacko: Why the Pulp singer’s stage invasion at The Brits remains a defining Britpop moment

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Recommended The surprise discovery that brought The Beatles back together “It was an innocuous and fun thing really, to go on and wave your buttocks while you’ve still got your trousers on,” says Daniel Rachel, author of Don’t Look Back in Anger: The Rise and Fall of Cool Britannia, Told by Those Who Were There. Though he finished “Earth Song” and humbly accepted his award for “Artist of a Generation”, the next morning Jackson put out a statement condemning Cocker: “I’m sickened, saddened, shocked, upset, cheated and angry, but immensely proud that the cast remained professional and the show went on.” Jackson’s camp also accused Cocker of “harming” three children. “A cocaine festival.” But if few in the room grasped the significance of Jarvis’s stage invasion, backstage the Pulp singer was soon made aware he was in hot water. “What was the more egocentric – his 1996 Brit awards performance of ‘Earth Song’ or Jarvis Cocker’s interruption of it?