"This Is Hardcore" is a song by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 indie

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band Pulp

Pulp (band)

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....

, and was released as the second single from their 1998 album This Is Hardcore

This Is Hardcore

This Is Hardcore is the sixth album by English band Pulp, first released in March 1998. It came three years after their breakthrough album, Different Class, and was eagerly anticipated. As with the previous album it reached number one in the charts, and was well received critically, earning Pulp a...

. It was released on 16 March 1998 and charted at #12 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 (see 1998 in British music

1998 in British music

This is a summary of 1998 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.1998 was a transitional year for music, when the hyped up sound of pure pop from the mid-1990s began to fade and popular artists began to experiment with different styles and new artists were...

). It uses a sample of "Bolero on the Moon Rocks" by the Peter Thomas

Peter Thomas (composer)

Peter Thomas is a German composer/arranger. He was born in Breslau on 1 December 1925, and his active career spanned more than 50 years between 1955 and 2006....

 Sound Orchestra. In October 2011, NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

placed it at number 120 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

Track listing

CD1 & 12" vinyl:

1. "This Is Hardcore" (album version)
2. "Ladies' Man"
3. "The Professional"
4. "This Is Hardcore" (End of the Line Mix)

CD2:

1. "This Is Hardcore" (album version)
2. "This Is Hardcore" (4 Hero
   4 Hero
   4hero are an electronic music band from Dollis Hill, northwest London, comprising producers Mark "Marc Mac" Clair & Dennis "Dego" McFarlane. While the band is often cited as "4 Hero" or "4-Hero", the name is presented as "4hero" on their own albums and websites.4hero are known as early pioneers of...
   
   Remix)
3. "This Is Hardcore" (Swedish Erotica Remix)
4. "This Is Hardcore" (Stock, Hausen and Walkman's Remix)

"This Is Hardcore" (End of the Line Mix) is an extended version of the violin-centred instrumental section in the middle of the original song.

"This Is Hardcore" (Swedish Erotica Remix) playfully uses the original vocals played in reverse to make them sound like the Swedish language.