๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ – ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข
๐ต http://bit.ly/2VhCxjy ๐ต
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| Photo credit: Screenshots from the video, edit by Silke |
“Slave to the wage“ samples the intro of "Texas Never Whispers" by the band Pavement. The line “Sick and tired of Maggie's farm“ is a reference to the Bob Dylan song “Maggie's farm“.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ – ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป
http://bit.ly/2FiZnQ5
The video is aesthetically inspired by the movie “Gattaca". The story that is told in the clip is based on a summer job Brian once had, which was shredding documents in a bank. “We used that as a metaphor for the drudgery of having a nine-to-five in the modern world”, he explained. The video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh, who had already worked on “Nancy Boy” and “Bruise Pristine” with Placebo before. You can read more about the shooting in the quotes below.
The song was produced by Paul Corkett and Placebo and recorded at Olympic Studios and Townhouse Studios in London. Brian has some painful memories to the recording of the track's vocals: ”It was the day that I found out that Scott Piering, the legendary plugger and our friend, had died and I was thinking about him that morning”.
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| Photo credit: Morten Holm |
๐ต https://bit.ly/3masmJE ๐ต
“Slave to the wage“ was performed live 350 confirmed times. It was first brought on stage on July 20th 2000 in Oxford, UK. This concert started the “Black market music” world tour. The song stayed on the setlist when Placebo were touring with their next album “Sleeping with ghosts” in 2003/2004 and was also played during the short “Once more with feeling” tour in 2005. Then it wasn't performed again until 2012. There were some renditions of the song in 2013 and a beautiful acoustic version was recorded at the “MTV Unplugged” show in London in 2015. After that “Slave to the wage” was a regular part of the “20 years” anniversary tour in 2016/2017. Last time the fans could hear it live was at a festival in Switzerland on July 13th 2018.
๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐๐๐ก ๐ข๐ก “๐ฆ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐” ๐
“It's about following your dreams and not getting stuck in the nine to five machinery. It's about promoting individuality.“
(Hip Online, February 1st, 2001)
๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก ๐ข๐ก “๐ฆ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐” ๐
๐ข ”The day I recorded the vocals to that track was the day that I found out that Scott Piering, the legendary plugger and our friend, had died and I was thinking about him that morning. There was a cloud that was hanging over us that day.
I strangely felt his presence.”
(Melody Maker, October 20th 2000)
๐ข “It's a song about chasing your dreams. It's kinda like the Robert Frost poem, "The road less traveled". [sic!] It's basically saying, promoting individuality and saying that you don't have to follow society's rules in order to become a personal success. It often involves a bit of risk taking and courage. But we're certainly living proof of the fact that these decisions that we made when we were very young, we're living proof embodied that the road less traveled can be incredibly fruitful, if you stay true to yourself, if you have the desire to be an individual, if you have the desire and the courage to chase your dreams. If you want to work at a bank, and that gives you a hard-on, then go work for a bank. Or, if you want to be an artist and that gives you a hard-on, be an artist. Don't feel that you have to work at a bank. And if you're prepared to make sacrifices and take risks, if you're lucky, if your karma is good, then these things will payoff in the end. Which I think it's a positive message really.“
(Vox Online, 2001)
๐ข "The song tells you to be an individual, believe in yourself and have the courage to chase your dreams. If you do, the rewards at the end are tenfold versus doing what your parents tell you to do. Get a good job, get married, have 2.4 children, 1.2 goldfish, 3.6 cars ... To a lot of people, that's the epitome of personal success. Which is why so many people get through a mid-life crisis. People reach a point in their lives and go, "Is this it?"
(Alternative Press, August 2001)
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| Photo credit: Stephen Sweet |
๐ต https://bit.ly/3yX1hx5 ๐ต
๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข ๐
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ก๐ ๐ค: ”This video was inspired by two things. The content was inspired by the only summer job I ever had, which was working in a bank, shredding documents. We used that as a metaphor for the drudgery of having a nine-to-five in the modern world. And the second, aesthetically it was by a film ‘Gattaca’ starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. It was the film where they met and first fell in love.
Another video with Howard Greenhalgh, who did ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Bruise Pristine’.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ก๐จ๐๐๐ก: ”It’s filmed at the University of East London, on a sunny day.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ: ”Kind of a weird building. Modernist architecture and stuff like that.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”I remember there was an airstrip at the halls of residence. Very weird. How do they expect the student to get any sleep whatsoever?”
๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: ”There was quite a lot of extras on this one.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”There’s another Howard Greenhalgh gratuitous panty shot coming up, which managed to slip by censors. There seems to be a gratuitous panty shot in every video.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฃ: ”A bit of postproduction on this one.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”It’s amazing car, it’s from an eastern bloc country, before the Wall came down. A Czechoslovakian or Bulgarian car which they used to drive the politicians around it.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: ”There’s a cool shot where you have wings and you stand in front of the bus.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”Closest I’ll ever been to an angel.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฃ: ”You grew those after ‘Pure morning’.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”And naturally the clothes have to come off.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: ”It’s probably Howard’s most postproduction-heavy video so far, apart from ‘Nancy Boy’.”
๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: ”It’s a good time to mention that Howard used to be an Olympic gymnast.”
๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ฃ: ”That’s true.”
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| Photo credit: Scarlet Page |
Run away from all your boredom
Run away from all your whoredom
And wave your worries
And cares goodbye
All it takes is one decision
A lot of guts
A little vision
To wave your worries
And cares goodbye
Sick and tired of Maggie's farm
She's a bitch with broken arms
Your worries and cares
Goodbye
It's a maze for rats to try
And it's a race for rats to die
Run away (x8)
Post by Silke
