Jarvis Cocker

Cocker can make an ordinary object or awkward memory open into a conversation about pop, belonging and the strangeness of fame. His Good Pop, Bad Pop interviews are especially rewarding because the book's stored possessions give his observational humour something concrete to work on. Start with episode 180 of Adam Buxton's podcast, which moves through nostalgia, dancing and pop stardom. The pleasure is in the digressions and their eventual connections, a conversational equivalent of finding social detail inside a Pulp lyric.