this is an occult exploratory sort of song, similar to Bowie's Thin White Duke and has a variety of overlapping meanings-
on one hand he is almost singing to a decrepit porn star "I've seen you having it, having it, but now you just had it" which is simultaneously himself, (Jarvis mentions later of this time he felt his filter barring the world from seeing his inner self was stripped by corrosive drugs & fame, hence the imagery of a portrait of himself behind a cracked window in the This Is Hardcore video etc,) sort of guiding them through their work: "entertainment can sometimes be hard... just get on the floor and show me, show me what you're made of."
on the other hand it is also about the shadow of regular human sexual dimorphism, which tends to be seen by those only with an irregular, perhaps unhealthy fascination with it & the "chunky" alienation that ensues- a similar feeling to an over consumption of pornography of any sort. It is a cautionary tale of "don't stare too long." Part of what Jarvis means by 'hardcore' is to get to the bottom of things, but as the great Allan Watts said "๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ" sic of which will tell us very little about what a leaf actually is. It is like trying to explain a leaf without mentioning a tree.
To be hardcore, that is, to be so thoroughly involved in one state of being that it is like death, to be stuck forever- it is practically vampiric. Life is and is about change. To party to excess as a job or vocation is to take the celebration of life and make it mechanical, which it is partially already, as a skeleton may be viewed as a machine servicing the soul, but what is partying, anyway? What do people mean by "rock"?
This viewing of life as mechanical also has to do with occultism and magick, which at it's essence is to use esoteric knowledge of "the unseen side of life" to effect change. All throughout this song he uses a vocal harmonizer effect that adds a ghostly, vocaloid-style second voice to his own- like a laser-point of resonance, like the intended consequences of a magician's spoken spells. Jarvis mentions "I used to do the I-ching" in 'Glory Days,' clearly focuses his will with devil signs doing "Party Hard" live on Conan O' Brien & looks skyward after the same tune live at Finsbury Park and thanks whatever disparate entity has granted him successful completion of his work. This is clearly channeling Bowie's "Station To Station" methodology, which was another cocaine addled rock star obsessed with the occult using the medium of the album to try and effect his will, mainly for salvation from a hell partially if not fully of his own making. in "This Is Hardcore" Jarvis is trying to rescue himself from being eaten alive by the zeitgeist of 97' cool Britannia- which he infact, helped create. To say something unsexual is "pornographic" is to mean it is manipulative and divorced from what is the pure impetus of the situation for the purposes of titillation or power- this could be easily ascribed to the likes of the Spice Girls and New Labour's empty promises.
There was a headwind afoot of profound fuckery and Jarvis was in a psychic weather tower, this album is his distress beacon and magic machine- willing him to get out of harm's way.
this is an occult exploratory sort of song, similar to Bowie's Thin White Duke and has a variety of overlapping meanings-
on one hand he is almost singing to a decrepit porn star "I've seen you having it, having it, but now you just had it" which is simultaneously himself, (Jarvis mentions later of this time he felt his filter barring the world from seeing his inner self was stripped by corrosive drugs & fame, hence the imagery of a portrait of himself behind a cracked window in the This Is Hardcore video etc,) sort of guiding them through their work: "entertainment can sometimes be hard... just get on the floor and show me, show me what you're made of."
on the other hand it is also about the shadow of regular human sexual dimorphism, which tends to be seen by those only with an irregular, perhaps unhealthy fascination with it & the "chunky" alienation that ensues- a similar feeling to an over consumption of pornography of any sort. It is a cautionary tale of "don't stare too long." Part of what Jarvis means by 'hardcore' is to get to the bottom of things, but as the great Allan Watts said "๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ" sic of which will tell us very little about what a leaf actually is. It is like trying to explain a leaf without mentioning a tree.
To be hardcore, that is, to be so thoroughly involved in one state of being that it is like death, to be stuck forever- it is practically vampiric. Life is and is about change. To party to excess as a job or vocation is to take the celebration of life and make it mechanical, which it is partially already, as a skeleton may be viewed as a machine servicing the soul, but what is partying, anyway? What do people mean by "rock"?
This viewing of life as mechanical also has to do with occultism and magick, which at it's essence is to use esoteric knowledge of "the unseen side of life" to effect change. All throughout this song he uses a vocal harmonizer effect that adds a ghostly, vocaloid-style second voice to his own- like a laser-point of resonance, like the intended consequences of a magician's spoken spells. Jarvis mentions "I used to do the I-ching" in 'Glory Days,' clearly focuses his will with devil signs doing "Party Hard" live on Conan O' Brien & looks skyward after the same tune live at Finsbury Park and thanks whatever disparate entity has granted him successful completion of his work. This is clearly channeling Bowie's "Station To Station" methodology, which was another cocaine addled rock star obsessed with the occult using the medium of the album to try and effect his will, mainly for salvation from a hell partially if not fully of his own making. in "This Is Hardcore" Jarvis is trying to rescue himself from being eaten alive by the zeitgeist of 97' cool Britannia- which he infact, helped create. To say something unsexual is "pornographic" is to mean it is manipulative and divorced from what is the pure impetus of the situation for the purposes of titillation or power- this could be easily ascribed to the likes of the Spice Girls and New Labour's empty promises. There was a headwind afoot of profound fuckery and Jarvis was in a psychic weather tower, this album is his distress beacon and magic machine- willing him to get out of harm's way.
[Edit: better spacing of paragraphs]