Music review time...
...and this is what I've been working on as opposed to like, the ten thousand other things I need to do.
In which I talk about emo/pop-punk/post-punk/whatever you want to call it:
So, occasionally, I get into certain moods when it comes to my music. Normally I’ll listen to a fun mix of just about everything, but sometimes I find myself stuck in one genre or so for weeks at a time. This genre is often female singer-songwriters, though sometimes its R&B, often classic rock and every now and again, when I get homesick for the smell of real honeysuckle and the sticky humidity that only comes with a southern summer day, I’ll pull out the country.
Lately it’s been emo/pop-punk/etc. music by guys who do or have worn eyeliner in the past. Now, really since no one can define what emo is, though pop-punk is more clear, a lot of people don’t like the music, or don’t like the frontmen, or whatthefuckever. Me? Give me poetic lyrics and a good backbeat with some awesome guitar or other instruments and I’m sold. Also, I am a whore for literary and movie references in songs and someone who can sing the shit out of nonsensical lyrics. This, my friends, is the reason I think I do have stupid love for Fall Out Boy, because it’s not like most of their songs make sense anyway.
So, being that I am in this mood, I am going to wax lyrical and poetic about four of my favorite bands often identified with this musical label, I’ll go from the grand-daddies to the babies, because I am historical like that.
Okay, so the granddaddies are really The Clash and The Cure and The Smiths, so really I’m starting with the slightly older uncles, them folks being Placebo.
Placebo, oh Placebo.
See, while the boys who formed in a post-9/11 world play at stage-gay, Placebo is the band who actually contains gay, straight and bi-sexual members. Placebo is the band with the frontman who at one time was so androgynous, and yes, even wore dresses for shits and giggles, that people often wondered if it was, indeed, a girl. Placebo also never managed to hit it huge in the USA, but they have a strong following going on close to 15 years and honestly, some of their new fans probably were not even on this earth when the self-titled debut dropped in 1996. Also, I love how ridiculous they are and look in “Velvet Goldmine.” Brian Molko, the lead singer, is the one you see running in the ridiculous top hat and platforms at the beginning of the movie. You also spot them again at the “funeral” performance where they perform 20th Century Boy. That is, if you manage to not wear the rewind out going back to watch Ewan McGregor’s first stage performance over and over again. Honestly, it’s not even the nudity that I love, it’s just that a) the man can sing and b) yes, he does look good in leather trousers, black nail polish, shirtless, and dusting himself with gold glitter.
These boys, though, I love these boys.
So, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
Placebo
The first album, with the song that got them noticed, called “Nancy Boy.” As Placebo albums go, it is my least favorite, but it is also the least polished. (Plus, nothing beats my love for Black Market Music, but we shall get to that later.) I only really like, oh three songs on here, but I still listen to the whole thing when I’m in the mood. A lot of the songs do sound like the same at the start, but they change a lot in the midst of their playing time.
“Teenage Angst,” oh so aptly named track that it is, sits as the second track on the album and is the first of the many Placebo songs of which I will list in this rambling bit of blogging. The song contains one of my favorite lyrics of all time, “Since I was born, I started to decay.” Morbid as it is, this is a sentiment I’ve stated more than once. It’s an up-tempo track for the album but is more of a mid-tempo when taken into consideration with all of Placebo’s work. Brian’s voice is soft and melodious and it’s just a calm song, music and performance wise, which belies its lyrics and title.
“36 Degrees” contains a music and performance style more common to Placebo on their up-tempos. There is nothing new or great in the song, but the drum back beat is good and you will find yourself repeating the lyrics “someone tried to do me ache” over and over again. Or the counting part. Which you will get if you listen to the song. Because really, aren’t well just “shoulders, toes, and knees….thirty-six degrees?”
“Nancy Boy,” ah, the famous song. Now, remember that stage gay bit? The boys of these days like to play at it, but Placebo has an actual song that addresses sexual identities and recreational drug uses. No metaphors out here. I mean, really, when a song starts out with the line, “Alcoholic kind of mood..” yeah, no hidden smoke and mirrors there. Now, the version of Nancy Boy on the album is what I think of as the rough version. You can find the more polished version on Once More With Feeling, disc one, which lists the Placebo singles. The music and the signing is much more polished on this version. The debut album version is kind of tinny.
“I Know” stands out because of the instruments used on it. Just trust me and give it a listen. This, honestly, is probably my favorite of all the songs on the album. It sounds vaguely confessional and the use of like, bongos and the didjeridu (at least I think that’s what it is), really makes me love this song.
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Without You I’m Nothing
This is, I think, one of the most successful Placebo records. Certainly one of the most critically-acclaimed and the one in which they became known to a US audience for a tiny bit of time. Most people adore this album, and rightly so, but my heart really does belong to Black Market Music, but we’ll get to that later. It came out in 1998, and considering the general state of music in the US at the time, you can sort of understand the reason why it went underground.
“Pure Morning,” again, the album version differs from the single version but you can find the single/video version on the Once More With Feeling collection. I like both versions, but if I want to visualize the video, I have to listen to that version. Either way, this song contains a combination of lyrics that will get stuck in your head.
