It was played live 409 times over the years, and between 1995 and 2017 there was not one single year when it wasn't brought on stage at least once.
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| Photo credit: Stefan de Batselier, Screenshots from the video / edit by Silke |
๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง – ๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข
๐ต http://bit.ly/2VMY1DI ๐ต
The music clip was directed by Trevor Robinson. It shows the band members locked in a red latex cube, all three of them are dressed in the same red colour. Several teenagers also enter this cube and show how anxious they are.
๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “It was sunny, it was a summer day.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “I had tonsillitis.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “It’s got a very suggestive entrance.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “This video was directed by Trevor Robinson, who responsible for the Tango adverts, where the fat orange man slaps people across the faces. I think is the only video he made. Maybe because the experience of working with us must be so traumatic, he’s never made one again.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “It was very very hot. It was like a box, so no air conditioning.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “As you can see, this is before we start work with professional stylists.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “There was a big deal about this guy. His parents had to give permission for us to shave his head.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “There was a hoo-ha about the scissors. Because that’s a video police regulation – you can have closed scissors but not open scissors, so the director was nervous, but you can have clippers, obviously.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “It’s obviously not shot inside that box.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “That was what we call a tongue piercing. Have you had much experience with tongue piercings?“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “I don’t like them. I don’t like metal against teeth.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “I find it quite nice, really. Hot and cold, you know? Kind of fleshy and metal.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “Don’t like that either.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “It’s quite nice. What the hell are we wearing?“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “Red. We’re trying to break that latex.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “Put that away.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “It was very durable.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ & ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ: “This kid is angry.“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ:“Yeah, those kids are really angry.“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ: “Did that hurt?“
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ: “No!“
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ: “He felt nowt.“
(“Once more with feeling“ DVD, 2004)
The demo version of "Teenage Angst" from 1995 includes the line “Well I was suicidal once / but now honestly I am fine“ which was replaced by “Airs and social graces / elocution so divine“ in the version that was finally released. I think the record label wasn't too happy about the lyrics dealing with suicide and so the song text had to be changed.
๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง – ๐๐๐ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ก (๐ต๐ฑ)
๐ต https://bit.ly/3QsDQok ๐ต
๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐
“Teenage Angst“ is part of the band's repertoire prior to the release of their debut album in 1996. It has been performed in notably different versions. It was played live 414 confirmed times over the years, and between 1995 and 2017 there was not one single year when it wasn't brought on stage at least once. The first time ever was on January 23rd 1995 at Rock Garden in London. This was also the very first Placebo concert. The last time “Teenage Angst“ was played live was on October 8th 2017 in Dundee, Scotland, during the “20 years“ anniversary tour.
The original version was staged up until 2000. A piano-based version was played during the “Black market music“, “Meds“ and „Battle for the sun“ tours.
During the „Sleeping with ghosts“ tour “Teenage Angst“ was played with a hip-hop inspired drum beat. At the end of the “Battle for the sun“ tour in 2010, the song was performed with a new arrangement. Another rework appeared during the “Loud like love“ tour.
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| Photo credit: Screenshot from the official video |
๐ข ”That’s a song that refuses to die. That’s a classic, because if you cover it in three different ways, then it has to be a classic [laughs].”
(Vanyaland, October 18th 2013)
๐ข "Well, that was something my mother said to me: She was talking about ageing, wrinkling, skin drying up and stuff. This was when I was about 14. She said that as soon as you pop out of the womb you start to deteriorate. I actually found her words quite disturbing but, y'know, she's a religious kind of person."
(Vox, July 1996)
๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง – ๐ฃ๐๐๐ก๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ก
๐ต https://bit.ly/3dw6cuy ๐ต
๐ข “We kind of keep re-writing a lot of songs in order for them to become playable for us so that we can connect with them. Most recently, we’re on our fourth version of “Teenage Angst” from the first album. We have a brand new version of that, which is actually my favorite of the tour. It took 20 years since I wrote that song for us to settle on what I think is the definitive version, but that’s ok.“
(Pure Volume, September 12th 2013)
๐ข “When we do stuff from the first album, we try to do different versions. We have an interesting hip-hop version of 'Teenage Angst' at the moment. I am having a lot of fun with it, it gives me a chance to do my Bono bit with a wireless microphone. I am doing that more and more.”
(The Sentimentalist - Issue XII, 2003)
๐ข “That's the difference between "Teenage Angst" and the new version of the song, which has become very melancholic, which we transformed more and more to that during our tour. We want to explore the scope of our skills more and more and the tendency is towards melancholy. But we can say about ourselves today, when we go there, we really go in that direction, it's not playing around anymore, the emotions are real, we don't need to pretend to anything. When you see us on stage on our next tour, you really see us. That's Placebo.”
(Discover, September 1998)
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| Photo credit: Scarlet Page, Screenshots from the video / edit by Silke |
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐บ๐ณ๐ช๐ค ๐ต๐ฐ '๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ต' ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ: '๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐บ...' ๐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ.
๐ข "But it's true. As soon as you pop out of the womb, you start to die. It's the paradox that you begin life but you also begin death. The use of toy instruments enables us to communicate that on a sonic level."
(Guitarist, August 1997)
๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง – ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ข๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ก
๐ต https://bit.ly/3dIANW7 ๐ต
๐ข "When I was a teenager, I felt things in more passionate ways, I've gone through rebellion phases. I was feeling depressed, I felt like the world was about to collapse. A sort of alienation towards parents, a rebellion against what they wanted me to become, against growing, going through this kind of changes. My emotions were going in many directions because physically, I was becoming an adult. I was longing for it, but I was still dealt with as a child. Art and creativity were minor things, unknown in my familly. That's surely for that reason, I reacted so violently. I became the ugly duckling: my father wanted me to become a businessman, and my mother wanted me to be a saint. Finally, I satisfied none of them. At this age, music can represent many things, be the last emergency exit. Play guitar was a sort of outlet to my familly troubles, to authority. My parents didn't contribute at all to what I am today and that's marvellous. I am here today only by myself. I need to have success, very selfishly, to refute all people who thought I would not go far in life, to show it to the people who were better than me at school, my rivals in every way, my parents.”
(Les Inrocks, August 13th 1996)
๐ข "I've always been a loner. The three of us are like that, we have gone through adolescence locked in our room, playing music. And like many boys this age, I was dreaming to become a star. A city like Luxembourg can be stifling when you try to forge your identity. I couldn't be myself there. I felt secluded there, far from the places where I wanted to be. There was no place where I could have expressed myself, found a feedback. From this isolation, I made songs, 'Teenage Angst' or 'Burger Queen', because fatally that made me a voyeur. It's not the best place to observe the world.”
(Les Inrockuptibles N°169, August 14th 1998)
๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ง – ๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ข๐ก ๐๐ข๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐ (๐ญ๐ต๐ต๐ณ)
๐ต https://bit.ly/3JU0Fig ๐ต
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| Photo credit: Screenshot from the official video |
Shine the headlight,
Straight into my eyes.
Like the roadkill,
I'm paralysed.
You see through my disguise
At the drive-in,
Double feature,
Pull the lever,
Break the fever
And say your last goodbyes.
Since I was born
I started to decay
Now nothing ever
Ever goes my way
One fluid gesture,
Like stepping back in time
Trapped in amber, petrified
I’m still not satisfied
Airs and social graces,
Elocution so divine
I’ll stick to my needle
And my favourite waste of time
Both spineless and sublime
Since I was born
I started to decay
Now nothing ever
Ever goes my way
Post by Silke
