Jarvis Cocker thought Michael Jackson BRITs stage invasion "f***ed" his life up
15 December 2025, 13:42 | Updated: 15 December 2025, 14:04
The Pulp frontman recalled how the 1996 drunken incident, which saw him moon the Prince of Pop at the awards ceremony gave him a new level of celebrity status.
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Jarvis Cocker once thought stage invading Michael Jackson's BRIT Awards performance messed up his life.
The Pulp frontman reflected on the controversial incident back in 1996 - which saw him go on stage during the global pop star's performance and slightly 'moon' on stage - and has admitted it made him famous for the wrong reasons.
“For years our impetus for doing things was never success because we never sold any records," he told The Sunday Times' Culture magazine of the band's pre-fame years.
"Then we did sell records, so the label wanted us to get on with the next one, but becoming well known had such an effect on my life that I needed time to take it in. Should have put my foot down and had a break. I didn’t, and things fell apart."
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Cocker admitted that despite always wanting to be in a band and be recognised, he realised he'd bitten off more than he could chew when it eventually happened for the wrong reasons.
“Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be in a band and be famous," he admitted. “But after the Michael Jackson thing I entered a celebrity world where everyone just knew me, whether I made music or not. I thought, is it even worth being in a band, given that it’s f***ed my life up?"
Moving to Paris with his then-wife Camille Bidault and their son Albert became a lifeline for the Disco 2000 singer, who said he could walk the street without being noticed.
"That was quite a good thing actually," Cocker recalled of his time in the country.
“It was good to be somewhere where nobody recognised me. I remember being on the Metro, seeing posters for a concert of someone I had never heard of playing the Stade de France, and realising, there is no meaning to celebrity, really. It’s just a poster. That’s when I started relaxing about it.”
Almost 30 years later and it's hard to believe that the stunt caused such controversy, but given there were children on stage, a then-32 year old cocker was whisked off to the police station add held there until 3am.
Asked about the incident on TFI Friday shortly after his stint in the slammer, the Britpop star said: "I was just sat there and watching it and feeling a bit ill, 'cause he's there doing his Jesus act.
"And I could kind of see - It seemed to me there was a lot of other people who kind of found it distasteful as well, and I just thought: 'The stage is there, I'm here and you can actually just do something about it and say this is a load of rubbish if you wanted.'"
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- How Pulp got into tabloid trouble over Sorted For E's & Wizz
