Jarvis Cocker hated the reality of fame | Entertainment

Jarvis Cocker always dreamt of “stardom” – but didn’t like it when he attained it.

The former Pulp frontman – who has penned the new book ‘Good Pop, Bad Pop’ about his early upbringing and relationship with music – admits his idea of being famous growing up was very different to what it was like in reality.

Speaking on the ‘How To Fail With Elizabeth Day’ podcast, he said: “I’d wanted that stardom, or I built up an idea of what I thought stardom would be, and the actual reality of it I didn’t like. When you’ve wished for something for most of your life, and then you get it, which most people never do, you know, they never get to realise an ambition. And I did. And then I didn’t like it. I just felt really bad about myself. So what is your problem? You’ve got what you wanted? Why aren’t you happy?”

The ‘Common People’ hitmaker says stardom is made out to be this “mythical status”, but “more often than not” the intensity of fame “doesn’t end very well” for the star.

The 58-year-old Britpop legend added: “Fame is such an entrenched thing within our culture that people will think that is what’s going to solve your issues. You know, you see it all the time. I mean, I don’t watch ‘X Factor’ anymore but when I used to watch it, that’s the thing isn’t it, you know, you get these kids who are really excited and it’s like ‘if I could be a famous singer, that would be it, like, that would solve all my problems. I’d be so happy’. People think it’s like going to heaven or something, it’s achieved that mythical status. If you look at the history of entertainment, it often doesn’t end very well for those people who get that immense fame. In fact, it seems more often than not, it doesn’t.”