“You Don’t Care About Us.” All of I have to say about this song is how can you not love a song that contains the phrase “mental masturbation?”
“Without You I’m Nothing,” now, there are at least three versions of this song out there. The two well known are this one, on the album which is just Placebo, and the one on Black Market Music which is a duet with David Bowie. I kind of love the Bowie version just because I love David Bowie, but either way the lyrics and the music make this song and are the same and sad and beautiful on both versions. Some favorite lyrics:
I'm unclean a libertine
And every time you vent your spleen
I seem to lose the power of speech
You're slipping slowly from my reach
You grow me like an evergreen
You've never seen the lonely me at all
And just that sad, haunting last line of “Without you, I’m nothing at all.”
“The Crawl” Slow, dark, angsty track that, you can tell, by the title is not about sunshine and roses. Drug use and abuse and sex that sounds like random sad murmurs from a dark and dingy corner.
“Every You Every Me” Again, there are two versions of this song. The album one and the one that appears both on the Cruel Intentions Soundtrack and Once More With Feeling, there is a slight tempo difference, the single version is a bit faster and sounds more angrier with more pronounced guitars and more electronic effects. I love both versions even if the single version is the one I heard first. This song is one of my favorite of Placebo’s. I adore the lyrics and therefore will be helpful and list them all below for you,
Sucker love is heaven sent
You pucker up, our passion's spent
My heart's a tart, your body's rent
My body's broken, yours is bent
Carve your name into my arm
Instead of stressed, I lie here charmed
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Sucker love, a box I choose
No other box I choose to use
Another love I would abuse
No circumstances could excuse
In the shape of things to come.
Too much poison come undone
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Sucker love is known to swing
Prone to cling and waste these things
Pucker up for heaven’s sake
There's never been so much at stake
I serve my head up on a plate
It's only comfort, calling late
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Every me and every you,
Every me, me
Like the naked leads the blind
I know I'm selfish, I'm unkind
Sucker love I always find
Someone to bruise and leave behind
All alone in space and time
There's nothing here but what here's mine
Something borrowed, something blue
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Every me and every you
Every me, me
“My Sweet Prince” Shakespeare references and drug abuse all at once. What more could a girl ask for? While Molko sings about lovers and “chasing the dragon” along with repeating one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s epithets, this one being for Hamlet, is just dark and twisted. Especially considering when Hamlet gets called “my sweet prince.” Oddly enough, and totally unrelated I’m sure, if you ever watch the movie From Hell, Johnny Depp’s character spends a long time chasing the dragon and when he goes at the end, one of the other characters repeats the famous lines from Hamlet.
“Sacred of Girls” is a track I can’t really explain why I love, I just do. Very fast and harsh guitars. I just love the sound of it.
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Black Market Music
My most favorite of all the Placebo albums. Seriously I love and adore the first eight tracks on the US release and it contains my most favorite of all their original songs. When my cd of this album eventually wears out I will cry, even though I know the digital version is also out there. It’s just the tangible thing that I love. The album is one that does not let up from beginning to end, a long ride that pulls everyone along through all different sorts of emotions. And yes, it was the first Placebo album I bought and therefore holds a strong and special place in my heart.
Oh, where to begin? Perhaps at the beginning.
“Taste in Men” opens the album. Shallow side note here: Out of all the Placebo videos, and there are many, I like Brian’s look the best in this one. Also, there are tarot cards. Anyway…The song itself is hard to describe. The music is just different, often harsh and disconcerting, but it is still a good song. The pronunciation of the words in the lyrics also makes the song interesting. The way the lines, “dazzled doused in gin” are pronounced stand out in the song and stay in the listener’s head. Like many Placebo songs, it’s one set or so of lyrics repeated over and over again, but works very well in this song.
“Days Before You Came” is the track after “Taste in Men.” I once saw this song used in a fanvid for Velvet Goldmine and those images come into my mind ever since I watched it. Besides that bit of sense memory, I love this song. I love the music, the lyrics, the performance the whole overall feel of it. It contains the signature Placebo sound in its guitar riffs and drum beats. I love the story told, the defiant claims of “I didn’t want you anyway” as a spurned lover reflects on his or her past.
“Special K” is the third track, and is about ecstasy of course. Not much to say about these songs except you too will be singing, “gravity, no escaping gravity.” The lyrics are addictive and it is a catchy tune.
