💗🎉✨ℍ𝔸ℙℙ𝕐 𝔹𝕀ℝ𝕋ℍ𝔻𝔸𝕐 𝕄𝕀ℂℍ𝔸𝔼𝕃!✨🎉💗

☮"𝘼𝙨 𝙄 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙭𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚, 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 – 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙬."☮𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙚

Photo credits: Michael Stipe - Jenn Five, screenshots from video, Michael and Brian from Brixton Academy 1997 - Justin Thomas / Edit by Marti

Dear soulmates,
today we have another important date.
𝟲𝟯 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼, 𝗼𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟰, 𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟬, 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 -
- 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿, 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗥.𝗘.𝗠. ⭐𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗡 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗘⭐.

It is a great honour for me to be able to write a few words about a man whose music and his whole being is a celebration of life. Prepare yourself for a long read full of various links, because Michael is simply my idol.

⚡🌹💗🎉✨ℍ𝔸ℙℙ𝕐 𝔹𝕀ℝ𝕋ℍ𝔻𝔸𝕐 𝕋𝕆 𝕐𝕆𝕌, 𝕄𝕀ℂℍ𝔸𝔼𝕃!✨🎉💗🌹⚡

Photo credit: Noam Galai 

Let's summarize in this post the most important things about this charismatic man.

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
Michael is a creative artist with an open heart. His work and ideas support various charity projects, the latest being Brian Eno's 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 project, founded in 2021, which aims “to offer simple and innovative ways for businesses and artists to donate to the most impactful organisations addressing the climate emergency”.

🔹𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:
https://bit.ly/3GxYXmp


Michael and R.E.M. have always actively supported various human rights organizations (e.g. Amnesty International), fought for the ethical treatment of animals, participated in concerts as part of charity projects for victims of Hurricane Katrina and others.

In this article, Michael admits to being a member of the climate change movement 🔹'𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧'🔹 and enjoying the ongoing nonviolent protests:

🔹💬“𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤!” 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘦. “𝘐’𝘮 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 [𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯] 𝘴𝘰 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐’𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴.”
(𝑁𝑀𝐸, 𝑅.𝐸.𝑀. 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 25 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ‘𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟’: “𝑊𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 – 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑤”, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2019)

~🔹~🔹~🔹~

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐥
When he became interested in rock music as a teenager, it was mainly the singer-songwriter ⭐𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐈 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐇⭐ who became his idol and most influenced his musical talent.

Michael managed to sing with Patti on the same stage several times. Enjoy these two amazing videos:

🔹🎶𝐑.𝐄.𝐌. 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 : "𝐄-𝐁𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫" (𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖)
https://bit.ly/3VDiq9C

🔹🎶 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐑.𝐄.𝐌. 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 "𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫" 𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔/𝟏𝟐/𝟎𝟓
https://bit.ly/3WHS6MJ


⭐𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨: 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡
Michael Stipe followed friend and fellow musician Patti Smith on tour for two weeks in 1995. Two Times Intro is his intimate and evocative visual diary of her return to live performance, along with portraits of other cultural celebrities, such as Allen Ginsberg, who appeared with her.

The photos in the book feel more like a personal scrapbook than a typical photobook. The book also includes reproductions of Stipe's diary and cut-and-paste experiments with text, which is a method we already know from William Burroughs.

Photo credit:  Justin Thomas

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑.𝐄.𝐌.
In 1980 Michael formed the band R.E.M. with three of his friends: drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills.

R.E.M. was pivotal in the creation and development of the alternative rock genre.
AllMusic stated, "𝘙.𝘌.𝘔. 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵-𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬."

Alternative bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Coldplay, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, have drawn inspiration from R.E.M.'s music.

🔹💬𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐑.𝐄.𝐌.:
"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰. 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤."
(𝐾𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑖𝑛: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤)

𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞.

He tried to help Kurt in his battle with depression and drug addiction. He was even godfather to their daughter, Frances Bean.

The deaths of both close friends hit Michael hard.
𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐑.𝐄.𝐌. 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 "𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐈𝐧" 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭.

🔹🎶𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐄𝐌'𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐮𝐫t:
https://bit.ly/3VIsbn8

🔹💬𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙭𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙆𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝘾𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙍𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙭?
Stipe: “Yes, River died before we started making the record (Monster) and I went through a six month period where I just shut down and couldn’t write anything. That was really frustrating for me and the band, who were also grieving. We all knew him and loved him – but particularly for me, that friendship and relationship was like having a brother. It was the most profound loss that I’d had experienced at that point. We commenced with the record, we were almost at the end of it, and that’s when Kurt died. I can’t say that any of that thematically ties to where we were going with the record – except certainly on the song ‘Let Me In’.”

Mills: “The most direct song on the record is ‘Let Me In’. It’s the one song where there is no ironic distance. It’s exactly what it sounds like it is. It’s personal and real. That’s a song that came about because of what happened. It’s a direct response to losing a friend.”
(𝑁𝑀𝐸 𝑅.𝐸.𝑀. 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 25 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ‘𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟’: “𝑊𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 – 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑤”, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2019)

About the music and legacy of R.E.M. I could write for a very long time.
R.E.M. released a total of 15 highly successful albums and amicably broke up in 2011 after selling more than 90 million records worldwide and becoming one of the best-selling music groups in the world.

Photo credit unknown

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫
An avid photographer, he published the first photo book in 2018 titled 🔹"𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝟏"🔹 featuring images of celebrities such as River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain.

