Not Sorted for E's and Whizz.

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Pulp caused a media storm in 1995 with the release of their single Sorted for E's & Wizz. 

The song was first performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995, where Jarvis Cocker explained his inspiration. "'Sorted for E's and Wizz' is a phrase a girl that I met in Sheffield once told me...she went to see The Stone Roses at Spike Island and I said 'what do you remember about it?' And she said: 'Well there were all these blokes walking around saying 'Is everybody sorted for E's and wizz?' And I thought it was a good phrase." 

It was single sleeve artwork though, which caused controversy.  It included origami instructions on how to fold a paper into a "wrap" often used for drugs. The Daily Mirror newspaper ran a front-page story with the headline written by Kate Thornton, "Ban This Sick Stunt!", and "Chart stars sell CD with DIY kids' drugs guide." 
Which of course was nonsense, it was just a paper folding guide, it did not come with a list of contacts. 
It didn't, I checked. 
Pulp stated they did not intend to cause controversy and that the artwork was simply meant to reflect the song's theme. 
Originally the marketing plan was to sell the CD inside a wrap, but that turned out to be too expensive.

There was concern over reports that Radio One might decide to ban it. Possibly with this in mind, a statement was released announcing that the sleeve would be withdrawn once the initial pressing had sold out in record shops.

"Sorted for E's & Wizz" was inspired by Cocker's ambivalence toward drugs; he once stated that he does not 'think there's anything big and clever about taking drugs'.
He said about the song "It's neither a condemnation nor a celebration of drugs. It's just a factual look. It's about a time when I went to a lot of warehouse things. It was completely different to going to a Roxy discotheque in the middle of town, people were so friendly. Then, of course, you realised that it was mainly because they'd taken loads of drugs and you became disillusioned with it."

The single had 200,000 pre-release orders before its release on September 25, 1995. This number rose to 400,000 after the controversy surrounding the song and its artwork. 
The song, which was a double A-side with Mis-Shapes was repackaged, and despite the high pre-release sales and high expectations, the single peaked at number two, kept from the top spot by Simply Red's "Fairground".  
Bloody Simply Red! Oi, Hucknall, Noooooo! 

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