🌛▪️ℙ𝕃𝔸ℂ𝔼𝔹𝕆 𝕃𝕌𝕃𝕃𝔸𝔹𝕀𝔼𝕊 ℙ𝔸ℝ𝕋 𝕀𝕀𝕀.▪️🌜

☮️🔹"𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙙𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤.“🔹☮️
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙰𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊 𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜, 𝙹𝚞𝚕 𝟸000)

Hi soulmates,
I would just add to the opening quote - that for many of us, the love of Placebo is our drug to which we are totally addicted... What do you think?

It might surprise you that we're still sticking with the debut album today. There are 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 left that I want to share with you today and at the end you will tell me which of the three is your favorite, okay?

The very first one is a masterpiece.
A beautifully moving story that has become, dare I say it, 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬.
I'll give you a hint with these verses:


☮️🔹„𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓...
𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓...“🔹☮️

🎶▪️𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎: „𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖“▪️🎶

According to statistics, this song has been performed live 197 times. 🔹𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 - 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟳 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩 𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀.🔹
The song then became a part of the setlist only during the Meds tour, then during the Loud Like Love tour in 2015 and was played most during Placebo's 20th anniversary tour.

Photo credit: Andy Willsher

I really like the early versions of this heartbreak ballad with the amazing didgeridoo and drumming of former drummer Robert Schultzberg.
▪️🎶"𝐈 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰" 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧🎶▪️
https://bit.ly/…7u0
▪️🎶"𝐈 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰" 𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧🎶▪️
https://bit.ly/…W9s


And what do we know about the origins of this song?
"I Know" is a transcription of a conversation between Brian and a loved one he broke up with. Moving to New York, being totally alone and depressed led him to a phone booth somewhere on Broadway to call that person and tell her:
🔹...'𝑠𝑒𝑒, 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢.'...🔹

☮️🔹„𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙜𝙤 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩.“🔹☮️
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝟸00𝟼)

To help you relive this ballad, I have two beautiful videos for you:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟳:
▪️🎶 https://bit.ly/…PnN
The second is 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘄 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟮 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗼𝗯 created by fans in the front rows.
By the way - are these fans here among us? Brag about how powerful the experience was.
▪️🎶 https://bit.ly/…se3

Photo credit unknown

Brilliant, isn't it?
Let's go to song number 2 - the single that will celebrate its anniversary in September:


▪️🎶„𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐒𝐓“🎶▪️

You can probably see why I have this song on my list of lullabies. The slow version is simply a gem. Brian says it's the song that refuses to die...:

☮️🔹“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].“🔹☮️
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚅𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝟸0𝟷𝟹)

We don't need to write more about this treasure, as a separate post will be devoted to it on September 16.
💗My mission is to share for you a video that perfectly meets the parameters of a lullaby.
▪️🎶𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗶𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗸𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟴:
https://bit.ly/…qmE

Photo credit: Claudia Schmölders

I've been thinking a lot about which song to share with you today in a live video.
💗Because I love all three songs so much that I don't have a favorite among them. In the end, I chose the one that we don't share that often.

▪️🎶...𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡
𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑦𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡 ...🎶▪️

▪️🎶“𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒”🎶▪️

▪️🎶𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧🎶▪️
https://bit.ly/…AmF
▪️🎶𝗔𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻🎶▪️
https://bit.ly/…y5x

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑦?
Do you know its origin?
Brian was influenced to write this song by the French writer and poet 🔹𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 "𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐫𝐞-𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐞-𝐝𝐞𝐬-𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬"🔹. This book is actually a pornographic autobiography (very shocking in its time) that Genet wrote in prison during World War II.
It is said that this writer needed to feed his erotic muse somehow, so he stole brown paper supplied to prisoners to make paper bags and wrote his novel on it.
The first one was confiscated by the guards, but he was persistent, and managed to get the second draft of his story about the drag queen Divine out of prison and published in 1943.
Interestingly, the model for the writing of this "epic of masturbation" was the homosexual and convicted murderer Maurice Pilorge, who lost his head to the guillotine at Rennes in 1939.
It was the very last execution carried out there. Genet was directly fascinated by this man and his story, he even claimed to know Pilorg personally. He composed a wonderful poem about him, which you can read here:
✨ https://bit.ly/…QcP ✨

Photo credit: Pat Pope

Maybe Brian knew this story when he composed the gem you can watch in today's shared video. I hesitated for a long time which video would be the best.
☮️𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁-𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
▪️🎶 https://bit.ly/…kyz

I chose a very well-known and absolutely iconic video clip -
☮️🔹𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐕𝐌 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕🔹☮️.
Let Brian's appearance as a 16 year old girl enchant you again and enjoy the rest of the evening.
And be sure to let me know which song you personally prefer and why. I am very curious about your thoughts.

Post by Marti

Placebo songs inspired by books

Some of Placebo's songs are inspired by books as you may know. Today we'll have a closer look on three of these books and authors that Brian has revealed as source for his lyrics in interviews.

"I'VE STOLEN BOOK TITLES FOR MY SONGS"

Photo credits: Silver Rocket, Scarlet Page, unknown (3)

Firstly let's talk about “Lady of the flowers” from Placebo's self-titled 1996 debut album. The inspiration for this song came from the book “Notre dame des fleurs” (Our lady of the flowers) by French writer Jean Genet. It was his debut novel and first published in 1943. The book is largely autobiographical, it tells the story of draq queen Divine and was a quite scandalous release due to its content. Jean-Paul Sartre even called it "the epic of masturbation". Genet also performed a transvaluation of values in this novel, making betrayal the highest moral value and murder an act of virtue and sexual appeal. Death and ecstasy accompany the acts of every character. 