In 2019, Michael published the second photo book 🔹'𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬'🔹 with his friend Douglas Coupland.

🔹💬"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵: 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 (“𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦; 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺. 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳”) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦-𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘵 11𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 5𝘢𝘮, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮. “𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦’𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴. “𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩: 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘢𝘺… 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘤, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘮."
(𝑀𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑒𝑙 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑒: ‘𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑏’, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝐴𝑝𝑟 2021)


🔹𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬: 𝐀 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝
https://bit.ly/3Z8yjry

Well, in this amazing article from The Guardian you can read more not only about Michael's third book of photographs called simply - 🔹'𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞'🔹, but about his life during the pandemic and also about his many memories - like his beloved Patti Smith.
🔹💬 https://bit.ly/3XlIMhR

~🔹~🔹~🔹~

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬
Michael hates social media. I could end this thread with that one sentence. But since Michael recently reappeared on Instagram, it is necessary to clarify this topic.

In 2018, Michael expressed his opinion in this interview for the BBC:
🔹💬 “𝘐’𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥. “𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺…𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.”
(𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑔., 𝑆𝑒𝑝 2018)

But in November 2022, Michael certainly pleased a lot of his fans:
🔹💬 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞
Today, on this highly stressful 2022 midterms elections day, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe is back after a four-year social-media hiatus to remind people to vote. In fact, that’s what he wrote in his newly resurrected Instagram bio:

“𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 4𝘺𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺…𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴!”

Photo credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images

Stipe also shared one post containing three photos of himself walking through New York with a fist aloft and an “I Voted” sticker on his jacket. “𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘵—𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘝𝘖𝘛𝘌—𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴…𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥—𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴!! 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩!!!,” he captioned.
Patti Smith even replied in the comments: “𝘈𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘑𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”
As should we all.
(𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘮, 𝘕𝘰𝘷 8, 2022)

To the delight of all his fans, Michael's instagram is still active, the last post was on December 20th, so we can still see Michael there after the election.
~🔹~🔹~🔹~

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎
Brian, Stefan, Steve (Hewitt) and Michael have known each other since the late 90ies because they both performed at a lot of festivals.

In 1998 Michael Stipe was executive producer of the movie “𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞” in which all three Placebo members played minor parts as glam rock musicians. He was also involved in the production of other great movies like “Being John Malkovich” or “Man on the moon” and made a number of acting appearances himself on film and on television.

🔹💬 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 ‘20𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘺’ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘌𝘸𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘤𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

How did you get on with Michael Stipe?
“𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘩𝘢 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵,” 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘴 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯. “𝘏𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺.”

Everyone turns to look at Stefan, who raises an eyebrow, glances away, throws a peanut in his mouth and chews with studied innocence.

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵,” laughs Brian, utterly upstaged. But only for a moment. “𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦, 𝘔𝘦, 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰.”
(𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰, 𝘕𝘔𝘌 𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 1998)


In 2006 Placebo invited Michael to collaborate on the Meds album and together they recorded the absolutely stunning ballad 🔹"𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞"🔹.
I can imagine that Brian checked off another dream come true then.

🔹🎶 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - '𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞'
https://bit.ly/3VKoA7R


🔹💬 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧:
“𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘺𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘌𝘔, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘯. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦; 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴; 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱; 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩. 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭’𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨.”
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙽𝙼𝙴, 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 2016)


⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎:
"𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥!"
(Michael Stipe 09.28.2016)

Photo credit:  Justin Thomas

⭐𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫
Michael refers to himself as a queer individual in his intimate relationships.
He talked about it beautifully in this article - https://bit.ly/3QfxYiH - from which I want to quote at the very end of this post.

🙏𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹'𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼'𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆: 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝘅𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲.

🔹💬𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞: 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

It's been 20 years since I announced to the world that I was queer – and that I had found the strength and the voice to say that, and to move forward with my life as a completely out, publicly queer individual. .../.../

For the promotion of our next album, Monster, and its world tour, I decided to publicly announce my sexuality. I said simply that I had enjoyed sex with men and women my entire adult life. It was a simple fact, and I’m happy I announced it..../.../

In 1994, most people had a largely binary perception of sexuality – the message was complicated for them. I am thrilled to see how much this has changed in those 20 years. The 21st century has provided all of us, recent generations particularly, with a clearer idea of the breadth of fluidity with which sexuality and identity presents itself in each individual. Gender identification, and the panoply of sexuality and identity are now topics that are more easily and more widely discussed, debated and talked about openly. It’s thrilling to see progressive change shift perceptions so quickly.

What I feel we have arrived at with all this, is that queerness – as I am happy to call an all-embracing, foundational tenet – is really a state of mind brought about by an understanding: it is understanding difference, accepting your own truth, desire and identity, and lovely, lovely choice. It is the final, completely obvious contemporary acceptance and understanding that this enormous world of beauty, sexuality, identity, lust, feeling, excitement, and love isn’t just black and white, or simple, at all – it is literally every shade and gradation of the rainbow. It doesn’t just lie in one of two camps. It includes accepting and supporting positions that you may not even completely understand; and to arrive at that conviction is so, so beautiful, and to quote my great friend Casey Legler: “Fierce!”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑂𝑐𝑡. 2014)

𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 - 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭💗, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵.
🌹𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 🌹
~🔹~🔹~🔹~

👉Michael Stipe YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/3ChB6on
👉Michael Stipe's website - https://michaelstipe.com/
👉R.E.M. on Spotify - https://bit.ly/3Ciwf6w
👉Michael Stipe on Spotify - https://bit.ly/3VOy3Ls
👉Michael Stipe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelstipe/

Post by Marti

🌟 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 : 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐄𝐑 🌟

🔸 𝑅𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 73 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.

