💗🎉✨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

🩸 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐒 - 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 🩸

💊 Among the items in the Placebo catalog, one of my favourites is the 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐 𝑪𝑫.

💊 Released on March 13, 2006, this copy has the particularity of being presented in the form of a 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙, including the CD and a leaflet with instructions on how to take the treatment correctly. The aim of the treatment ? To be addicted to Placebo of course ! 😄

💊 The content of the leaflet is quite funny and well written. Everything is there: the dosage, the composition, the indications. And like all medicines, it is recommended "𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛" !

💊 The leaflet also contains a short history of the band, which is very inspired and inspiring. Lovely words.💖

I have translated it for you.

Photo credit: Nadav Kander / Edit by Laetitia

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𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢.

𝐼𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝐾𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦. 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒.

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Talent always comes out in the end. In 2000, while the world was wondering about the future of rock, Placebo, without pulling the wool over the eyes, sold a million copies of Black Market Music, their third album, which reached number one in almost all of Europe. Three years later, as the long-awaited new rock waves swept through London and New York, Placebo sold one and a half million copies of Sleeping With Ghosts and played to 18,000 people at Bercy. When the band of Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal and Steve Hewitt played a sold-out show at Wembley Arena in 2004 to celebrate the release of their singles compilation Once More With Feeling, the truth became even more blinding: a decade after their debut, Placebo's persistence, blistering albums and scorching live shows had finally earned them a place on the podium of the major bands of their generation. "This rise to prominence has been a gradual process since the first album," confirms Stefan. Each of our albums has done a little better than the last and we weren't shocked. The same goes for the stage: there were five of us on the last tour, which allowed Brian and I to perform better.


What is truly remarkable about Placebo's rise to fame is that it has always been linked to a thirst for musical creativity, self-discovery and good storytelling. From the androgynous imagery of their early days, the band went on to analyze human nature (its perversions, the humiliations we inflict on others, the addictions and hope we often refuse to see), while exploring new musical territory: hip-hop and disco elements were incorporated into Black Market Music, while for Sleeping With Ghosts, Placebo dabbled in electronics. Courageously, the band challenged their audience to follow them, and saw them grow exponentially. With Meds, Placebo will take a new step.


Written in the summer of 2004 in the south of France, recorded in four months at London's RAK studios the following year with French producer Dimitri Tikovoï, and mixed by the legendary Flood (U2, Depeche Mode), Meds shows Placebo as they are now, convinced that they have written the best songs of their career. "We ended up with too many songs for this record," Brian says . In general, we were always one short. There are at least five or six singles on Meds."


Placebo have encouraged Tikovoi to tone down their enthusiasm for electronics, a direction the band thought they were going to exploit after writing Twenty Years for the singles compilation, in favour of the guitar/bass/drums formula that doesn't cheat and emphasizes the intrinsic quality of the songs. "Dimitri's idea was that we should approach this record as if it were the first," Brian explains, "to get out of our comfort zone, to put Placebo back in danger. RAK is a studio where time has stood still, it hasn't changed much since the 70s and 80s. We had to go back to the elemental side of Placebo: for example, instead of expensive vintage keyboards, we used a simple piano. We had a reputation for being a bit complicated and we liked the freedom to go back to the basics. We preferred to put a lot of emphasis on writing rather than showing how skilled we were in the studio. We favoured simplicity over elaboration."

Photo edit: Album cover, edit by Laetitia

The result is not only a detonating cocktail: Meds is certainly the most human Placebo record to date. Brian Molko no longer feels the need to define himself using his array of S&M gadgets. He has become an adult, a storyteller who can talk about life without a coded language. In Meds he tells stories of fragile souls who panic because they forgot to take their medication. (Meds with VV from the Kills), of shame seen in the bathroom mirror at dawn, of re-declining after taking certain substances (Cold Light Of Morning) and of "friends who make the worst life choices" (Song To Say Goodbye). There is also a beautiful ballad (Follow The Cops back Home) and mysterious, haunting songs like Space Monkey, which Placebo listen to again as if it were a different band. Among other encounters, Meds is also marked by the presence of Michael Stipe, who illuminates Broken Promise with his presence: "We've known Michael since Velvet Goldmine and we met him in a hotel in Paris," Brian says. It's a song about adultery and we felt it would have more substance if it was performed by two men. I was thinking of a duet with a girl but we thought Michael would do very well. With VV, we have the best of the new and old generation on the record."


At first glance, you might have thought that Placebo had covered all the topics on Meds (love, confusion, revenge and addiction), but this is not the case, as Brian explains: "In a rock band, you don't grow up as fast. There's a lot of confusion on this record because nothing is ever simple in the Placebo world ! The people the songs are about are in constant conflict with themselves and struggle to find their place..."


