✨⭐ "𝙎𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨! 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤!" ⭐✨

Gender-bending, chart charging transatlantic trio put the wham! bam! into modern glam.

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 have just performed their adrenaline-charged power ballad "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖" live on British TV. Diminutive front person 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 - front "man" just doesn't work - wore lipstick and eyeliner and pounced about in a stretchy black tube skirt, the word "𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄" emblazoned across his tiny t-shirt. Fellow guitarist 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 (the tall gay one) and drummer 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 (the burly straight one) just got on playing. Brittle with angst, the track imploded into a cacophony of noise the presumably left viewers reeling. Sales of the trio's second album, '𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑰'𝒎 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈', will no doubt continue to surge.

Placebo at CD:UK 1999. Photo credit unknown

𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 reckons that all things taboo are represented in 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐, which is why they get up people's noses. "𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚,𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒚," he pronounces in his nasal, transatlantic accent, waving a silk cut in mid-air. Wedged in between his two lofty cohorts on a couch at London's 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔, the Luxembourg-raised American should, you'd think, seem midget-like by comparison. He can thank his giant-sized gob that he doesn't.

"𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚," he sniggers, "𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔." Partial to a bit of Wildean wordplay, he adds that "𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒔. 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒔. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚."

Nakedly confessional and sexually bewildering, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 have injected a much needed glam aesthetic into a jaded British rock scene. Their screen debut as Seventies band the 𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 in 𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒚𝒏𝒆𝒔' 𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 saw them in their element, (𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒆 watched them on set and has a placebo sticker on his fridge as a result) but just don't label them glam rockers. Where the majority of today's easily classifiable bands continue to insist they defy categories, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 really do.

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's affinity with the gender bending hedonism of 𝑰𝒈𝒈𝒚 and 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 is palpable (the band supported 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 on his European Tour and played at his 50th birthday party), but their influences are wide ranging. 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 cites 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒅𝒆 and 𝑴𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂; 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 the 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 and 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑪𝒂𝒗𝒆. 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 reels off 𝑷𝑱 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚, the 𝑷𝒊𝒙𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝑱𝒐𝒚 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉, the 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅𝒚𝒔 and, er, 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚. Their fans, he says, "𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒕𝒐 𝟒𝟎-𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓-𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔-𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈."

The spawning of 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 lookalikes began in 1996, when 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's thundering single "𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚" and eponymous debut album enjoyed surprise success. Now no gig would be complete without a gaggle of black bobbed androgynes hanging on to lyrics such as "𝑰'𝒎 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏/𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆" and worshipping the multi-lingual, bisexual 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 as some sort of mini god of identity crisis.

"𝑰𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚," he pouts. The impeccably mannered 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 has an equally polite Japanese male stalker; 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 gets women sneaking into his hall way at regular intervals.

While 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 and 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 knew each other vaguely at school in Sweden (𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 played basketball, 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 was in the drama group), it wasn't until they moved to England and bumped into each other outside a London tube station that they decided to form a band. And though 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 means "𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆" in Latin, their only criterion for their monicker was that it be a name they could imagine 40,000 people screaming. They enlisted 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 through a friend at 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉'𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 (where 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 was studying drama), lost him briefly to the band 𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 but wooed him back as a permanent member a couple of years ago. He happily takes the credit for 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's funkier sound.

Their rise and rise has coincided with a bout of stories highlighting a predilection for the more illicit things in life. 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 rails against Britain's tabloid mentality: "𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖." Still if you're going to claim things such as, "𝑾𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚," what do you expect? "𝑾𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏," says 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 quietly.

Placebo at CD:UK 1999, Screenschots, edit by Silke

𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 continues to experience bouts of alienation and aggression. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂," he says, half boasting. 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 advised him never to lose his spontaneity, a creed his best mate 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒚𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒏 embodies. "𝑾𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒚𝒏 𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂?" he asks coquettishly, while the other two rack their brains for names of Australian acts. 𝑪𝒂𝒗𝒆 is mentioned by all three; 𝑩𝒋𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 and the 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒔 show are the only other feeble suggestions. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕," says 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, for whom dishonesty is anathema.

𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 had been quoted in the 𝑴𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓 as calling 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒔, the host of tonight's chat show a "𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒓", and swearing that 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 would never do his gig. 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒔 returned the insult in kind. Nevertheless, they were eventually invited on, and accepted only on the condition that the wardrobe department found 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 a t-shirt with "𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄" on it. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒆-𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇," he snorts. "𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, '𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎'". He smooths his glossy locks with a manicured hand. "𝑰𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐." he adds thoughtfully, "𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒓𝒕."
𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑦'99
𝐵𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙

🔹After reading this interesting article published in 𝑹𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 in 1999 and knowing the story of why 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 wore this T-shirt - which is one of his most famous outfits - let's enjoy this very performance on the British program 𝑪𝑫:𝑼𝑲
(𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏: 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎) recorded in 1999.

⭐𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭⭐
On this occasion, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 is playing "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖" with "𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆" 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐's guitar. 

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐭 𝐂𝐃:𝐔𝐊 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗 
🎶 https://youtu.be/dcWZFOUwbNw 🎶

Post by Rita

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