“Spite and Malice” is the fourth song and is number 5 in my Placebo top ten. The rapper is not a member of Placebo but some guy called Justin Warfield, who I know nothing about but I love his rapping style. The song starts out with the lines, “ahhahaa revolution, dope, guns, fucking in the streets.” Again, I love the whole feel of this song. It’s like a song for some future sci-fi city movie in my mind. The lyrics are one of my favorite parts, and therefore I place them below:
Ahaha revolution
Dope guns fucking in the streets
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the streets
Aces take your time
Queens are left for dead
Jacks can stand in line
And touch themselves instead
Aces take your pity
And keep it warm in bed
Aces take your time
Cut the deck
The queens left for dead
Soft and wet scarf tied to the bed
Jack is all tragic when he's stands alone
Feelin' demonic harmonic
In a no go zone
You look well suited
Like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Cruisin' for pity
And looking pretty as fuck
Ace take your chances
Queen wish you luck
Aces take your time
Draw your final breath
Jacks are feelin fine
They've clubbed themselves to death
Aces take your pity
You sleep with it instead
Aces take your time
You can play your card
I'll hold onto mine
Tied up in the reasons
Ace take your time
Looks turn to lovers
Flames into fires
Jack loves his tragedy
Queen her desires
You look well suited like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Wrap me in your trauma
And I may just give you mine
Queen take your chances
Aces take your time
Dope guns fucking in the street
Everything will blow tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Either friend or foe tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Cut the deck
The queens left for dead
Soft and wet scarf tied to the bed
Jack is all tragic when he's stands alone
Feelin' demonic harmonic
In a no go zone
You look well suited
Like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Cruisin' for pity
And looking pretty as fuck
Ace take your chances
Queen wish you luck
Dope guns fucking in the street
Everything will blow tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Either friend or foe tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Now I skip to my favorite Placebo song of all time: “Haemoglobin”
I cannot express in words why I love this song. Everything about it works for me and I receive such vivid images from the lyrics. “Running Up that Hill,” “Sleeping with Ghosts,” “Spite and Malice,” and “Blind” get close to approaching the title of favorite Placebo song, but “Haemoglobin” beats them all down. At once it is both signature Placebo and something completely different. The production on the song is amazing. I just urge a listen to this song and post some of the lyrics below:
I was hanging from a tree
Unaccustomed to such violence
Jesus looking down on me
I'm prepared for one big silence
How'd I ever end up here
Must be through some lack of kindness
And it seemed to dawn on me
Haemoglobin is the key
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
At the time they cut me free
I was brimming with defiance
Doctors looking down on me
Breaking every law of science
How'd I ever end up here
A latent strain of color blindness
Then it seemed to dawn on me
Haemoglobin is the key
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Now my feet don't touch the ground
Now my feet don't touch the ground, go
Now my feet don't touch the ground
Now my feet don't touch the ground
As they drag me to my feet
I was filled with incoherence
Theories of conspiracy
The whole world wants my disappearance
I'll go fighting nail and teeth
You've never seen such perseverance
Gonna make you scared of me
'Cause haemoglobin is the key
“Peeping Tom” is the last song I’ll highlight from this album. The tone here is calm, quiet, dark and soft. The feeling of a confessional is before you, unlike the action-packed feel of “Spite and Malice” or the dark cell of “Haemoglobin” or the rave of “Special K.” The rambled confessions of the lost and drug confused are contained herein; becoming almost breathtaking with the repeated lines of:
I'm weightless
I'm bare
I'm faithless
I'm scared
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Sleeping With Ghosts
Sleeping with Ghosts is an album which first really started to divide Placebo fans. The sound, the tone, the direction was different. The group were no longer young twenty-somethings but more mature men delving into deeper issues. The songs were slower, more reflective. The summing up of the album largely comes with which edition you got. The Special Edition came with a second disc full of covers (some ungodly good, some cringe worthy, and some in-between.) I’ll go with this edition since it is the one I know best.
The album opens with “Bulletproof Cupid,” an instrumental (which I go back and forth between “eh” “like this” and “love this”), so I’ll go straight to “English Summer Rain,” a song people either love or hate, which the band eventually remixed and re-released. I am probably one of ten people who like the original, for no other reason than I like the sound of it.
“Sleeping with Ghosts” is clearly the title track. It is also my favorite song on the album. It’s sad, reflective, and poetic with phrases such as “Cause soul mates never die.” The lyrics and the music are stripped down and simple, and yet it all makes a hauntingly beautiful song. I was hooked into this song from the first opening notes, and it’s not let up since. There is a faster remixed version of this song out there somewhere, but I prefer the original.
“The Bitter End” is about the ending of a relationship, full of all the hurt and angst that comes with it. It sounds like the earliest versions of Placebo, but much more polished. Such a song can be about nothing but anger and ending, and yet, you can still dance to it.
“Plasticine” sounds like something that could have been on “Black Market Music” which makes it stand out a bit on “Sleeping with Ghosts,” but it makes sense to put it with “The Bitter End.” There are some interesting things done with the mixing of the music here, parts being played in reverse and echoing vocals. It contains one of my most favorite but most obvious bits of Placebo lyrical work, “Don’t forget to be the way you are.”
“Special Needs” is a song I heard before I started watching QaF: USA and yet I will forever associate it with season four Brian and Justin in the loft. That is all. Good use of music there, production people.
“Protect Me From What I Want” is a song that you can have in both English, or French called “Protege Moi.” I like both versions. You cannot make me choose between the two. There is a lovely cadence to the signing of the lyrics here. Almost sing-songy. I adore the music in this one, almost sounds like a music box of some sort at the start. Def. in my Top 20 of Placebo songs.
