💢𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐀 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐀𝐇𝐎💢

Well-known photos from the meeting of these two musicians in Paris were published in RollingStone magazine in October 2003. Their whole amazing interview is in French; with the help of my French friends, I translated the most interesting parts and today I share them with you here.

Photo credit: pictures from RollingStone / edit by Marti

💥𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕:
𝑬𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒉𝒐, b. 1956, is a very important figure in the French pop scene. He started writing his first songs in the 70's, influenced by Serge Gainsbourg and the bands Velvet Underground and Pink Floyd. Already in the 80's he experienced great success in selling his albums and in 2011 he celebrated 30 years of his career.
Here are three links to his amazing duets with well-known ladies - Jane Birkin, Vanessa Paradise and Charlotte Gainsbourg, a French actress, daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.
Personally, I really like this dancing concert from 2014 in London - if you want to listen to Etienne Daho, enjoy it.
🔸🎵🔸
https://bit.ly/39mjURl 𝐸𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝐷𝑎ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑉𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒
https://bit.ly/3m357OM 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛
https://bit.ly/2USTuhr 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑔
https://bit.ly/2UR57Wf 𝐷𝑎ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛

📌𝑩𝒊𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒔, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑬𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒂 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒛𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒐𝒅𝒌𝒂, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆.

🔸“It's a funny story,” recalls Brian. "I was celebrating my thirtieth birthday in London. Until then, I had never had a big party, a big 'surprise party'!
It was the first time, and also the first time that I had enough room. And in fact, we had to end up at thirty! So I was like, 'This time I'm freaking out' and invited Hedi Slimane from Christian Dior. And he came with Neil Tennant [from the Pet Shop Boys, Editor's note] and Etienne.
I was doing the 'doorman' that night, so I saw them come together and I wondered what he was doing there. I remember saying to him: (taking a tight tone)
'Mr. Daho, what the hell are you doing with me (laughs)?'
But it was a really nice surprise because we didn't know each other. Not at all. We talked a lot, it was cool. Since then, we haven't stopped bumping into each other by surprise "

𝐼𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒-𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑠:
🔸“When I grew up in Luxembourg, in the 1980s, Etienne was everywhere, on TV, radio. We couldn't escape him! I especially remember the track 'Epaule Tatto’.
And as Etienne would add later, 'Now either, you won't be able to escape me!"

- 𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟: 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠?
🔸Etienne Daho: "Ah, yes, definitely yes."
🔸Brian Molko: (very dry) "Not at all. I consider myself a rock'n'roll artist. And that’s very important to me" (he bursts out laughing at our expression a little stunned by so much firmness).

- 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ...
🔸BM: "No, no, not at all. That doesn't mean I don't like pop music. I love pop. But pop is something sacred, and that's what makes me angry these days. All that looking for the new star or Pop Idol in England. They better rename it Seeking a Karaoke Singer. This is an insult to pop as a genre of music, an insult to the public too."

🔸ED: "I believe that this kind of program is aimed at an audience between twelve and fifteen years old
The media are responsible for endlessly valuing and celebrating young people who are just starting out. Me, I have nothing against these young people and their dream of becoming a star. But this concept of star requires two basic things: first talent; then a lot of work.
(Brian nods enthusiastically, "That's it, that's exactly it!").
However, they are led to believe that everything can be learned in a fortnight in a castle. You learn your profession all your life.
What also bothers me about this story is that they are just performers. I have nothing against performers, but writing your songs, your music, imprinting something of your deep personality is extremely important. This is what touches people."

🔸BM: "The media are lying to you, and it created a social phenomenon that I called 'celebrity jealousy', causing young girls to think that at twenty-one they will be married to a footballer, and will be super rich and doing nothing. Etienne is right, you really have to learn, really work. But what also makes me very angry is that there is a part of the music business that sleeps with a TV channel that sleeps with a telephone company. And they all get big bonuses, big salaries for it, manipulating inevitably impressionable young people and telling them, 'You just have to win this and you'll be a star for your whole life.' It’s not like that at all."

🔸ED: "That’s a huge lie. To be famous doesn't mean anything (Brian nods loudly again). Ultimately, that is the most unpleasant part of the job. What is interesting is the creativity, the concerts; it is the work of creativity that makes a star status bearable."

🔸BM: "Celebrity is 'marketed' as something that has social value. But honestly, this is very transparent and very transient. Twenty years ago, when you asked a kid what he wanted to become, he would say firefighter, or whatever. Now he replies, 'I want to be a celebrity’. But what is celebrity? That’s the question. And what does that bring positive to society, to be famous? Almost nothing.
And that's why it makes me so angry, because I consider pop to be something huge, noble; listening to good pop is almost like a religious experience, something transcendent. And that's the function of pop: to make you forget the bad things in your life... and it's art…
Rock'n'roll is something that makes you think… about the problems you have in life, that holds out a mirror to you and shouts it into your face, like that, and makes you think about the things ... darker, the darker parts of human emotion.
In pop, as in any form of music, there has to be a level of quality. I refuse to think that because it's pop, it has to be disposable, like a Kleenex.
Look, for me the two people who make the best pop right now, who are huge, are Beyonce Knowles and Justin Timberlake. They have it all. Absolutely everything. The songs, first of all, fantastic. Then they can dance; they are beautiful; they can sing. That’s a pop artist to me. I dance whenever I hear "Rock Your Body" or "Crazy In Love". It has nothing to do with Gareth Gates [the winner of the Pop Idol show, Editor's note]."

🔸BM.: "Let's talk about U2, for example. We have a little game in Placebo. We decided that there is no such a song in the world as U2's 'With or without you'.
And you can take any song, you can sing the melody of 'With Or Without you' on it (laughs)!
We do this all the time! And I know I have a song like that in me, but I haven't written it yet. We're always looking for the 'With Or Without you' factor. It's a pretty experimental song actually, but you can walk into any hotel bar and the pianist will play it.
And this is the place that is interesting."

📌You can read the full version of the article in French here:
https://bit.ly/3nPW1p7
💢💢💢

Post by Marti
Photos taken from Rolling Stone, October 2003


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