Featuring a disco-inspired musical performance, the song was based on Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker's childhood memories of his friend Deborah Bone, who he had "fancied" in his youth but could never impress.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker based the lyrics on a girl he knew as a child and recalled, "the only bit that isn't true is the woodchip wallpaper.

Martin Aston of Attitude described the song as "seventies à go-go: the stamp of Elton John's 'Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting', Marc Bolan's glittery guitar, ABBA's sweeping gait and a huge swipe from Laura Branigan's Hi-NRG epic 'Gloria'.

"[10] James Masterton for Dotmusic said it "is easily the best track from the Different Class album, the closest they have ever come to an out-and-out pop stormer and certainly a floor-filler at office parties this holiday with its chorus of 'Let's all meet up in the year 2000/Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown.

'"[11] A reviewer from Music Week rated it three out of five, adding, "A bouncing disco beat, based on the riff from Laura Branigan's 'Gloria,' sees a pumped-up Pulp and Jarvis doing his usual talking bit.

"[12] Simon Price from Melody Maker named it Single of the Week, writing, "But 'Disco 2000', like 'Pink Glove' before it, shows that what fuels his vindictive bitterness is actually a deep romanticism.

Like The Human League's 'Louise' or Hot Chocolate's 'It Started with a Kiss', 'Disco 2000' — the second best track on Different Class after 'F.E.E.L.I.N.G.S Called Love' — is Jarvis' fantasy of meeting an old flame and reversing time (romanticism, remember, is equal parts dreaming of what could be, and what could have been).

"[13] Ben Willmott from NME said it "is probably not their finest moment of late but it's typical on-form Pulp with an achingly gooey chorus and sexual frustration by the lorryload.

[15] David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote, "As a singer and writer, Cocker specializes in hapless pining and geeky self-obsession, desperately holding on to a childhood crush in 'Disco 2000'.

"[16] Gina Morris from Smash Hits gave it five out of five and also named it Best New Single, adding, "In this latest gripping Pulp episode, Mr Cocker looks back, once again, on the grubby sexual fantasies of his hopeless youth — a girl he always fancied at school.

"[17] Barry Walters of Spin wrote, "This band has quoted disco riffs before, but the way it alludes here to Laura Branigan's 'Gloria' approaches genius.

[20] Stereogum's Ryan Leas ranked it as the band's second best, calling it "one of the ultimate Pulp songs" and concluding, "It's about youth and romanticism, but filtered through the perspective of a man already in his early 30s.

The members of Pulp are represented on cardboard cutouts and on televisions throughout (for this reason, drummer Nick Banks called the song "the easiest video [they] ever did").

[24] Romhanyi explains: So, in the video we duplicate the photo shoot, changing the order in a couple of cases, and of course add a lot of new stuff - the track is over five minutes long.