Meds holds the promise of new adventurous excursions that this band, which considers the unknown as its home, intends to lead. Its success deserves to be commensurate with its non-conformism. We should not forget that we are talking about a band that played in Chile last year, to fulfill an old commitment, and found that they were excessively popular in South America... without even knowing it.


By going back to their roots, by becoming themselves again, Placebo continues to grow up. Like all the bands that have marked the history of rock, they know that salvation belongs to those who dare and do not hesitate to put their destiny on the line.


With Meds, Placebo does more than just play with fire: it makes a mockery of the sun and shows that it has managed to avoid burning their wings.

Alison+Mosshart by Andrew H. Walker

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𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉:

𝑉𝑉 ............................................... 23𝑚𝑔
𝑀𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑒𝑙 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑒 ............................. 23𝑚𝑔
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 ........................................ 144𝑚𝑔
𝑇𝑖𝑘𝑜𝑣𝑜𝑖̈ ..................................... 302𝑚𝑔
𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑦 ............................ 38𝑚𝑔
𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 ..................................... 499𝑚𝑔


𝙈𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗘(𝗦) 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗗𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:

𝐴𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒.

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑏𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 (𝐴𝑙𝑐𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)


𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦:

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜.

𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑓𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠.

𝐴 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑛 (𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙, 𝑒𝑡𝑐.) 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑.

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒.


𝗗𝗢𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘:

3 𝑡𝑜 4 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 (𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔)

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Michael Stipe by Tim Roney

💊 The composition of this medicine is very well dosed and here is what the band says about the choice of 'medicinal molecules' to make the treatment all the more effective.


𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒊 𝑻𝒊𝒌𝒐𝒗𝒐𝒊̈ 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 ?
📜 We always produced our previous albums with other people while doing our B-sides or covers with Dimitri. And every time the B-side sounded much better than the rest! So at some point we thought: "Ok, this is ridiculous, now we have to work directly with him". And then he lives in London... We had a lot of discussions about this, reminding him that when he was in France he was producing Guesch Patti records and thus giving a really bad image of French music. Before the recording, we kept pounding on him that once he moved to London, he was going to do the same thing with English music...


𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅...
📜 We didn't choose him, he did ! The truth is that we had asked him several times before and he had always refused. Then one day he came and asked if he could mix our new record. It was a no-brainer, just look at his previous collaborations: Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey... All the albums he's produced are records that have inspired us in our songwriting.


𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒖𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 ?
📜 I've been friends with Jamie for ages. We went to university and studied drama together. We've seen him play in lots of different bands. But it was once he started the Kills that we realized he had created a really important band and we were extremely proud. I've always found Alison overly intimidating. Just because of who she is, just because of her presence. And if it wasn't for Jamie, I would never have been able to talk to her. But it became possible, and as we were looking for a female voice, it seemed like a no-brainer. Her voice is like Viagra. When you see the Kills on stage, it's so sexual. She is the ultimate rock chick.


𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒓𝒆 ?
📜 It was a song about adultery, and we were looking for a female singer. And then one day Steve said: 'For God's sake, why does it have to be a duet between a woman and a man ? That was the trigger, we realized that the song would be stronger with two singers. And I found it interesting to play the role of the cuckold in the song. Because it didn't happen often in reality...
✔️ 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘 - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜 - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎́𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔 #𝟷 - 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴𝙱𝙾

Dimitri Tikovoi. Photo credit unknown

💊 Dimitri Tikovoi brought the perfect balance to Meds, even if it was not easy for everyone ! You need what you need when you make a healing potion. 😉

📜 I was quite nervous when they asked me to make their album. Firstly, it was one of the projects I'd ever worked on. Secondly, the band had four albums under their belt, all of them very good in different genres - the last one was a huge hit. And then it was the fifth album from a band that was becoming a bit settled.

I didn't want to make another Placebo album either. So I put a lot of pressure on myself before I started to make sure I never gave up on anything, to make sure I could push the band as far as possible. [...] We've worked together before, but in a different context, and I came in with the idea that it wasn't going to be a pleasant or enjoyable job. I had to get into it from the beginning, push them, without waiting until the middle of the album. On the third day in the studio, I got angry with Brian and he stormed out. It was an immediate shock. Brian didn't want to come back. So we both cleared the air and everything became possible. We pushed each other and constantly asked ourselves if we could do better. If we felt it was possible, we started to improve again and again.
✔️ 𝙳𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚛𝚒 𝚃𝚒𝚔𝚘𝚟𝚘𝚒̈ - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜 - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎́𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔 #𝟷 - 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴𝙱𝙾


💊 VV, "𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬", contributed to the smooth preparation of the album, bringing her fragile and sensual touch despite some confusion and uncertainty about the recording of the song Meds.