Robert Palmer was born on 19 January 1949 in England. He spent his childhood on the island of Malta where his father, an officer in the Royal Navy, was based. He listened to Lena Horne, Nat "King" Cole and Billie Holiday on the American Armed Forces Radio. He moved to London in 1969 and spent a few years experimenting with bands such as Dada'and Vinegar Joe. When Vinegar Joe broke up, he left for the United States. He recorded his first album 𝑆𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛' 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦. He migrates to New York and experiments with new music. He incorporated some reggae sounds on 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑟𝑜𝑝 (1975), and 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝐷𝑜 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 (1976). His first real success came with the album 𝐷𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝐹𝑢𝑛 (1978), followed by several albums that also received critical acclaim. In the 80's, Robert Palmer changed his musical style once again by incorporating synthesizers. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑘 confirmed his popularity with the public. He chose to focus on jazz on his 1992 album 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛' 𝐻𝑖𝑔ℎ, a record of jazz standards immortalised by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, among others. The public did not seem to like this new experimentation. However, they remained faithful and each album release was appreciated. Robert Palmer died on September 26, 2003, at the age of 54 years old in Paris, after the release of his last album 𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒. Despite variations in style, Robert Palmer still maintains a Blues and Rhythm & Blues vein.

Photo credits: Unknown (Placebo), Michael Ochs (Robert Palmer) / edit by Laetitia

I'd like to share 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒇 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑫𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒖𝒏. Well known enternaining tune 😊
🎥 https://bit.ly/32IviG3 🎵


📍 𝙅𝙤𝙝𝙣𝙣𝙮, 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤
🔸 Placebo covered 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑛𝑦 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 and can be found as a Bside on 𝑇𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑒 𝐼𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑛. Originaly, this song was released as a single in 1980. 𝑇𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑒 𝐼𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑛 was Palmer's twelfth single and the first single from the album 𝐶𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠, released the same year. It received a moderate response from the public in the UK and did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. However, it was in Europe that the song did best in the charts, reaching the top 10 in some countries, including France, where the single was a huge commercial success in terms of sales - it was certified gold - and was later used as the theme for Renault advertisements.

🔸 Virgin Radio puiblished a post in 2021 to remind Placebo's cover and to inform their version was used in the new Renault commercial.


📖 𝑰𝒏 2003, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒓
Back in the 2000's, when Placebo covered Robert Palmer and it's to be (re)discovered on Virgin Radio.

A bit of nostalgia never hurts! In 2003, Placebo covered 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦- a song signed by Robert Palmer. 18 years later, the song is getting a second lease of life by accompanying the Renault Pro + advert - a way for the world to (re)discover one of the most popular covers of 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, the album released by 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜's band.

While there's nothing quite like delving into the band's past, fans of the band are still waiting for a new album. As a reminder, 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜's last opus (entitled 𝐴 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑈𝑠 𝑇𝑜 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚) was released in 2016. 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 should have performed in France on the 4th of July, but due to the pandemic, we will have to wait a little longer before seeing the band on stage... be patient! In the meantime, Virgin Radio will let you (re)discover the song. 📕
(𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘰.𝘧𝘳 - 𝘔𝘢𝘺 3𝘳𝘥, 2021)

𝑹𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒅
🎥 https://bit.ly/3zpXHwv

Photo credit: AP

📍 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜
💬 "I've been pissing off Steve and Stefan for years to do a cover of Robert Palmer's Johnny & Mary. Because beyond the theme that has illustrated commercials, it's a very beautiful and sad song. It's about the relationship of a couple who don't talk to each other anymore and in which everyone is very lonely. And that's something that happens too often in the life of a couple."
(𝘮𝘤𝘮.𝘯𝘦𝘵)

📍 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜
💬 "When we do a cover version, the idea is not to interpret only artists who are close to us, but songs that have had an impact on us. I don't like everything Robert Palmer has done but this one works well, it's very catchy. Brian kept humming the tune in the studio, the only way to make him stop was to record the song."
(𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘭𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘭 - 𝘋𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘥)

Let's listen to both versions ✨ 🎶 ✨

𝑹𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒓
🎥 https://bit.ly/3eHCvIG 🎵

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐
🎥 https://bit.ly/3EHv27j 🎵

Post by Laetitia

𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘: 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓

💥“...𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆... "💥

Screenshots from the video, edit by Marti

...One of the most beautiful Placebo songs...
...A song whose playing never bored the band and until their last tour was part of the setlist...
...A song loved by muse... because guys enjoy inventing other versions of its performance...
...A song whose lyrics have not lost their importance over many years...


🔸"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."🔸
(𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜, 𝑉𝑜𝑥, 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 1996)
🔸⭐🔸


🔸𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓 was released exactly 25 years ago, on September 16, 1996 as the third single of the band Placebo.
Some sources state that this is the fourth single in a row. Here, however, it depends on whether we include the single "Bruise Pristine" in the total number, because in the original version it was released before the debut album, in 1995, basically as the first Placebo single.
Single „Teenage Angst“ was released in two versions and reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart.
It was recorded at Westland Studios in Dublin and produced by Brad Wood.
In addition to the lead song, the CD version also contains "Been Smoking Too Long" and "Hug Bubble".
Besides „Teenage Angst (Amsterdam V.P.R.O. Session)“, the 7“ vinyl version also includes a demo version „Flesh Mechanic“ and „H.K. Farewell“.


