Placebo

gary the great

Ever since I heard nancy boy on top of the pops as a naive 15 year old ive never looked back. I didnt even know what the song was about at the time! Rarely a day has gone by since then that I havent listened to at least a song by them and the first time I ever saw them live was probly the greatest night of my life, even if Brian Molko did tell us to **** off and get a life after the gig

Although in music terms the music is just as great (meds is a really good album, probly my fav after BMM which will always be my fav album of all time) their live performances have been going down hill lately, even for the massive fans like myself (Placebo are known to have a huge cult like following!) brian has seemed to lost all his passion he once had for live performances which leads me to believe that the end may be nearing for them. This may have to do with the recent birth of his first child.

What do other placebo fans think and what do non placebo fans think of them?

Tazzle

I thought the new Meds album was a pretty big departure from their other material. Didn't appeal to me in the least, and up until that point I had alot of interest in Placebo. I think what you said about their performances is reflected in Meds, it lacked a certain charisma, tempo and energy of previous albums.

Limerick Dude

Ive only gotten into placebo in the past 3 years. My favourite album would be black market music and sleeping with ghosts. I really hope they go back to basics, with that high tempo raw music. Meds, i think is very diffrent but has good tracks. Ive only seen then live once and that was at a recent irish festival in july which must not be named! (you all know what one) and i must say i found them dissapointing..... Brian didnt even talk to the crowd.

Apparently they were amazing at the olympia a good few years back

I have their live dvd about their show in paris, and i must say it was breathtaking, maybe they only put more effort into their shows in france because they are iconic there.

I saw highlights of the leeds/reading festival (not sure which one it was) and the band finished up with nancy boy and it was a brilliant performance. It was really energetic and raw, with stef smashing up his guitar at the end sums it up.

Im dissapointed they havent added an irish date to their world tour. Do they not have a good following in ireland?

I know brian has had a kid, but tbh i dont see them stopping in the near future, i think they have another 2 or 3 albums in them.

Sean no.1 placebo fan!

Sgt. Politeness

I have to say i never liked them. The high pitched nasally vocals really bugged me. And i personally thought the lyrics were absolutely WOEFUL. Oasis style 'fishes in the dishes, cocaine on the brain, cat sat on the mat' rhyme-a-thon without much sense. So yeah, dont like em.

odhran

I never liked them either, but I saw them recently at Sziget music festival and I was actually rather impressed by them. I don't think I could listen to them regularly though- the lead singer's voice would drive me crazy.

gary the great

Sgt. Politeness wrote:

I have to say i never liked them. The high pitched nasally vocals really bugged me. And i personally thought the lyrics were absolutely WOEFUL. Oasis style 'fishes in the dishes, cocaine on the brain, cat sat on the mat' rhyme-a-thon without much sense. So yeah, dont like em.

What!? Brian Molko has written some amazing lyrics, maybe not so much on Sleeping with Ghosts and Meds, but Placebo, Without you im nothing (definetly their best album lyrically) and Black Market Music have some brilliant lyrics. And they recently won some award for consistanly brilliant lyrics.

As for the nasal voice comment, Brians voice has become much much less nasal, especially on Meds, theres very little nasally moments!

gary the great

The new single is Meds, will be released in October. Heres the video, i think the best video in a long time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNixch31wmo

bluto63

I've really gotten into Placebo recently. I'm more of a fan of their later stuff. Sleeping with Ghosts is the best IMO and I only recently got Meds but already there's a few tracks which really jump out at me.

The earlier stuff is great aswell, but I just prefer the latter. (noted that I'm listening to Black Market Music as I type)

Also the Meds video is sweet

Limerick Dude

Wow, i never thought meds was a great song but watching the video makes me like way better!

Sgt. Politeness

gary the great wrote:

What!? Brian Molko has written some amazing lyrics, maybe not so much on Sleeping with Ghosts and Meds, but Placebo, Without you im nothing (definetly their best album lyrically) and Black Market Music have some brilliant lyrics. And they recently won some award for consistanly brilliant lyrics.

