Jarvis Cocker says earning "grudging respect" from the "hard" kids at his school meant more than selling records.
The Pulp frontman admits he has never lost the desire to impress his childhood peers, and was relieved to encounter some recently and come out of the encounter unscathed.
He said: "In some ways you never lose that thing of wanting to impress the hard kids in school.
"I went to a funeral in a rough pub where I grew up, and the worst of the hard kids at school were there and it was like a big achievement that I didn’t get smacked.
"They said they recognised me and gave me a grudging respect and that meant an awful lot, probably more than selling a lot of records – the fact that I didn’t get my head kicked in."
Though Pulp’s iconic album ‘Different Class’ celebrates its 20 year anniversary next year, the 50-year-old singer insists there are no plans to mark the occasion as he would rather perform with the band only when it feels "right".
He told Britain’s OK! magazine: "We’ve never planned anything out, we seldom talk to each other and I think that’s good.
"If we’d been clever and were thinking of marketing then we could have thought, ‘It’s 20 years since ‘Different Class’ came out next year’ and to get back together then, but that would just be boring.
"I think it’s better to get together when it feels like the right thing to do, rather than looking at a calendar. I just like to be vague."
Jarvis Cocker: Schoolmates’ respect meant more