🔸𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓 is one of the first tracks that Brian ever wrote for the band.
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.
The first confirmed performance of “Teenage Angst” was on September 5th 1995 at Holy City Zoo in Manchester, UK.

Photo credit: Renaud Monfourny, screenshots from the video, edit by Silke

🔸A great and very imaginative video for the song was shot by the director Trevor Robinson.
📌Brian said about the shoot:
"This video was directed by Trevor Robinson. I think it is the only video he made. Maybe because the experience of working with us must be so traumatic, he’s never made one again."
(𝐷𝑉𝐷 “𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔”, 2004)


🔸𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎🔸
https://bit.ly/3tJswt4


🔸Another interesting feature of "Teenage Angst" is that in the demo version, part of the lyrics was different from the released version. The line „Well I was suicidal once / But now honestly I'm fine“ was replaced by „Airs and social graces / Elocution so divine“.
It is quite possible that the record company was not very happy with the lyrics dealing with suicide, so the lyrics had to be changed.


Dear soulmates, do you also enjoy watching different live versions of this song over the years?

🔸"Teenage Angst" was played in the original version until the year 2000.
🔸The piano version was played during the tours "Black Market Music", "Meds" and "Battle For The Sun".
🔸A great and playful hip-hop version sounded during the "Sleeping With Ghosts" tour.
🔸In 2010, at the end of the "Battle For The Sun" tour, a new version of "Teenage Angst" appeared on the stage and an absolutely amazing version of this song complemented the "Loud Like Love" tour setlist.


📌And Brian said about this:
“I’ve often found that if you can take one of your band’s songs and strip it all the way back to just a vocal and an acoustic guitar, or a vocal and a piano, then it’s the sign of a really, really good song. Similarly, if you can rewrite it four times — like we have with “Teenage Angst.” 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, 10/18/2013)
🔸⭐🔸


So, dear friends, now you can remember the different versions of "Teenage Angst" in the videos I share with you. I will be very grateful for your feelings and confession which version is your favorite.

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔
https://bit.ly/2XkR9AR


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖
https://bit.ly/2XjvGrE


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐦 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑
https://bit.ly/3z8F9z6


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟖
https://bit.ly/3tRlqmE


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎
https://bit.ly/2Xvq2TF


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐒𝐳𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐
https://bit.ly/3AgHPvR


"𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭" - 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐕 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑
https://bit.ly/2XvoBEL
🔸⭐🔸


📌𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 "𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓":
"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, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 1998)


"It's about the intense emotions you feel as a teenager the way you have a tendency to close yourself a bit, create your own little world. You’re an adult trapped in a kid’s body - you want to break out but everyone still treats you as a kid.”
(𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟, 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 1996)


“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 four. It took 20 years since I wrote that song for us to settle on what I think is the definitive version, but that’s okay.“
(𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2013)


📌𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 "𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓":
"What we tend to do is cover ourselves with quite a few versions of our songs that we've released. One of our first singles, 'Teenage Angst', has been done in piano format, it's been done in the rock format, and it has this stadium rock format. Then we went back to an electric bass led version. So in order for us to remain interested in our back catalogue we often change them and adopt them to how we feel. Sometimes a song when we record it, it's in an embryonic form it tells you ‘Listen, I'm supposed to be played this way.”
(𝐺𝑖𝑔𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2016)
🔸⭐🔸

Post by Marti

𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬: 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛

12 years ago today, on the 20th of April 2009, “For what it's worth” came out. It debuted in the UK Singles Chart at no. 97 after it was released exclusively via iTunes. The single contains a cover of Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't it be good" and a demo version of “For what it's worth” as b-sides.

🎬 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 – 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎

🎵 http://bit.ly/2Lk60zS 🎵

Photo credit: Screenshots from the video, edit by Silke

The video was directed by 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘨𝘩 who started to work with the band in 1997 and created some amazing music clips like ”Nancy Boy”, ”Special K” or ”Slave to the wage” for the band.

“For what it's worth” was one of the first songs that Brian and Stefan wrote for the album “Battle for the sun”. Brian started to work on it in the tour bus on the way between New York and Boston because he was so bored and wanted to do something creative. But according to him it's a song that is “infused with a kind of lust for life”. Brian also said that he hoped it would be an euphoric dancefloor experience.

He was aware from the start that there's a line in the lyrics that could easily be misinterpreted. But “your God-shaped hole” is not about a vagina as many fans may think. Instead it is about the hole that everyone is carrying in their soul and which they fill with different things (see quotes below).