As for the nasal voice comment, Brians voice has become much much less nasal, especially on Meds, theres very little nasally moments!

well maybe im missing out on something as ive not heard alot of placebo, but one instance of god awful lyricism still sticks with me to this day:
"a friend in needs a friend indeed,
a friend with weed is better
a friend with breasts and all the rest,
a friend whos dressed in leather"

bloody hell, it sounds like somethin id have written on the back of my maths copy during a particulalry boring class of algebra when i was 14. i just cant believe anyone would think lyrics like that were good, ive hard a million times better on a milllion other albums

gary the great

Ye pure Morning and nancy boy are probly 2 of their worst songs lyrically, thats why the hate playing them live and only do it as they are crowd pleasers.

I was at Reading last weekend and brian said "Somebody once asked me how to get on the radio, I said write total ****e like this" and then proceeded to play Pure Morning with a lot of reluctance. Some of the lyrics are total crap, and they admit that themselves, but bar pure morning, without you im nothing is a lyrically brilliant album.

odhran

"Meds" is one of the very few Placebo songs that I really like, but that's mainly due to the presence of Alison Bossard... The Kills, now there's a good band!

Limerick Dude

Yes i admit nancy boy and pure morning may have dodgy lyrics but i think they are good songs all the same! nancy boy melodically is just kick ass! \o/

calex71

I got meds and maybe listened to it twice , they havent interested me at all in the last 3 or 4 years.

Have seen them live 5 times. They where 10/10 4 of those times but when i comes to festival i didnt think much of them , personally i liked the 1st two albums and a handfull of somes from the others, spite and malace from BMM was a particular favorite of mine

Niall - Dahlia

I'm a big Placebo fan, one of my Top 5 bands. I liked Meds alot, though Black Market Music is still my favourite. I was really disappointed when they didn't include a proper Irish date on their tour though... :mad:

I don't like how they sneer at having to play their old tracks though, like it's above them. For **** sake like, Nancy Boy/Pure Morning were breakthrough hits for them, they'd have normal day-jobs were it not for some of their early hit singles, you'd think they'd be a bit grateful that their songs were so popular. It really bugs me when bands act like that. I realise they've played it hundreds upon hundreds of times, but that's what you sign up for when you start a band!

Rant over, great band

John

Niall - Dahlia wrote:

I realise they've played it hundreds upon hundreds of times, but that's what you sign up for when you start a band!

I disagree. While it's nice to hear some old favourites at a gig, if the band is sick of the songs they have every right not to play those songs. Look at The Cure, they never play "Lovecats" anymore because Robert Smith doesn't think that it represents them. If Placebo don't like "Nancy Boy" and "Pure Morning" then let them play what songs they do like. I'd rather hear them do a song and enjoy than go through the motions for the sake of people who are only there for a couple of songs.

Niall - Dahlia

John wrote:

I disagree. While it's nice to hear some old favourites at a gig, if the band is sick of the songs they have every right not to play those songs. Look at The Cure, they never play "Lovecats" anymore because Robert Smith doesn't think that it represents them. If Placebo don't like "Nancy Boy" and "Pure Morning" then let them play what songs they do like. I'd rather hear them do a song and enjoy than go through the motions for the sake of people who are only there for a couple of songs.

Lots of long-term successful bands stop playing the signature tune they become associated with, that's fine. It's just the sneering and condescending way Brian goes about it; "Somebody once asked me how to get on the radio, I said write total ****e like this" as was posted above. I'm sure he then proceed to play through it pretty half-arsed. Why bother? If he doesn't wanna play it, fine, but there's no need to make a song and dance about it (excuse the ****e pun) and waste everybody's time by dragging through the song.

On CH4 there when Meds was released Brian was being interviewed between live performances of songs from the new album. Inevitably Nancy Boy reared it's ugly head during the interview, with Brian harping on about how sick they were of playing it, it didn't represent their current sound, but that they play it anyway etc. What song did they play out on? You guessed it, Nancy Boy! It just smacks of hypocrisy, but hey, rock & roll, 2nd rant over!

Only got round to seeing that Meds video now, pretty sweet, as are most of their videos.

Mushy

Saw them at ****** and was very disappointed with their live performance. My friend went to send me a few cd's of theirs up in the post a few weks beforehand but they never arrived. I might give a chance to their studio work but too big a fan at all