quaist

Placebo

Placebo was founded when former Luxembourg schoolmates Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal met by accident at South Kensington tube station in 1994 and decided to form a band. While briefly known as Ashtray Heart, the band quickly settled on the name Placebo. The band could not decide on a drummer at first with Steve Hewitt and Robert Schultzberg alternating on the spot. While Hewitt was the preferred choice, he also had other commitments as drummer for London band Breed, leading to Schultzberg being the drummer when the band signed its contract with Caroline Records[citation needed]. The band officially say that "family commitments" was the reason for his absence. As the other band members were having difficulty getting on with Robert Schultzberg, they persuaded Hewitt to rejoin the band in 1996. The band gained some measure of notoriety for the sexualities of its members (Olsdal is gay, Hewitt is straight and Molko is bisexual) and their excessive lifestyles, often chronicled in their songs (the title of the track "Special K" from Black Market Music, for instance, is a reference to the drug ketamine).

The singles "Nancy Boy", from Placebo (1996), and "Pure Morning", from "Without You I'm Nothing" (1998), were the peak of their British success, both charting in the top ten. Since "Without You I'm Nothing" the band have fallen out with the British music press, who regularly mock the personality and pretentiousness of its lead member, Brian Molko.[citation needed] However, the band retained a huge popular and critical following in continental Europe. Their style altered little from Placebo through "Black Market Music" (2000), based around fairly straightforward guitar playing, often influenced by the style of 1970s British and American rock, and Molko's high-pitched vocals.

The band was asked to play at David Bowie's fiftieth birthday party at Madison Square Garden. The band's glam connections continued in 1998 when they recorded a cover of T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" for the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. The band also appeared in this film. Placebo played "20th Century Boy" live with David Bowie at the Brit Awards show in 1999.

"Sleeping With Ghosts" (2003) was more adventurous, experimenting with dance influences and a less polished guitar sound, though keeping the traditional sound for several songs, including the first single "The Bitter End".

In the autumn of 2004, Placebo released the Singles Collection Once More With Feeling (on both CD and as a DVD featuring the bands videos) and played a one-night-only gig at Wembley Arena. Robert Smith of The Cure guested with them on 2 tracks, "Without You I'm Nothing" and a cover of the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry". This performance was to be their last UK gig until 2006. After the Wembley gig, Placebo went on a short "Once More With Feeling" tour in South America. On July 2nd 2005, the group performed "Twenty Years" and "The Bitter End" at the Live 8 concert, at the Palais de Versailles in France. Their 2006 tour of the UK sold out in one weekend, and certainly lived up to expectations, as their single London date at Alexandra Palace had fans queuing up from 8pm, ready for the doors to be opened at 6pm the next day.

More

If you want, I'll create a fan listing later.

Ashleigh

Can't believe no one's responded to this! I am definitely a SWG/Meds-style fan; I do like the earlier music a lot, but stylistically the more recent stuff bakes my cookies. The repetitive lyrics get on a lot of peoples nerves, I hear, but I'm sort of fond of them.

quaist

So what are your favourite songs of them?

I love:

Every You, Every Me
Nancy Boy
Special Needs
Song To Say Goodbye
The Bitter End

goodnightboy

Hello, guys. My cousin is a huge Placebo fan but that's neither here nor there...

The point of this whole post is to tell you guys that there is already a Placebo thread whre you can continue discussing the band. I'm closing this...if there is anything you would like to ask, feel free to PM either my co-mod or I.