Photo credit: Screenshot from the video

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛” 📌
📢 "It's got this real kind of Stax-esque, bluesy horn section on it, which makes sense to us because we grew up listening to Motown as much as we did listening to disco. It excites us too, the idea of freaking out the hardcore Goths, that part of our fan base."
(Big Cheese, 2009)

📢 "'Come on lay with me / 'cause I'm on fire'? Do you need me to write that down for you, man? Perhaps the sexuality is more subtle; it's not coming at you in terms of a transvestite on crystal meth."
(J Mag Australia, 2009)

“📢 I already sensed this line [your God-shaped hole tonight] would be open for interpretations. But it’s not about vaginas or other specific orifices of the body.” His hands are meanwhile forming a circle, he pauses, “why am I doing this right now?” Stefan blames the Freudian subconscious. “No, the expression aims on the hole everyone carries in their souls. A lot of people fill it with God, Jesus, religion, others with humans, drugs or alcohol. It’s the little piece of you which is missing. The place of birth of all desires and all wishes and emotions – that’s what it relates to for me, but already when I wrote it, I was sure most people would understand it sexually. For me, the song is about the libidinous party of life. That’s not sexual, but rather like embracing the universe.” This image of the libido surprises everyone and goes under in collective snorting. “That’s as well a way to push your buttons before intercourse” Stefan giggles. But the piece didn’t come out of emotional or erotic tension, but: “Boredom, the most boring six hours of bus ride between New York and Boston. I was so annoyed that I wrote the song out of frustration.”
(Sonic Seducer, 2009)

Photo credit: Screenshot from the video

📌 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗙𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 📌
📢 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻: “We worked with one of our favourite video directors, Howard Greenhalgh, who has been working with us for a long time. He has done loads of stuff for us including 'Nancy Boy', 'Bruise Pristine' and 'The Bitter End', so we had a long relationship with him that enabled us to feel more relaxed, especially now we are introducing a new member to the public. We wanted it to be quite performance based and the tags were basically about the fact that sometimes what you see, is not what is real. We wanted to play with that. People like to portray themselves as something that is completely the opposite of what is inside of them. With the lyrics, Brian describes them as being quite optimistic but if you listen to them on face value, "got no friends, got no lover", it's like "shit, you're in the gutter" but to him the song is like a celebration of life. It's that dichotomy of what you see and what you hear not always being what is actually there.“
📢 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗙.: “You can take a photo and it can be two people, they can be hanging out and happy but if you put a label on, it completely changes the whole meaning of it. It could be like "cunt". My favourite bit is the guy with the suitcase walking to work and it's like "detonation". It's brilliant.“
(Clic Music, April 2009)

Post by Silke

𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 – 𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬

Photo credit: Alvaro Villarrubia, screenshots from the video / edit by Silke

Today we celebrate the ♦️𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬♦️ of “English summer rain”, the fourth single from Placebo's album “Sleeping with ghosts”. It was released 17 years ago today, on February 23rd 2004, and reached no. 23 in the UK Singles Chart.

“English summer rain” was the first song that Brian started to write on a drum kit. In an interview with Rock Sound he explained it like this: “I was on a real DJ Shadow trip with this one.”

🎬 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 – 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢
🎵 http://bit.ly/2GpzgVa 🎵

The single was available in two different designs. The regular CD included “English summer rain (single version)” and ”I'll be yours (version 4am)”. The enhanced CD consisted of the album version, two remixes and an animated video. It was the official music clip for the song and directed by Grègoire Pinard. You can watch the video with the link at the beginning of this post.

“English summer rain” was only played live from 2003 to 2005 during the “Sleeping with ghosts” and “Once more with feeling” tours. In total the song was performanced 108 times during that period.
Below you can find a live version recorded at Designerama 2004.

Photo credit: Alvaro Villarrubia

🎬 𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡 – 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗔 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟰
🎵 https://bit.ly/2FMSE1u 🎵

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 📌
"I wanted to write something repetitive. A sort of mantra which speaks about leaving… My lover leaves me to travel, I watch the planes in the sky, I tell myself she is perhaps into one of them. I'm still in London, it's summertime, it's raining, it's boring and I miss her terribly."
(Les Inrockuptibles N°382, March-April 2003)

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 📌
”This was the first time we ever used animation. In fact this video was sent to us by a fan from South Africa, so it proves that initiative and persistence pays off. We find it amusing to look at ourselves as puppets. He was at college when he did this and he’d spend all his time not doing homework and doing this animation instead. Doing something useful. It’s kind of funny. It features Jesus on drums.”

Post by Silke

♦️B-SIDES ALBUM - ANNIVERSARY♦️

Photo credit: cover of the album, single covers / edit by Silke

The double album “𝐁-𝐒𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔 - 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔” was released one decade ago on March 15th 2011. This chronological collection features 25 of the tracks plus three instrumentals. It starts with the Syd Barrett cover “Dark Globe” from the single “36 degrees” and ends with “Lazarus”, the b-side of “Meds”. Altogether the compilation includes 28 songs.

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗕-𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗦” 📌
"With 'B-Sides' we do alot of experimental music, a lot of covers, instrumental and stuff like that and it is fun for us."
(Rockwave Festival 2004)

Post by Silke

𝗗𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝘅 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼

Six years ago, on the 2nd of February 2015, drummer 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 left Placebo.
The band released the following statement concerning Steve's departure:
“The split is very amicable and Steve was keen to pursue his own musical ambitions, and has been writing and recording his own material over the last few years. Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal would like to thank Steve for all his work with the band and wish him all the very best in his future career."

Photo credits: main photo by Laetizia Forget, other credits unknown, edit by Silke

I know that a lot of you still miss Steve and so I want to share an interview to remind us of our Mr. Sunshine.

