🟨𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑: 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂🟨

Let’s continue talking about Placebo album covers and today, it’s 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂’𝐬 turn.
I hope you don't mind that I swapped this one with 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 which we've alreadt discussed

Photo credit: Kevin Westenberg, Black Market Music cover, Discogs / edit by Olga

🟨In 2016, when ranking Placebo records in the interview for Vice, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 rated their third studio album 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 (2000) as his least favourite.

𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐲: 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: I guess I put it there because I think it's the record that suffers most from having a blanket sound. We do our best to not make records that do that. It's part of our modus operandi. But it also happens to be the first time we also had a number one album, and in typical Brian Molko style, I put it at the bottom. [Laughs] I think it's a real somber record, so it doesn't really conjure up euphoria, which I suppose is what I look for in music. It was recorded during the height of our party phase, and once we had recorded all of our instruments, we had turned the studio into a place to have guests. So we spent a lot of time entertaining people while our producer spent a lot of time working on the album alone. I think if we'd been a little more involved, then perhaps there would be a little more light and color. It's quite a monochrome album for me. It's a very deep wood color, with stripes of gunmetal grey when I picture it.

𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐲: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: Yeah, and perhaps that's it. Perhaps the whole package is a little too gothic for me. I like to try and make an album with light and shade, and this one has the least.
(𝑉𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠: 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜 𝑆𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜’𝑠 𝐸𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐿𝑃𝑠, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 13, 2016)

Photo credit: Kevin Westenberg

🟨As you may guess, it’s impossible that Placebo would choose a meaningless random image for their album cover. Back in the days when the record was about to be released, the guys had quite an interesting idea behind 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 artwork. However, in the end, it has just not been understood fully by the fans and critics. “𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒘𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓-𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒛𝒆𝒅,” as 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 admitted later.

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 [𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄]?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Musical instruments, but very specific, very, very old and very, very heavy.
(𝐹𝑈𝑍𝑍, 𝐽𝑢𝑙-𝐴𝑢𝑔'00)

"While the band is at the height of his media exposure, Placebo removed for the first time any human presence (and charm) to his artwork.

Photo credit: Kevin Westenberg

"These are things journalists noted but not musicians" says 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐. "It was a visceral reaction to our past imaging. When we saw this music box mechanism, we just said yes, believing it showed the origin of the recorded music, there was nothing psychological ... In retrospect I think we over-analyzed, we just tried to be smart."
"But this cover sucks so much! " 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 complete."
(𝑉𝑂𝑋𝑃𝑂𝑃, 𝐽𝑢𝑛-𝐽𝑢𝑙'09)

🟨Sleeve photography was done by the talented 𝑲𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈. Together with 𝑷𝒂𝒖𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒔, Mr. Westenberg was also responsible for the whole art direction on the album.
Captivating images of Brian, Stefan, and Steve Hewitt used as the booklet photography became quite iconic and loved by all Placebo fans.

Post by Olga