Tuesday, August 16, 2022

โญ๏ธ๐€๐๐๐ˆ๐•๐„๐‘๐’๐€๐‘๐˜ of ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐ˆ'๐Œ ๐๐Ž๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† featuring ๐‘ซ๐‘จ๐‘ฝ๐‘ฐ๐‘ซ ๐‘ฉ๐‘ถ๐‘พ๐‘ฐ๐‘ฌโญ๏ธ

โญ๐ŸŒ Today marks the ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘๐ซ๐ ๐€๐๐๐ˆ๐•๐„๐‘๐’๐€๐‘๐˜ of one of the greatest Placebo collaborations, ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐ˆ'๐Œ ๐๐Ž๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† featuring ๐‘ซ๐‘จ๐‘ฝ๐‘ฐ๐‘ซ ๐‘ฉ๐‘ถ๐‘พ๐‘ฐ๐‘ฌ๐ŸŒ โญ



The single was released on August 16th, 1999, and reached number 79 on the French Singles Chart and number 52 on the Australian ARIA singles chart.
There are several CD and vinyl versions of it.

โ–ชThe regular ๐‚๐ƒ consists of ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ and remix by ๐‘ผ๐‘ต๐‘ฒ๐‘ณ๐‘ฌ.
โ–ชThe ๐ž๐ง๐ก๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ ๐‚๐ƒ included two more remixes by ๐‘จ๐’Ž๐’†๐’“๐’Š๐’„๐’“๐’–๐’Š๐’”๐’†๐’“ and ๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐‘น๐’‰๐’š๐’•๐’‰๐’Ž.
โ–ช๐„๐ง๐ก๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ ๐‚๐ƒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, released in a gatefold card sleeve with an inner picture sleeve, includes an image gallery of live performance of Placebo with David Bowie, recorded at Irving Plaza, New York in March 1999.
โ–ช๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ— ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ฒ๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿโ€ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ, besides the single mix, includes ๐‘ผ๐‘ต๐‘ฒ๐‘ณ๐‘ฌ and ๐‘จ๐’Ž๐’†๐’“๐’Š๐’„๐’“๐’–๐’Š๐’”๐’†๐’“ remixes. โ–ช๐‹๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ" ๐๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐œ, with the same tracklist, was exclusively released for ๐‘น๐’†๐’„๐’๐’“๐’… ๐‘บ๐’•๐’๐’“๐’† ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’š 2017.


๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  (๐’๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž ๐Œ๐ข๐ฑ)
โžก๏ธ http://bit.ly/2PYcidb

๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  (๐”๐๐Š๐‹๐„ ๐‘๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ)
โžก๏ธ https://bit.ly/363XlOq

๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  (๐“๐ก๐ž ๐…๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ ๐Œ๐ข๐ฑ) ๐›๐ฒ ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ
โžก๏ธ https://bit.ly/3jwfV9E

๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  (๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ˆ๐ง ๐‘๐ก๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ฆ ๐‚๐ฅ๐ฎ๐› ๐Œ๐ข๐ฑ)
โžก๏ธ https://bit.ly/3y5yKoe

Screenshot from the video

โญ๏ธThe title track of Placeboโ€™s second album, an absolutely unique song in both lyrical and musical aspects, ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐ˆ'๐Œ ๐๐Ž๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† became a turning point in Placeboโ€™s career in some way. An opportunity to record with such a legend as ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’† would be a dream come true for any musicians in their twenties, I suppose!
โญ๏ธAlthough by that time Placebo had already been touring with ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’†, Brian and Stefan admitted they were sincerely surprised and honoured by Davidโ€™s idea to work on the song together.
Brian was on vacation when ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’… just called him up.
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: "He [David Bowie] heard our demos and invited us to take Morrissey's place on tour after Morrissey had a hissy fit and went home to his mother. So we just called each other up. We were scheduled to do some performances at award ceremonies and we said, "Should we do this?' He told me, "Brian, I've written my own harmony part. I hope you don't mind.' I said, "David, write what you want!' So there I was in the studio with David Bowie and [producer] Tony Visconti. I said, "Pinch me, I'm dreaming."'
(๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐ถ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™, ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ 19๐‘กโ„Ž 2001)


๐Ÿ“ข๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง: "It was very strange, one day he [David Bowie] called and said "Hey guys, I love what you do and especially 'Without You I'm Nothing', I would be pleased to record it with you or cover it. What do you think?" We said: "Ok, we will meet and see what we can do (laughs)!" And then you know, there was a sort of unease... It's Bowie and he conducts and wants to control everything... And then, finally he came to the studio and there he went to sing... how to say that? We were there behind the window: "Fuck that's Bowie!" It was magical! I can't say it was a dream come true because I never think about it, but after the fact, I must admit it was one of the most thrilling and unforgettable time of my life."
(๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘†๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘›ยฐ72, ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 1999)

๐‘พ๐’‰๐’š ๐’“๐’†-๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’๐’“๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’†?
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: We didn't re-record it. He came, put his voice, and we remixed. In fact, we were going to do a song with David for the Brits Award. The tradition is to do classic English songs covers. As we have done "20th Century Boy" for the Velvet Goldmine film, I suggested to David to do it for the Brits. He said ok. Then he called me to say, "We should do Without You, it's my favorite" I answered back: "I don't think the Brits will like that..." We asked them and they said, "We prefer "20th Century Boy". So with David, we decided to make it a single: he had already wrote his harmony, he really wanted to be on that song. It's a great honour."
(๐บ๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก, ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 2000)


โญ๏ธDavid Bowie's vocals were recorded at ๐‹๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐†๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐’๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐˜๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐‚๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐ญ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ— and added to the album version of the song that was produced at Real World Studios in Bath, UK the previous year.