♦️ 𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙒 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙑𝙀 𝙁𝙊𝙍𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙏 ♦️

𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗔𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗬 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗔 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢. 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗?
“Music for me began at a very early age. By the time I was 8 years old, I was already obsessed with the drums, and listening to all of my parent’s music and the drummers in those bands was all very exciting for me. Only thing is, we couldn’t afford a drum kit. Money was scarce in those days, and my parents were struggling to even keep on the lights at times, so spending $500-$1,000 on a drum kit for your kid wasn’t really the most practical thing for them to do. However, one day when I was 11, my father took me out to help him sell off a dirt bike we had. After which, he drove me straight to the music shop and bought me my very first drum kit! It wasn’t much, just a little Yamaha stackable travel kit, but it did the trick! Eventually I would move on to own all sorts of different drum kits over the years, and play with many bands as well. My first band was a Nirvana tribute act when I was 13… haha.“

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢?
“My career with Placebo started with my career in Evaline. Evaline was a group consisting of myself, and four of my mates out of Turlock, CA. We started in my garage in the summer of 2001, and from there went on to sign a record contract with Maverick records, soon to sell us to Warner Bros. records. At this time, we were doing a number of festival runs and support slots. One of the bands we supported was Placebo, and we bonded with the guys instantly. A few months later, me and Evaline parted ways, and whilst out on tour with my friends “We Are The Fury” (now Jeremy & The Harlequins), my mother calls me up and tells me Placebo was without drummer. So next thing I knew I was on the phone with Brian Molko chatting about musical influences, the band, life, love, etc.. We really had a strong bond straight out the gate me and Brian; I always felt really close to him, especially in those early days… Anyways, four months later on January 12th, 2008 at 21 years of age, I landed in London, and for 7 great years I would see, hear, taste, smell, and experience those most amazing things this world had to offer.“

Photo credit: Kayla Wren, unknown (3), edit by me

𝗦𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗘𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗖𝗢 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗨𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗠𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦, 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘?
“Extremely hard decision to make. I loved that band and still do… It’s a hard one to talk about because you never really know what you can and cannot say about a person or a situation, but what I can say is that my time with Placebo was amazing. I loved every member of our awesome crew, I loved the hard working cats in our management, and most of all I truly loved my bandmates. Miscommunication, and egos got in the way of a lot in the end, and when that happens, it’s very hard to keep it going. We had taken our personal journey as far as it could go, and as hard as it was for me to go, I feel it was the best move in the long run for not only myself, but for my brothers as well.“

𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗦?
“I was 9 or 10 when I received my very first drum. It was just a snare drum with an old pair of marching sticks. I used to throw a towel over the drum so as to dampen the sound and play along to the radio. I was immediately hooked.“

𝗦𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗟𝗔, 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗫𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗛 𝗫𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨?
“Very much so, yes. This past year in Brighton has been the toughest year that I can possibly remember having. For both myself and Xa, life has been seemingly cruel, and calloused towards us in many ways. But in a funny way, I believe it all to be what was necessary for me and her to change our lives so drastically! Sitting here now from my bedroom in my mate Brady Leffler’s East Hollywood flat, I’m reminiscing about all that’s taken place, and all that is about to take place, and I’m excited. Me and Xarah have many plans out here, and it feels so good to be working and creating again. Most of all though, I do miss my teammate. She’s my best friend, and it’s very hard to function properly without her. She’s my rock, and even though it’s only a week and a half until I get to see her again, it feels like an eternity! Haha but that’s how these things go I guess.“

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗜𝗡 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦?
“On tour somewhere, sun on my face, cold beer in my hand. Would love to have a kid by then too. I know it’s probably not very rock and roll of me, but I like the idea of having a little one kicking about. Kids are the best, and both me and Xarah think we’d make pretty cool parents. In the meantime, I’m gonna keep making records, and doing what I love. I ADORE performing, and will do anything I can to make sure that I do it for as long as my body allows me…“
(Beauty & Ruin, March 24th 2016)

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 📌
📢 ”His youth, his hunger, his optimism of a young Californian has been crucial for us. He had tattooed "Open Minded" on his knuckles, but not for fun. We needed him to get us out of our thirties-crisis to make us kids again.”
(Les Inrockuptibles, May 26th 2009)

📢 ”Stefan and I have experienced everything there is to experience in this crazy circus. Steve is experiencing it all for the first time, his enthusiasm and astonishment work contagious. It’s a good anti-poison against midlife-tiredness.”
(De Standaat, May 30th 2009)

📌 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 📌

📢 ”From the very first time we played together, it just popped into my head that "this is the last band I am ever going to be in".
(Clic Music, April 2009)

Post by Silke

𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗠𝗘 – 𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬

Today we celebrate the 22nd ♦️𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬♦️ of “Every you Every me”, a track which was written by Brian and his friend Paul Campion, frontman of AC Acoustics. It was released on January 25th 1999 as the third single from the album “Without you I'm nothing” and reached no. 11 in the UK Singles Chart. It also featured in the movie “Cruel Intentions” (see quote below) and therefore gained the attention of many people who haven't known Placebo before.

Screenshots from the video, edit by Silke

Two different versions of “Every you Every me” were released. One includes the single edit, a remix by The Scourge of the Earth and “Nancy Boy (Blue Amazon mix)” and the other consists of the studio version of the song and two remixes by Sneaker Pimps and Brothers in Rhythm.

There are also two different videos for “Every you Every me”. The first one is a compilation of live footage recorded at Brixton Academy during the “Without you I'm nothing“ world tour and was released in 1999 at the same time as the single was put out.