Jean Genet worked on the story while he was in prison. The first version of “Lady of the flowers” was written on brown paper that was given to the inmates with the intention that they would make bags of it. A prison guard discovered Genet's “unauthorized” use of the paper and confiscated the manuscript which then was burned. But this setback couldn't stop Genet and so he wrote it all over again and took the pages with him when he was finally set free from prison.

PLACEBO - LADY OF THE FLOWERS

https://bit.ly/2VietLd

Plot
Divine lives in an attic room which she shares with various lovers, the most important of them is a pimp called Darling Daintyfoot. One day Darling brings home a young hoodlum and murderer, dubbed Our Lady of the Flowers. Our Lady is eventually arrested and executed.

BRIAN ON “LADY OF THE FLOWERS”
"When I sing 'Lady of the flowers' people think I'm talking about a woman when actually it's about a transvestite."(P.A.T., 1996)


Placebo's 2003 success single “The bitter end” is inspired by the book “Ninteen Eighty-Four”, later often published as “1984”. It's a famous dystopian novel by English author George Orwell which perfectly fits in the time and society we're living in right now. The book was first published in 1949 as Orwell's ninth and final release. It was first planned to be published under the title “The last man in Europe”. Then “1984” crossed Orwell's mind, allegedly because it was an inversion of 1948, the year in which the novel was written.
“1984” had a great cultural impact and also an enormous effect on the English language.Among many others the concepts of  Big Brother, Room 101, Thoughtcrime, Doublethink and Newspeak have become common phrases.The practice of ending words with "-speak" (such as mediaspeak) is drawn from the novel. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” has been adapted for the cinema, radio, television and theatre as well as for other art media, such as ballet and opera.

PLACEBO - THE BITTER END

http://bit.ly/2YsP0yn 

Plot
The story takes place in an imagined future in the year 1984 when most parts of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and propaganda. Oceania, a totalitarian superstate where the protagonist Winston Smith lives in, is ruled by The Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. The leader of The Party is Big Brother (hence the saying “Big Brother is watching you”), who is maybe a real person but could also be a fiction invented by The Party. Winston secretly hates The Party and dreams of rebellion. He begins a forbidden relationship with Julia, but both of them get captured and imprisoned. Winston is tortured and forced to "cure" himself of his "insanity" (which means their relationship), the same happens to Julia. Finally he is taken to Room 101 which contains each prisoner's worst fear. Confronted with this Winston betrays Julia. He is now re-educated and being released. One day Winston meets Julia again and both reveal betraying the other and having no feelings for each other any more. The novel ends with Winston accepting his full conversion and reflecting that he loves Big Brother.

There are a lot of references to “1984“ in the lyrics of “The bitter end“. You can read everything about them here https://bit.ly/2Yvrd2W

BRIAN ON “THE BITTER END”
“Two people trying to come out of a relationship with the least scars. Very fuck you.“
(Rock Sound, April 2003)


Last but not least let's have a closer look on “A million little pieces” from the album “Loud like love”. This song was inspired by a same-titled book written by American author James Frey. It was originally released as a memoir but had to be marketed as a semi-fictional novel later because of accusations of litarary forgery (it emerged that many of the events described in the book never really happened). "A million little pieces" tells the story of a alcoholic alcoholic and drug addict and how he copes with rehabilitation in a twelve steps-orientated treatment center.
A notable feature of the book is its lack of quotation marks to indicate direct quotes or dialogues. Instead of them a new line starts each time someone speaks. The fact that the author uses this same method to indicate his internal thoughts gives the book a unique but sometimes confusing writing style, which intention is maybe to reflect the nature of the main character's experience in the treatment center. 

There's also a movie based on the book. You can read more about it here https://bit.ly/2CFulkx

PLACEBO - A MILLION LITTLE PIECES
https://bit.ly/2Nq1G59

Plot
James is a 23 years old alcoholic and a crack addict who wakes up on a flight to Chicago with injuries and no idea of how he ended up on the plane. His parents pick him up at the airport to take him to a rehabilitation clinic. As he checks in he is forced to quit his substance abuse, a transition that later probably saves his life. The treatment is an agonizing process for him. The book follows James through this painful experiences that lead up to his eventual release from the center. He meets many interesting people in the clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. These people include a mafia boss who plays a vital role in his recovery (subject of Frey's subsequent book My Friend Leonard), and a female drug addict with whom he falls in love despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. James finally recovers and never relapses.

BRIAN ON “A MILLION LITTLE PIECES”
“This song is about desperation and hopelessness. I have stolen the title from from the memoirs of the American author James Frey. He describes his experience with addiction and the following rehabilitation. This song is about feeling totally lost and astray. They want to end the situation but it's not easy. I recommend everyone to read the book and play our music behind it.”
(Krone, 2013)


There are many other Placebo songs with references to books. Uncle Tom in “Blue American” for example refers to “Uncles Tom's Cabin” by American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe. This anti-slavery novel was published in 1852, but still has a relevance nowadays as the recent events and the protests all over the world clearly show.
Photo credits: Scarlet Page, Silver Rocket, unknown (3), covers of the books / edit by me

Post by Silke