“Centrefolds” is the last song on the standard edition of the album. There’s only a handful of lyrics to the song, but it’s a long song. Slow, drawn out, and sad. It’s been used in quite a few films and on tv shows. It can and will make you cry if you are in a sad mood.
The Special Edition came with a second disc of Covers. This is now a downloadable album all on its own, I have found out. This contains, pretty much, one of Placebo’s best songs ever: “Running Up That Hill.” No, it was not a new song in 2007 when it appeared on all these American tv shows. The song has been around and loved by Placebo fans since 2003. Anyway, the song is originally by Kate Bush. Do not listen to her version. It will make your ears bleed. You know how Hendrix came in and owned Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower?” Yeah, that’s what Placebo did here. They did not write this song, they did not create it, and yet they re-worked it and own it now. This is my number two favorite Placebo song. Even people who don’t like Placebo like this song. It is that good. Go listen to it. Now.
There are many other covers. Placebo finally did a cover of The Pixie’s “Where is My Mind” probably b/c they got tired of telling people “No, really, we don’t do that song.” It is best not to talk about what they did to Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You.” I actually quite enjoy their take of The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” Sinead O’Conner’s “Jackie” and Big M’s “Daddy Cool.” There are others, do with them what you will.
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Once More With Feeling
Once More With Feeling is pretty much the Greatest Hits Album. One disc contains the singles, with some of the songs only released on special editions and two new songs. The second disc is various remixes of said singles. All I can tell you is that “Twenty Years” one of the new songs, is also in my Top 20.
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Meds
Meds is the most recent studio album from Placebo, released in 2006. I did not like this album on first listen. It took a while to get into it, and while I still have issues with some of the songs, I now adore 75% of the album. The album brought in a whole new generation of Placebo songs and is the last album to feature Steve on Drums.
“Meds,” title track that I became addicted to on first listen. Again, sounds like old school Placebo, but more polished. Love it. It’s dark and twisty and fast. It also seems to be adored by fanvidders and has resulted in quite a few awesome vids from various fandoms. The song just builds and builds until it stops.
“Post Blue” was a song I liked on first listen and now love. It’s another up-tempo and fits in the same style as Black Market Music.
“Because I Want You,” was, I believe, the lead single off this album. Don’t quote me. Anyway, it’s up-tempo and danceable. But not my favorite song in the world. Still, I like it a lot more than others on this album.
“Blind” is my favorite song on the whole album. I…just..yeah. I get so many vivid images when I listen to this song and it is my personal soundtrack for more than one of my OTPs. It’s slow to mid-tempo and I just love the production and build up of the song by the end. Some of my favorite lyrics below:
I know you're broken
I know you're broken
I know you're broken
If I could tear you from the ceiling
I'd freeze us both in time
And find a brand new way of seeing
Your eyes forever glued to mine
Don't go and leave me
And please don't drive me blind
Don't go and leave me
And please don't drive me blind
“Broken Promise” features Michael Stipe. Really, that’s all I should have to say, but I won’t. It’s a song, again, about the ending of a relationship; betrayal and the like. I love the repeated phrase near the end “promise is a promise” as the vocals and music come to this end and then just stop with Brian’s voice ringing out the last few words; an accusation blaring in the emptiness of a song where all the instruments have disappeared.
“Song to Say Goodbye” is the last song on the album, fitting, isn’t it? It’s another semi-mid-tempo dark-style tune. It’s full of anger but without all the yelling so common to angry singers these days, and well, in most of Punk’s history. It’s creepy, honestly, but I still like it.
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Additional non-album songs of Placebo love: “Little Mo,” “Then the Clouds Will Open For Me,” and “Miss Moneypenny.”
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The Placebo out now, is a new Placebo. Really, new member and everything. They have a new song out, which you can currently download for free from Placeboworld.co.uk as long as you are willing to fork over one of your e-mail addresses.
How do I feel about the new song?
The lyrics are “eh” for me, but the music is still great. Brian still sounds like Brian and, like has happened so many times in the past, I think it will take me a while to fall in love with the song. The song itself goes through many different…styles might be the best word, and that is something I always enjoy in my music. Still, it took me a while to fall in love with most of Meds, and now I adore so many songs on that album. It was the same with Sleeping with Ghosts which is still not my favorite but contains some heartbreakingly beautiful music.
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My Top Twenty Must Have Placebo Songs
1. Haemoglobin
2. Running Up That Hill
3. Sleeping With Ghosts
4. Blind
5. Spite and Malice
6. Every You Every Me
7. Days Before You Came
8. The Bitter End
9. Without You I’m Nothing
10. Taste In Men
11. Meds
12. Pure Morning
13. I Know
14. Post Blue
15. Broken Promise
16. Protect Me From What I Want
17. Twenty Years To Go
18. My Sweet Prince
19. Peeping Tom
20. Then The Clouds Will Open For Me
Parts 2 (My Chemical Romance) and 3 (Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco) will come, eventually.