🎬 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗠𝗘 – 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟵)
🎵 http://bit.ly/2SSBvbl 🎵

But there's also a second video from1998 that was originally planned to be released with the single but stayed buried in the band's archive instead because the management didn't want to publish it for unknown reasons. It was first shown on October 7th 2016 to mark the release date of the retrospective double album “A place for us to dream“ and it was also the intro music clip of the following “20 years of Placebo“ tour concerts. This previously unreleased video shows the band gambling in a casino before things go awry.

🎬 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗠𝗘 – 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗢 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢 (𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟲)
🎵 https://bit.ly/2RTnQ2n 🎵

Screenshot from the video.

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢𝗦 📌
📢 “The live video was filmed at Brixton Academy. It was first time we used live footage. This song was the theme tune to the film ‘Cruel Intentions’, which was ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ transported to Upper West Side of New York. It’s a teen film. There’s another version where they intercut it with parts from the film. Even though I’m wearing a rather fetching John Richmond dress, which cost a lot of money, I still look silly. It’s one of my many fashion crimes I was guilty of early in our career.
This video’s also a bit of a cop-out, because we made another video, which didn’t involve performance. It was about twins and never got released. It was banned by management. So we had to pull one together from footage that we’d filmed at Brixton Academy.“
(“Once more with feeling“ DVD, 2004)

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 📌
📢 “Who's it about? I'm not really too sure just yet. I think it's about a lot of people. Probably anybody... everybody who's had the displeasure of sleeping with me. (laughs) I want to stress that I said displeasure there.“ (laughs)
(Interview "Placebo In Conversation With Sally Stratton", August 1998)

📢 "I studied drama, I know the original [Dangerous Liaisons] and we watched it on the tour bus when they wanted to use our song. I said: 'If he doesn't die in the end, if it's a happy ending, we don't do it.' It's quite perverted and manipulative, so the theme of the song fits in quite well."
(Herald Sun, April 29th 1999)

Screenshot from the video.

Post by Silke

𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼: 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥

“𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥”, a collaboration between Brian and French band Indochine, was released 15 years ago on December 19th 2005. Three different versions of the song were recorded: ”Pink water 2” is the English interpretation sung by Brian and Nicola Sirkis of Indochine. The duet in French called ”Pink water 3”. Both songs were released on Indochine's ”Alice and June” limited edition, the French one also appears on the regular album. Finally also a single was produced but the band's record labels decided to put out a version without Brian as guest vocalist. Nicola Sirkis: ”[…] his own record company refused to let us release it with him.” I don't understand this decision, but I agree with Nicola who also said: ”What is important is that the song exists, it is historic, and it comes in different versions.”

📀 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗢 – 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟮
http://bit.ly/2U2IAE3

Photo credit unknown, edit by Silke

In an interview with Rock Sound Brian explained how the song came into being: “Nicola wanted to write something in English. He called me and asked me to help correct his grammatical errors”. Sirkis made it more concrete: "In fact, I had started working on a text in French but on an English gibberish. I asked him to help me with that, because I wanted an English version of this song, but consequently he made me a full text and even added voice melodies” (Indofr, 2005).
Brian also agreed to be on hand when Indochine would record ”Pink water” so he could help the French artist with the phonetics. A few days before the meeting he called Sirkis and offered that he'd sing it as a duet wit him. Nicola about the session: ”We did the recording on a Sunday in a studio near his home, Brian came with a bottle of Chablis and we spent the afternoon together”. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

📀 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗢 – 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟯
🎵 https://bit.ly/30OZZpy 🎵

🎬 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 – 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 (𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗘)
🎵 http://bit.ly/2FS3tyS 🎵

📌 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 📌
Pink water is a distinct type of wastewater associated with TNT. It is produced from equipment washing processes after munitions filling or demilitarization operations.

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥“ 📌
“We did that song for us, for our own pleasure, because we adore each other and to have the opportunity to work together. Many people have asked us to know if we were going to work together. We just had to find the good context, the reason to do it, and there was this song. We didn’t want to please the others, but we wanted to please us!“
(Rock Magazine, December 2005)

📌 𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥“ 📌
”It's quite interesting because his own record company refused to let us release it with him (it's the version with Nicola alone that was released as a single of Alice & June). I told him: "Look, you have written the lyrics, you could do what you want". Anyway, it proves that he likes the song and that, once again, his own record compagny is a big shit (laughs)! And nevermind, it doesn't matter, it's the business. What is important is that the song exists, it is historic, and it comes in different versions ...
I have seen him, he was in Paris in February, and the video was played, and he was disgusted that it was this version wich was released. On the other hand, I think that if he had really wanted to, he could have stressed and made his own record compagny give in. It is a bit strange, what happened with this song. I find it great, he found it great, we did it together, and so, the story ends there ...”
(Rock Mag N°78, June 2007)

Brian Molko and Nicola Sirkis in Nimes, France. Photo credit unknown

📍 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 📍
http://bit.ly/2FTFD5N

📜 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦: 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟮 📜
Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late

So
I’m gonna leave tonight

I can’t decide
If I’m the one you need
Or what you want out of life
I always thought
You’d be the one to leave
The one to change your mind

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Can’t take you with me
‘cause it’s very far
And you don’t have the time

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this place
Get me out of this place

Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late

I can’t decide
If I’m the one you need
Or what you want out of life
I always thought
You’d be the one to leave
The one to change your mind

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Before I met you
I was crushing cars
And I was doing fine

