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Placebo was founded when former Luxembourg schoolmates Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal met by chance at South Kensington tube station in 1994; they had previously attended the American International School of Luxembourg together (and Molko had also attended the European School of Luxembourg). Molko was performing at a local bar and invited Olsdal to watch him one night. On the strength of Molko's performance, Olsdal decided they should form a band.
While briefly known as Ashtray Heart,[2] the band quickly settled on the name Placebo - when they were choosing a name for the band, they noticed that many bands at this time had a drug name. They decided to name the band after a drug with no effect. 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. The band officially says "personal demons" were the reason for his absence. As Molko was having difficulty getting on with Schultzberg, they persuaded Hewitt to rejoin the band in 1996.[3]
Hewitt returned to the band after the departure of Schultzberg. The band gained some measure of notoriety for the sexualities of its members (Olsdal is homosexual, Hewitt is heterosexual and Molko is bisexual) as well as for their excessive lifestyles and Molko's androgynous image, which were often referred to in their songs.
Middle years
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 received less positive coverage from the British music press, who on occasion have mocked the perceived pretentiousness of frontman Molko. However, the band retained a huge popular and critical following in continental Europe. By way of their English-accented fluent French, France has become their very first target market in Europe - which has led them to gain huge popularity there, in excess of even their British fan base.[4]
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. Sleeping with Ghosts (2003) was more adventurous, experimenting with dance tunes, electronic music influences and a less polished rocky guitar sound, though keeping the traditional sound for several songs, including the first single The Bitter End.
The band was asked to play at David Bowie's fiftieth birthday party at Madison Square Garden. Placebo played "20th Century Boy" live with David Bowie at the BRIT Awards show in 1997. 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. In the same year, their peak album Without You I'm Nothing was recorded and released. The song Without You I'm Nothing from this album has had a version released in which David Bowie duets with Molko.
While briefly known as Ashtray Heart,[2] the band quickly settled on the name Placebo - when they were choosing a name for the band, they noticed that many bands at this time had a drug name. They decided to name the band after a drug with no effect. 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. The band officially says "personal demons" were the reason for his absence. As Molko was having difficulty getting on with Schultzberg, they persuaded Hewitt to rejoin the band in 1996.[3]
Hewitt returned to the band after the departure of Schultzberg. The band gained some measure of notoriety for the sexualities of its members (Olsdal is homosexual, Hewitt is heterosexual and Molko is bisexual) as well as for their excessive lifestyles and Molko's androgynous image, which were often referred to in their songs.
Middle years
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 received less positive coverage from the British music press, who on occasion have mocked the perceived pretentiousness of frontman Molko. However, the band retained a huge popular and critical following in continental Europe. By way of their English-accented fluent French, France has become their very first target market in Europe - which has led them to gain huge popularity there, in excess of even their British fan base.[4]
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. Sleeping with Ghosts (2003) was more adventurous, experimenting with dance tunes, electronic music influences and a less polished rocky guitar sound, though keeping the traditional sound for several songs, including the first single The Bitter End.
The band was asked to play at David Bowie's fiftieth birthday party at Madison Square Garden. Placebo played "20th Century Boy" live with David Bowie at the BRIT Awards show in 1997. 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. In the same year, their peak album Without You I'm Nothing was recorded and released. The song Without You I'm Nothing from this album has had a version released in which David Bowie duets with Molko.
Molko has been open about his use of recreational drugs; in a 1997 interview with New York Doll, admitting at one point that heroin was "probably the only drug on this planet I haven’t tried".[5] However, he later admitted to experimenting with heroin as well. [6]
Placebo encountered resistance from the British music industry upon release of the single "Special K" from their third album Black Market Music (2000) due to its use of a Ketamine high as a metaphor for love. The 'single' was released in Australia before eventually being made available in the UK as an EP featuring the b-sides and remixes that would have filled out a conventional two disc single release. At the time the band claimed this was due to dissatisfaction with the two disc single format, a claim somewhat undermined by their subsequent single releases all being made available in two cd formats accompanied by a 7inch vinyl.
Recent years
Stefan Olsdal performing in CollegnoIn the autumn of 2004, Placebo released the Singles Collection Once More with Feeling (on both CD and as a DVD featuring the band's videos) and played a one-night-only gig at Wembley Arena. Robert Smith of The Cure guested with them on two 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 2, 2005, the group performed "Twenty Years" and "The Bitter End" at the Live 8 concert, at the Palais de Versailles in France (see Live 8 concert, Paris). Their 2006 tour of the UK sold out in one weekend.
In September 2005, the band finished the recording phase of their new album with Daniel Waite formerly of K.D.E, which was released on March 13 (Delayed in U.S. until April 4th). The first single on the new album to be released in the UK on March 6th was titled "Because I Want You". The album was mastered from October to January.
Two songs feature duets with American singers. "Meds" with Alison Mosshart of The Kills and "Broken Promise" with Michael Stipe of REM.
The band's fifth album Meds was leaked over the Internet on January 17, 2006. No details are available on how the album was leaked. The official release date of Meds was March 13, 2006, making the leak almost two months early. The video for the single "Because I Want You" was shot on the 24th of January at Koko in Camden, London. The leak was projected by the band's record label to potentially cause a very dangerous loss of profit upon the albums release, nevertheless in most countries the album debuted relatively well, at #4 in Australia, and #7 in the UK. The second single from Meds was "Infra-Red", it was released on June 19, 2006 in the UK.
With Meds being the last album on Placebo's contract with Virgin Records and the title track said to be the last single it is rumoured that a B-Side album is to be released due to the sudden release of 2 brand new B-Sides (Lazarus and UNEEDMEMORETHANINEEDU, being the only B-Sides to be released since Detox-Five in 2004). Placebo are currently looking for a new record label.
In October 2006, their debut, self titled first album Placebo was digitally remastered and re-released with the title "10th Anniversary collectors edition". The box set includes a DVD containing music videos, concerts and TV performances.
End of March 2007, Placebo announced they were recruiting fans to star in the video for their newest single Running Up That Hill, a cover of the famous Kate Bush song.[7] Placebo joined Linkin Park and various other acts, including My Chemical Romance, Julien-K, HIM, Saosin, and Taking Back Sunday for 2007's Projekt: Revolution tour.
On 1 October 2007, Steve Hewitt left Placebo due to personal and musical differences. Placebo have stressed that the parting with Hewitt was amicable, but that the band members "can no longer live under the same roof, so to speak...Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal will begin work on Placebo’s 6th studio album next Spring [2008], and are in no rush to find an immediate replacement for Steve"