In which I talk about emo/pop-punk/post-punk/whatever you want to call it:
So, occasionally, I get into certain moods when it comes to my music. Normally I’ll listen to a fun mix of just about everything, but sometimes I find myself stuck in one genre or so for weeks at a time. This genre is often female singer-songwriters, though sometimes its R&B, often classic rock and every now and again, when I get homesick for the smell of real honeysuckle and the sticky humidity that only comes with a southern summer day, I’ll pull out the country.
Lately it’s been emo/pop-punk/etc. music by guys who do or have worn eyeliner in the past. Now, really since no one can define what emo is, though pop-punk is more clear, a lot of people don’t like the music, or don’t like the frontmen, or whatthefuckever. Me? Give me poetic lyrics and a good backbeat with some awesome guitar or other instruments and I’m sold. Also, I am a whore for literary and movie references in songs and someone who can sing the shit out of nonsensical lyrics. This, my friends, is the reason I think I do have stupid love for Fall Out Boy, because it’s not like most of their songs make sense anyway.
So, being that I am in this mood, I am going to wax lyrical and poetic about four of my favorite bands often identified with this musical label, I’ll go from the grand-daddies to the babies, because I am historical like that.
Okay, so the granddaddies are really The Clash and The Cure and The Smiths, so really I’m starting with the slightly older uncles, them folks being Placebo.
Placebo, oh Placebo.
See, while the boys who formed in a post-9/11 world play at stage-gay, Placebo is the band who actually contains gay, straight and bi-sexual members. Placebo is the band with the frontman who at one time was so androgynous, and yes, even wore dresses for shits and giggles, that people often wondered if it was, indeed, a girl. Placebo also never managed to hit it huge in the USA, but they have a strong following going on close to 15 years and honestly, some of their new fans probably were not even on this earth when the self-titled debut dropped in 1996. Also, I love how ridiculous they are and look in “Velvet Goldmine.” Brian Molko, the lead singer, is the one you see running in the ridiculous top hat and platforms at the beginning of the movie. You also spot them again at the “funeral” performance where they perform 20th Century Boy. That is, if you manage to not wear the rewind out going back to watch Ewan McGregor’s first stage performance over and over again. Honestly, it’s not even the nudity that I love, it’s just that a) the man can sing and b) yes, he does look good in leather trousers, black nail polish, shirtless, and dusting himself with gold glitter.
These boys, though, I love these boys.
So, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
Placebo
The first album, with the song that got them noticed, called “Nancy Boy.” As Placebo albums go, it is my least favorite, but it is also the least polished. (Plus, nothing beats my love for Black Market Music, but we shall get to that later.) I only really like, oh three songs on here, but I still listen to the whole thing when I’m in the mood. A lot of the songs do sound like the same at the start, but they change a lot in the midst of their playing time.
“Teenage Angst,” oh so aptly named track that it is, sits as the second track on the album and is the first of the many Placebo songs of which I will list in this rambling bit of blogging. The song contains one of my favorite lyrics of all time, “Since I was born, I started to decay.” Morbid as it is, this is a sentiment I’ve stated more than once. It’s an up-tempo track for the album but is more of a mid-tempo when taken into consideration with all of Placebo’s work. Brian’s voice is soft and melodious and it’s just a calm song, music and performance wise, which belies its lyrics and title.
“36 Degrees” contains a music and performance style more common to Placebo on their up-tempos. There is nothing new or great in the song, but the drum back beat is good and you will find yourself repeating the lyrics “someone tried to do me ache” over and over again. Or the counting part. Which you will get if you listen to the song. Because really, aren’t well just “shoulders, toes, and knees….thirty-six degrees?”
“Nancy Boy,” ah, the famous song. Now, remember that stage gay bit? The boys of these days like to play at it, but Placebo has an actual song that addresses sexual identities and recreational drug uses. No metaphors out here. I mean, really, when a song starts out with the line, “Alcoholic kind of mood..” yeah, no hidden smoke and mirrors there. Now, the version of Nancy Boy on the album is what I think of as the rough version. You can find the more polished version on Once More With Feeling, disc one, which lists the Placebo singles. The music and the signing is much more polished on this version. The debut album version is kind of tinny.
“I Know” stands out because of the instruments used on it. Just trust me and give it a listen. This, honestly, is probably my favorite of all the songs on the album. It sounds vaguely confessional and the use of like, bongos and the didjeridu (at least I think that’s what it is), really makes me love this song.
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Without You I’m Nothing
This is, I think, one of the most successful Placebo records. Certainly one of the most critically-acclaimed and the one in which they became known to a US audience for a tiny bit of time. Most people adore this album, and rightly so, but my heart really does belong to Black Market Music, but we’ll get to that later. It came out in 1998, and considering the general state of music in the US at the time, you can sort of understand the reason why it went underground.
“Pure Morning,” again, the album version differs from the single version but you can find the single/video version on the Once More With Feeling collection. I like both versions, but if I want to visualize the video, I have to listen to that version. Either way, this song contains a combination of lyrics that will get stuck in your head.