๐Ÿ“ข๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง: โ€œDavid actually came to us before the first album came out,โ€ bassist Stefan Olsdal told NME. โ€œWhen it came to โ€˜Without You Iโ€™m Nothingโ€™, he called and said he wanted to collaborate after weโ€™d recorded and released it. I donโ€™t know what he saw in us; maybe something of himself as a younger Bowie. Maybe there was an outsider element to a lot of what we were doing. Maybe it was the romanticism. Maybe it was the stubbornness of not wanting to fit in.โ€
(๐‘๐‘€๐ธ, ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 2018)

Screenshot from the video

๐ŸŒ Itโ€™s safe to say that crossing passes with David Bowie changed Brian and Stefanโ€™s lives forever. Being in the light of his genius, his wisdom, kindness, and generosity hugely influenced them both as persons and musicians.
๐ŸŒ Of course, they did appreciate Davidโ€™s mentorship and friendship back in the dayโ€ฆ but not enough as they later realized. Bowieโ€™s passing in 2016 definitely shifted the perspective.

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: When I was in his orbit, I was young and arrogant. I was convinced that I deserved to be there with him. It wasn't until he left us that I really understood the effect he had on my life as a human being and as an artist. At the time, I didn't realize anything. Today, all this learning makes sense. It's very moving and overwhelming. But somewhere, I have the feeling that I still carry him with me a little, like a mentor, a godfather or a lucky star. Without getting too esoteric, I still feel like I have a relationship with him (๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต). Excuse me, it's still very hard for me to talk about David. I am absolutely, unequivocally grateful to him.
๐‘ฐ๐’•'๐’” ๐’’๐’–๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐’–๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’†...
Sometimes I'm suddenly struck by strong emotions, and talking about David often triggers that for me. I remember having a long discussion with ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ about whether or not we should continue to play ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  on stage. Every time we play it live, we project images of David on the big screens. It's so strong emotionally for me that it breaks my heart a little bit. But I'm sure David would have said to me: "You are exactly where you need to be right now." He always asked me if I was comfortable with my music. If I said yes, then he would tell me that I should be not! (๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ ) For him, you had to be uncomfortable, all the time. Stef often reminds me of this phrase when I get too emotional during a live performance.
(๐‘€๐‘ฆ ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜ #74, ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž 2022)

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: โ€œThis may sound like a grandiose statement, but itโ€™s true. David taught me how to be a better person, but it took his passing for me to really reflect on it. When it was happening, I was far too arrogant and far too drunk to notice the real impact of what was going on.
(๐‘๐‘€๐ธ, ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž 15๐‘กโ„Ž, 2022)


โญ๏ธThe lyrics for ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  started with a ๐’‘๐’“๐’Š๐’—๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’๐’“๐’š but even for Brian himself, grew up to get a way more ๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’‚๐’ ๐’Ž๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ.
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: โ€œYou know, thatโ€™s about someone I used to go out with really, and that was like me exorcising the guilt or that failing relationship which I was mainly responsible for.โ€œ
(๐‘๐‘€๐ธ, ๐ท๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 1998)

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: "Certain people have had a large impact on me emotionally. I think itโ€™s usually more than one person Iโ€™m writing about though. Like the song โ€˜Without You Iโ€™m nothingโ€™, itโ€™s not necessarily about one person. I usually bring together the mistakes Iโ€™ve made with a couple of different people and use that as a catalyst for song writing."
(๐ท๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘†๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘, ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž 2003)

Screenshot from the video

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: "I think, it's us, the band, talking to ourselves; itโ€™s me talking to certain people in my past; it's also us talking to our fans."
(๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘’, ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž 29, 1999)

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: โ€œThat song is very misunderstood. It is not a love song, the narrator is suffering from pathological low self-esteem. Itโ€™s about co-dependence, feeling like you donโ€™t have an identity without somebody else.โ€
(๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ผ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก, ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 17๐‘กโ„Ž 2017)

๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง has always been quite proud of โ€œWithout You I'm Nothingโ€œ - something which rarely happened regarding Placeboโ€™s earlier songs: โ€œNot just for the fact that David Bowie liked it so much that he had to sing on it, song-writing wise, I think that itโ€™s quite interesting because it doesnโ€™t have any repeating parts, and I also like the lyricsโ€œ
(๐ถ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜, ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ข๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ 2005)

Being proud of Placebo, is how I personally feel about heartbreaking, haunting, obscure, and sophisticated ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ . After years and years of listening to the song, it leaves me speechless every single timeโ€ฆโค๏ธ


โญOn March 29th, 1999, ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’† joined Placebo on stage at Irving Plaza in New York City to perform this song together. The way he looks at Brian โ€“ what a tenderness and admiration in his smile!...
Isnโ€™t that understandable why it was too difficult for Brian to hold back tears while performing ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  during the 20๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐’•๐’๐’–๐’“, soon after Davidโ€™s passing?!๐Ÿ’”

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