Fifteen years ago today, on October 9th, 2006 "𝑴𝑬𝑫𝑺", the title track from 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's fifth album, was released as the fourth single.
The song features additional vocals by 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕 of 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, one of 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐's favorite rock bands. It was recorded at 𝑹𝑨𝑲 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒔 in London, produced by 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒊 𝑻𝒊𝒌𝒐𝒗𝒐𝒊 and mixed by 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅-𝑨𝒍𝒈𝒆. It reached number 35 on the UK singles chart and in early January 2007 was one of the 50 most played songs on US alternative rock radio stations.
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| Photo Credit: Nadav Kander, Covers of the singles / Edit by Rita |
🔊 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐬 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭🎶
https://youtu.be/x4D9plSro6U✨💊 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆 💊✨
🎤𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "The original version of Meds was very unlike the one we've recorded. I wrote it during my stay in India, like Song to say goodbye. Meds is about loosing yourself, not recognizing yourself. You feel lost, desperate, and you don't know what you think anymore, what you really feel. It's a very disturbing feeling, for me and for everyone, and I wanted to express it. I'm glad it's the opening song of the album, it's the 1st time a Placebo record opens with an acoustic chord."
🔹𝐀 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬…
🎤𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: There is a connection, yes. Stefan wrote Every You Every Me and I wrote Meds. This guy inspires me!
▪️𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝙼𝚊𝚐, 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟼.
🔹𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭?
🎤𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: “That was written while we were recording the album, so that came quite late. That’s quite interesting because some songs were written like 6 years ago. Meds, was written in the studio. So it’s kind of interesting the way that song came about. When we were in the studio, we kind of had 3 studios going on at the same time. We had one studio where we were mixing, one where we were recording, and one where we were writing. It was a really creative period and quite intense. So that one was just Brian when he was sitting in the writing room. It just kind of came out, and in 5 minutes that song was written! Then I put the melody line on and then Steve came up with the beat, and in 2 days it was done.“
▪️𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝙾𝚕𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚕, 𝚄𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎-𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛.𝚌𝚘𝚖, 𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟽.
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| Photo credit: Nadav Kander |
🔹𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦, "𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐬", 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥. 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬.
🎤𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: Exactly, there was less layering involved and less studio trickery. Yet, I think it rocks more than some of our other songs.
🔹𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫?
🎤𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: When we were thinking of a female vocalists, our first thought of Courtney Love. Then we figured she would be a pain. Dimitri suggested Alison and it worked out. "Meds" just screams her.
▪️𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚝, 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚜𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚢.𝚌𝚘𝚖, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟽.
🎤𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: " I wanted to have female vocals on Meds. And I immediately thought about Alison. Working with her was very pleasant and very exciting ... We met a few years ago in London, she immediately fascinated me. Since then I have been following her career, her ascent with The Kills. When I asked her to participate in recording a song for our album, she immediately agreed. In the studio it was a bomb: Alison - Viagra in its purest form (smiles). She has a very sexy manner of performing... She is irresistible."
▪️𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟼.
✨💊 The single was released in three different formats: CD, enhanced CD and 7" vinyl, which included the 𝑩-𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔 "𝑼𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑬𝑬𝑫𝑼", "𝑳𝒂𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒔" and a remix of "𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒚" by renowned DJ 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒐 𝑴𝒂𝒂𝒔. The cover artwork was done by 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑪𝒐𝒘𝒑𝒆𝒓 (design) and 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 (digital imaging), where the faces of the band members portrayed by 𝑵𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒗 𝑲𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 were blurred and merged into a single image.
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| Photo credit:Scarlet Page |
https://youtu.be/HaBvIwXhJXs
🔊 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐔 🎶
https://youtu.be/Uw_2mVomUiw
🔊 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐲 (𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐚𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐱) 🎶
https://youtu.be/bnSRC_lwqa0
The official video for "𝑴𝑬𝑫𝑺" was directed by 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅. According to 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍:
🎤“It’s basically a bit of a trip inside the life of being on the road and how twisted it can be and how unreal and how much of a surreal nightmare that can actually be”
▪️𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝙾𝚕𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚕, 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚢𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚗𝚎𝚝, 𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟽.
But the theme of this video came up spontaneously because at the time the band was on tour and didn't have much time to make a video clip, so they decided to shoot it on the road. Which I think was a great idea because showing the crazy lifestyle of a rock band while they are touring, as 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 explained above, fits perfectly with the desperation and confusion described in the lyrics of "𝑴𝑬𝑫𝑺".
🎥 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐬 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 💊
https://youtu.be/WO9ewCO7TYIPost by Rita