“You Don’t Care About Us.” All of I have to say about this song is how can you not love a song that contains the phrase “mental masturbation?”
“Without You I’m Nothing,” now, there are at least three versions of this song out there. The two well known are this one, on the album which is just Placebo, and the one on Black Market Music which is a duet with David Bowie. I kind of love the Bowie version just because I love David Bowie, but either way the lyrics and the music make this song and are the same and sad and beautiful on both versions. Some favorite lyrics:
I'm unclean a libertine
And every time you vent your spleen
I seem to lose the power of speech
You're slipping slowly from my reach
You grow me like an evergreen
You've never seen the lonely me at all
And just that sad, haunting last line of “Without you, I’m nothing at all.”
“The Crawl” Slow, dark, angsty track that, you can tell, by the title is not about sunshine and roses. Drug use and abuse and sex that sounds like random sad murmurs from a dark and dingy corner.
“Every You Every Me” Again, there are two versions of this song. The album one and the one that appears both on the Cruel Intentions Soundtrack and Once More With Feeling, there is a slight tempo difference, the single version is a bit faster and sounds more angrier with more pronounced guitars and more electronic effects. I love both versions even if the single version is the one I heard first. This song is one of my favorite of Placebo’s. I adore the lyrics and therefore will be helpful and list them all below for you,
Sucker love is heaven sent
You pucker up, our passion's spent
My heart's a tart, your body's rent
My body's broken, yours is bent
Carve your name into my arm
Instead of stressed, I lie here charmed
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Sucker love, a box I choose
No other box I choose to use
Another love I would abuse
No circumstances could excuse
In the shape of things to come.
Too much poison come undone
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Sucker love is known to swing
Prone to cling and waste these things
Pucker up for heaven’s sake
There's never been so much at stake
I serve my head up on a plate
It's only comfort, calling late
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Every me and every you,
Every me, me
Like the naked leads the blind
I know I'm selfish, I'm unkind
Sucker love I always find
Someone to bruise and leave behind
All alone in space and time
There's nothing here but what here's mine
Something borrowed, something blue
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me, me
Every me and every you
Every me, me
“My Sweet Prince” Shakespeare references and drug abuse all at once. What more could a girl ask for? While Molko sings about lovers and “chasing the dragon” along with repeating one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s epithets, this one being for Hamlet, is just dark and twisted. Especially considering when Hamlet gets called “my sweet prince.” Oddly enough, and totally unrelated I’m sure, if you ever watch the movie From Hell, Johnny Depp’s character spends a long time chasing the dragon and when he goes at the end, one of the other characters repeats the famous lines from Hamlet.
“Sacred of Girls” is a track I can’t really explain why I love, I just do. Very fast and harsh guitars. I just love the sound of it.
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Black Market Music
My most favorite of all the Placebo albums. Seriously I love and adore the first eight tracks on the US release and it contains my most favorite of all their original songs. When my cd of this album eventually wears out I will cry, even though I know the digital version is also out there. It’s just the tangible thing that I love. The album is one that does not let up from beginning to end, a long ride that pulls everyone along through all different sorts of emotions. And yes, it was the first Placebo album I bought and therefore holds a strong and special place in my heart.
Oh, where to begin? Perhaps at the beginning.
“Taste in Men” opens the album. Shallow side note here: Out of all the Placebo videos, and there are many, I like Brian’s look the best in this one. Also, there are tarot cards. Anyway…The song itself is hard to describe. The music is just different, often harsh and disconcerting, but it is still a good song. The pronunciation of the words in the lyrics also makes the song interesting. The way the lines, “dazzled doused in gin” are pronounced stand out in the song and stay in the listener’s head. Like many Placebo songs, it’s one set or so of lyrics repeated over and over again, but works very well in this song.
“Days Before You Came” is the track after “Taste in Men.” I once saw this song used in a fanvid for Velvet Goldmine and those images come into my mind ever since I watched it. Besides that bit of sense memory, I love this song. I love the music, the lyrics, the performance the whole overall feel of it. It contains the signature Placebo sound in its guitar riffs and drum beats. I love the story told, the defiant claims of “I didn’t want you anyway” as a spurned lover reflects on his or her past.
“Special K” is the third track, and is about ecstasy of course. Not much to say about these songs except you too will be singing, “gravity, no escaping gravity.” The lyrics are addictive and it is a catchy tune.