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this town
Before I drown in your deep
Pink water
I won’t remember your face
I can’t remember your frown
Because I’ll drown in your deep
Pink water

10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ...
5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1

Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Can’t take you with me
‘cause it’s very far
And you don’t have the time
I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind

Before I met you
I was crushing cars
And I was doing fine

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this town
Before I drown in your deep
Pink water
I won’t remember your face
I can’t remember your frown
Because I’ll drown in your deep
Pink water

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this town
Before I drown in your deep
Pink water
I won’t remember your face
I can’t remember your frown
Because I’ll drown in your deep
Pink water

Photo credit unknown

Post by Silke

ANNIVERSARY: The MTV Unplugged Show

Today we celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of the “MTV Unplugged” album. It was released as CD and DVD five years ago on November 27^th 2015. The concert was recorded on 19^th of August that year at The London Studios in Waterloo, Central London. Placebo manager Alex Weston and Angus Blue of the band's management Riverman were both executive producers of the show.

♫ The bitter end – MTV Unplugged ♫

The “Unplugged” concert consisted of 17 songs. Two guest vocalists had an appearance on stage: singer-songwriter Majke Voss Romme of Broken Twin sang “Every you Every me” with the band and Joan Wasser aka Joan As Police Woman “Protect me from what I want”.

♫ Bosco – MTV Unplugged ♫

According to Stefan it was very hard and took a long time to work out the right setlist, because “with acoustic versions it can be easy to become very self-indulgent and just play all the slow tracks. So it was challenging to do a setlist that flowed well” (uDiscoverMusic, November 25th 2015). But the band had lots of opportunities to rework rock versions of their tracks into acoustic ones in the past and so everything sounded just perfect. 

♫ Meds – MTV Unplugged ♫

CONCERT REVIEW BY A FAN

The event started later than scheduled and we were kept waiting outside in the cold wind, but, hey, who cares about temperature when you are about to see such a band?!

People invited by the band, Helena Berg and Cody Molko included, got inside first, of course, plus a number of people, mainly from Russia I guessed: maybe the latter belong to a Fan Club or run some specific blog on Placebo.

After about an hour we got in and were ordered for the hundredth time to turn off all our devices. Once inside, temperature wasn’t any higher: in fact the studio was a freezer. But, again, who cares?!
The audience was asked to sit down behind a group of seats right in front of the stage: these were already taken by the band’s guests. Seats sold by Crowdsurge were on the sides and behind other reserved seats in the central stalls area.

The stage was surrounded by a transparent veil that formed a sort of giant cube. Right before the show started, we were told to shut down phones, tablets and cameras. 

All of a sudden, an enchanting music played by a string orchestra (6 elements, I think) invaded the silent hall and the audience experienced a sort of trance. Then, the band came up on stage and they started with Jackie. Can you believe it? Jackie! True fans had tears in their eyes and I personally had to put a hand on my mouth, as it was trying to sing it automatically even if nobody was supposed to. It was so intense. I had the feeling that all members of the audience were tense for the band, a tad more nervous than them: everybody wanted it to be a special once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Brian wore a light make-up: foundation, black eye-pencil and a some grey eye-shadow (at least this was what I could sea from where I was sitting). His clothes were elegant and minimal: black trousers and black shirt. He had his hair trimmed, so it was a bit shorter than the last gig and he looked younger and sweeter: let’s say that the Severus Snape’s look was much less perceivable!
Stefan was impeccable as usual: his dark grey suit made his height and his slim silhouette really charming. He could have been a model! We already know his haircut (a sort of male pixiecut) seen in the previous gigs.

Matt was lightheartedly casual in his white t-shirt, while Fiona-the-busy-bee had a vintage updo that really suited her. Her half-ponytail was a bit backcombed. Very elegant.

Brian looked really relaxed, but I think he had a hurricane in his mind: he had to play, sing, entertain, do all the talking, as Stefan wouldn’t say a single word apart from “Thank you”, and get synchronised with the process of filming, which had been clearly organised before, but had to be rearranged. Nevertheless, he was cheerful and made us laugh more than a couple of times. Post Blue was played with an instrument called the Qanun, but the very moment Stefan pulled two strings Brian went “Ha! It seems the qanun is out of tune!” He sounded so funny!!! You won’t see that in the dvd!

The coolest thing you’ll see on the dvd are the effects. I told you the band played on a stage that looked like a cage of veil. On that veil projectors created images with white lights: squares, stripes, rain drops… It was beautiful to see, but I guess it will be even more enjoyable on the DVD!

Cover moment: Where is my mind. What can I say? They have played it before and every time the emotion is almost overwhelming, but you’ll see: this time the voice is so perfect, so in tune, full, it doesn’t get lost in the open space of festival stage. It’s like it should be. They repeated it twice and they did the same for Jackie, Loud Like Love and the two songs sung with the guest artists. Brian was pretty open about having forgotten a couple of lines in LLL and Where is my mind. I think he was surprised to see how we wouldn’t mind listening to same song as many times as he wanted us to! Before playing “Where is my mind” for the second time he said “You must like the song!”. No! We like the BAND!!!!

Sweetest moments: Brian smiling at his song as he stepped on stage; Cody almost jumping on his chair during Loud like love.
(Review by Laura Meneghetti)

Photo credits: Screenshots from the DVD, cover of the album, edit by me

Post by Silke