Today we celebrate the 18th ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐บ of โ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐โ. It was released as the third single from the album โSleeping with ghostsโ on September 15th 2003 and reached no. 27 in the UK Singles Chart.
โSpecial needsโ is a story about a celebrity told from the view of someone who's sitting in a wheelchair. They reminisces about the times spent with this celebrity but they are also afraid to be written out of their ex's biography and being forgotten.
โSpecial needsโ is a story about a celebrity told from the view of someone who's sitting in a wheelchair. They reminisces about the times spent with this celebrity but they are also afraid to be written out of their ex's biography and being forgotten.
 |
Photo credit: Screenshots from the video, edit by Silke |
๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ฆ โ ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข
http://bit.ly/2pCxKGP
The music video was directed by Paul Gore and filmed in a waterless swimming pool in Hackney. It switches between the three band members playing the song there and a couple, apparently separated, who reminisce their relationship and make out. Brian: โThe idea behind it is kind of the idea of people making love to a memory. Two people making love whilst not being in the same room. Making love to a memory is something you do quite a bit by yourself after you break up with someone. So we wanted to illustrate that. It involved getting people in there dressed completely in blue and taking them out afterwards at the editing suite. We actually used compressed air on the skin to give the impression of finger marksโ (Once more with feeling DVD, 2004).
Brian started to write โSpecial needsโ around 1998 when Placebo was working on their second album โWithout you I'm nothingโ. But it seemed as if the song wasn't ready to come into existence and refused to get in proper shape back then. So it got stuck somewhere in the back of Brian's mind for years before he was able to finish it. (see quote below). The song finally made it on the band's fourth album โSleeping with ghostsโ in 2003.
 |
| Photo credit: Helena Berg |
๐ต https://bit.ly/3BLBgTm ๐ต
"Special needs" is in the top 10 of Placebo's most often played songs at their shows. Currently it's no. 6 with 519 confirmed performances. Since its live debut on March 10th 2003 the song was part of every tour. Last time it was brought on stage was on July 13th 2018 at Sions sous les รจtoiles festival in Switzerland. This was the last Placebo concert down to the present day.
The single was available in two different versions. The CD includes an extended version of the song, a remix of โEnglish summer rainโ and โPlasticine (Lounge version)โ. The DVD consists of the video clip and the making of it, a remix of โThe bitter endโ and the album version of "Special needs".
 |
| Photo credit: Jรฉrรดme Brรฉzillon |
๐ข โThe tale of a celebrity has-been told from a wheelchair. Someone reminiscing how the shoe is on the other foot and worrying that theyโll be written out of their exโs biography.โ
(Rock Sound, April 2003)
๐ข "I have worked on this song at the time of โWithout you I'm nothingโ. It was hanging somewhere in the air but it came out only last year. It was not ready, that's all โฆ I find it very interesting to be able to do a song in a few minutes and having to wait six years to write another. "
(Les Inrockuptibles Nยฐ382, March-April 2003)
๐ข โWhen youโre releasing your first couple of records you do think that youโre invincible. As a young artist thereโs always this voice in the back of your head telling you youโre shit, that youโre not as good as the next guy. By the time you get to your fourth album that voice has changed. You know you canโt be shit because youโve just sold X amount of records, but now itโs telling you youโre a has-been. As an artist thatโs been on my mind and thatโs why itโs crept into songs like โCentrefoldsโ and โSpecial Needsโ, this idea of washed-up celebrity.โ
(Rock Sound, April 2003)
Post by Silke