“Spite and Malice” is the fourth song and is number 5 in my Placebo top ten. The rapper is not a member of Placebo but some guy called Justin Warfield, who I know nothing about but I love his rapping style. The song starts out with the lines, “ahhahaa revolution, dope, guns, fucking in the streets.” Again, I love the whole feel of this song. It’s like a song for some future sci-fi city movie in my mind. The lyrics are one of my favorite parts, and therefore I place them below:
Ahaha revolution
Dope guns fucking in the streets
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the streets
Aces take your time
Queens are left for dead
Jacks can stand in line
And touch themselves instead
Aces take your pity
And keep it warm in bed
Aces take your time
Cut the deck
The queens left for dead
Soft and wet scarf tied to the bed
Jack is all tragic when he's stands alone
Feelin' demonic harmonic
In a no go zone
You look well suited
Like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Cruisin' for pity
And looking pretty as fuck
Ace take your chances
Queen wish you luck
Aces take your time
Draw your final breath
Jacks are feelin fine
They've clubbed themselves to death
Aces take your pity
You sleep with it instead
Aces take your time
You can play your card
I'll hold onto mine
Tied up in the reasons
Ace take your time
Looks turn to lovers
Flames into fires
Jack loves his tragedy
Queen her desires
You look well suited like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Wrap me in your trauma
And I may just give you mine
Queen take your chances
Aces take your time
Dope guns fucking in the street
Everything will blow tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Either friend or foe tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Cut the deck
The queens left for dead
Soft and wet scarf tied to the bed
Jack is all tragic when he's stands alone
Feelin' demonic harmonic
In a no go zone
You look well suited
Like you came to win
Lust spite and malice
Your degrees of sin
Cruisin' for pity
And looking pretty as fuck
Ace take your chances
Queen wish you luck
Dope guns fucking in the street
Everything will blow tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Either friend or foe tonight
Revolution
Dope guns fucking in the street
Now I skip to my favorite Placebo song of all time: “Haemoglobin”
I cannot express in words why I love this song. Everything about it works for me and I receive such vivid images from the lyrics. “Running Up that Hill,” “Sleeping with Ghosts,” “Spite and Malice,” and “Blind” get close to approaching the title of favorite Placebo song, but “Haemoglobin” beats them all down. At once it is both signature Placebo and something completely different. The production on the song is amazing. I just urge a listen to this song and post some of the lyrics below:
I was hanging from a tree
Unaccustomed to such violence
Jesus looking down on me
I'm prepared for one big silence
How'd I ever end up here
Must be through some lack of kindness
And it seemed to dawn on me
Haemoglobin is the key
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
At the time they cut me free
I was brimming with defiance
Doctors looking down on me
Breaking every law of science
How'd I ever end up here
A latent strain of color blindness
Then it seemed to dawn on me
Haemoglobin is the key
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Haemoglobin is the key
To a healthy heartbeat
Now my feet don't touch the ground
Now my feet don't touch the ground, go
Now my feet don't touch the ground
Now my feet don't touch the ground
As they drag me to my feet
I was filled with incoherence
Theories of conspiracy
The whole world wants my disappearance
I'll go fighting nail and teeth
You've never seen such perseverance
Gonna make you scared of me
'Cause haemoglobin is the key
“Peeping Tom” is the last song I’ll highlight from this album. The tone here is calm, quiet, dark and soft. The feeling of a confessional is before you, unlike the action-packed feel of “Spite and Malice” or the dark cell of “Haemoglobin” or the rave of “Special K.” The rambled confessions of the lost and drug confused are contained herein; becoming almost breathtaking with the repeated lines of:
I'm weightless
I'm bare
I'm faithless
I'm scared
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Sleeping With Ghosts
Sleeping with Ghosts is an album which first really started to divide Placebo fans. The sound, the tone, the direction was different. The group were no longer young twenty-somethings but more mature men delving into deeper issues. The songs were slower, more reflective. The summing up of the album largely comes with which edition you got. The Special Edition came with a second disc full of covers (some ungodly good, some cringe worthy, and some in-between.) I’ll go with this edition since it is the one I know best.
The album opens with “Bulletproof Cupid,” an instrumental (which I go back and forth between “eh” “like this” and “love this”), so I’ll go straight to “English Summer Rain,” a song people either love or hate, which the band eventually remixed and re-released. I am probably one of ten people who like the original, for no other reason than I like the sound of it.
“Sleeping with Ghosts” is clearly the title track. It is also my favorite song on the album. It’s sad, reflective, and poetic with phrases such as “Cause soul mates never die.” The lyrics and the music are stripped down and simple, and yet it all makes a hauntingly beautiful song. I was hooked into this song from the first opening notes, and it’s not let up since. There is a faster remixed version of this song out there somewhere, but I prefer the original.
“The Bitter End” is about the ending of a relationship, full of all the hurt and angst that comes with it. It sounds like the earliest versions of Placebo, but much more polished. Such a song can be about nothing but anger and ending, and yet, you can still dance to it.
“Plasticine” sounds like something that could have been on “Black Market Music” which makes it stand out a bit on “Sleeping with Ghosts,” but it makes sense to put it with “The Bitter End.” There are some interesting things done with the mixing of the music here, parts being played in reverse and echoing vocals. It contains one of my most favorite but most obvious bits of Placebo lyrical work, “Don’t forget to be the way you are.”
“Special Needs” is a song I heard before I started watching QaF: USA and yet I will forever associate it with season four Brian and Justin in the loft. That is all. Good use of music there, production people.
“Protect Me From What I Want” is a song that you can have in both English, or French called “Protege Moi.” I like both versions. You cannot make me choose between the two. There is a lovely cadence to the signing of the lyrics here. Almost sing-songy. I adore the music in this one, almost sounds like a music box of some sort at the start. Def. in my Top 20 of Placebo songs.
“Centrefolds” is the last song on the standard edition of the album. There’s only a handful of lyrics to the song, but it’s a long song. Slow, drawn out, and sad. It’s been used in quite a few films and on tv shows. It can and will make you cry if you are in a sad mood.
The Special Edition came with a second disc of Covers. This is now a downloadable album all on its own, I have found out. This contains, pretty much, one of Placebo’s best songs ever: “Running Up That Hill.” No, it was not a new song in 2007 when it appeared on all these American tv shows. The song has been around and loved by Placebo fans since 2003. Anyway, the song is originally by Kate Bush. Do not listen to her version. It will make your ears bleed. You know how Hendrix came in and owned Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower?” Yeah, that’s what Placebo did here. They did not write this song, they did not create it, and yet they re-worked it and own it now. This is my number two favorite Placebo song. Even people who don’t like Placebo like this song. It is that good. Go listen to it. Now.
There are many other covers. Placebo finally did a cover of The Pixie’s “Where is My Mind” probably b/c they got tired of telling people “No, really, we don’t do that song.” It is best not to talk about what they did to Depeche Mode’s “I Feel You.” I actually quite enjoy their take of The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” Sinead O’Conner’s “Jackie” and Big M’s “Daddy Cool.” There are others, do with them what you will.
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Once More With Feeling
Once More With Feeling is pretty much the Greatest Hits Album. One disc contains the singles, with some of the songs only released on special editions and two new songs. The second disc is various remixes of said singles. All I can tell you is that “Twenty Years” one of the new songs, is also in my Top 20.
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Meds
Meds is the most recent studio album from Placebo, released in 2006. I did not like this album on first listen. It took a while to get into it, and while I still have issues with some of the songs, I now adore 75% of the album. The album brought in a whole new generation of Placebo songs and is the last album to feature Steve on Drums.
“Meds,” title track that I became addicted to on first listen. Again, sounds like old school Placebo, but more polished. Love it. It’s dark and twisty and fast. It also seems to be adored by fanvidders and has resulted in quite a few awesome vids from various fandoms. The song just builds and builds until it stops.
“Post Blue” was a song I liked on first listen and now love. It’s another up-tempo and fits in the same style as Black Market Music.
“Because I Want You,” was, I believe, the lead single off this album. Don’t quote me. Anyway, it’s up-tempo and danceable. But not my favorite song in the world. Still, I like it a lot more than others on this album.
“Blind” is my favorite song on the whole album. I…just..yeah. I get so many vivid images when I listen to this song and it is my personal soundtrack for more than one of my OTPs. It’s slow to mid-tempo and I just love the production and build up of the song by the end. Some of my favorite lyrics below:
I know you're broken
I know you're broken
I know you're broken
If I could tear you from the ceiling
I'd freeze us both in time
And find a brand new way of seeing
Your eyes forever glued to mine
Don't go and leave me
And please don't drive me blind
Don't go and leave me
And please don't drive me blind
“Broken Promise” features Michael Stipe. Really, that’s all I should have to say, but I won’t. It’s a song, again, about the ending of a relationship; betrayal and the like. I love the repeated phrase near the end “promise is a promise” as the vocals and music come to this end and then just stop with Brian’s voice ringing out the last few words; an accusation blaring in the emptiness of a song where all the instruments have disappeared.
“Song to Say Goodbye” is the last song on the album, fitting, isn’t it? It’s another semi-mid-tempo dark-style tune. It’s full of anger but without all the yelling so common to angry singers these days, and well, in most of Punk’s history. It’s creepy, honestly, but I still like it.
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Additional non-album songs of Placebo love: “Little Mo,” “Then the Clouds Will Open For Me,” and “Miss Moneypenny.”
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The Placebo out now, is a new Placebo. Really, new member and everything. They have a new song out, which you can currently download for free from Placeboworld.co.uk as long as you are willing to fork over one of your e-mail addresses.
How do I feel about the new song?
The lyrics are “eh” for me, but the music is still great. Brian still sounds like Brian and, like has happened so many times in the past, I think it will take me a while to fall in love with the song. The song itself goes through many different…styles might be the best word, and that is something I always enjoy in my music. Still, it took me a while to fall in love with most of Meds, and now I adore so many songs on that album. It was the same with Sleeping with Ghosts which is still not my favorite but contains some heartbreakingly beautiful music.
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My Top Twenty Must Have Placebo Songs
1. Haemoglobin
2. Running Up That Hill
3. Sleeping With Ghosts
4. Blind
5. Spite and Malice
6. Every You Every Me
7. Days Before You Came
8. The Bitter End
9. Without You I’m Nothing
10. Taste In Men
11. Meds
12. Pure Morning
13. I Know
14. Post Blue
15. Broken Promise
16. Protect Me From What I Want
17. Twenty Years To Go
18. My Sweet Prince
19. Peeping Tom
20. Then The Clouds Will Open For Me
Parts 2 (My Chemical Romance) and 3 (Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco) will come, eventually.