📜 I came to record this duet scared to death... I ended up in the studio on October 7th and I only stayed there for 3 hours. I rediscovered the song on the spot and tried to bring what I could to it. They gave me whisky, a glass of water and an ashtray. They turned off the lights and let me get on with it. It's funny to sing someone else's lyrics: I had no idea what Brian was getting at and I didn't ask him, I didn't want to get him pissed off with my questions and then it's kind of funny to sing something you don't understand. As you're off the mark, you change the tone, the spirit...
✔️ 𝙰𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝 - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚗𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚞𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜 - 𝙻𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎́𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔 #𝟷 - 𝙿𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙴𝙱𝙾

Photo credit: Kevin Cummins

💊 In the 2006 𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚊 show, Brian regrets not calling the first album Meds, as it made sense given the name they had chosen for the band. And when Nagui points out that a placebo is a drug that doesn't cure but gives the impression that it does. Brian replies: It has a psychological effect on the patient.

That's why I personally think that presenting the album Meds in such a format was a very appropriate stroke of genius ! Placebo is just like the treatment of the same name: harmless but the therapeutic effect is undeniably effective. No adverse effect noticed 😉


⭐ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 ?

⭐ 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬: 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 ?


𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝑵𝑶𝑾, 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒚 ! 𝑪𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌 !
𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗦 💿 https://bit.ly/3xrKenw 🎵💊 🎶

Translation by Laetitia
Post by Laetitia

🔸BIRTHDAY: MICHAEL STIPE🔸

Ex R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe was born on January 4th 1960 in Decatur, Georgia (USA). Brian, Stefan, Steve (Hewitt) and Michael have known each other since the late 90ies because they both performed at a lot of festivals.
They also recorded the song “Broken promise“ together which was released on Placebo's album “Meds“ in 2006. But music is not the only thing that connects them.

🎉🎈 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝟔𝟐𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐏𝐄! 🎈🎉

Photo credis at the end of the text

💿 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁. 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗘 – 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘
🎵 http://bit.ly/2Dw7Xah 🎵

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. But music and cinema is not enough for Michael Stipe, he is also a passionatete photographer. In 2018 he published a photo book entitled “Volume 1“ which features pictures of such celebrities as River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain (he is the godfather of Kurt's daughter Francis Bean). Michael's latest solo release "Sunday morning“ was released 2021 on the album “I'll be your mirror: A tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico“.

💿 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗘 – 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚
🎵 https://bit.ly/3p1sdrJ 🎵

Although he is such an allrounder most people know Michael Stipe as the singer of R.E.M. (“Losing my religion”, ”Everybody hurts”, “Shiny happy people“...). The American band split up in 2011 but with 85 millions of sold records they are one of the most successful alternative rock bands ever.

You can read more about R.E.M. here:
https://bit.ly/3xoGGBI

As a singer-songwriter Michael Stipe influenced a wide range of artists, including Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Just like Brian Michael sang a lot of guest vocals on other artist's records during his career. He did collaboratios with about 40 musicians, amongst them Patti Smith, Grant Lee Buffalo, Chris Martin and Courtney Love.

Photlo credit: Justin Thomas

💿 𝗥.𝗘.𝗠. – 𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗢𝗡
🎵 https://bit.ly/3cPkOWT 🎵

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗘 📌
📢 "Michael was great. We thought he'd be in and out of the studio very quickly, but he hung around all day, making sure everything was just right."
(Daily Mirror, March 3rd 2006)

📢 “The idea of working with Michael who has such a recognizable voice was very exciting. Since Michael is a friend and was somebody who'd really influenced the development of my voice, that was extremely exciting.”
(Suicide Girls, May 14th 2006)

📢 “The idea of working with Michael who has such a recognizable voice was very exciting. Since Michael is a friend and was somebody who'd really influenced the development of my voice, that was extremely exciting. We wanted to take this potentially cliché song and give it extra gravitas and more edge. It totally wasn't about trying to find the most famous person to be on the record.”
(Suicide Girls, May 14th 2006)

💿 𝗥.𝗘.𝗠. – 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦
🎵 https://bit.ly/3CN8dxW 🎵

Photo credits: Justin Thomas (Brian and Michael at Brixton Academy, May 23rd 1997), Method Times Production, Stock photo, NurPhoto, Adam Berry, Getty Images, unknown (2) / edit by me

Post by Silke

𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 - 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗦 – 𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬

Today we celebrate the ♦️𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗬♦️ of Placebo's fifth studio album “𝙈𝙚𝙙𝙨”. It was released 15 years ago on the 13th of March 2006. Below you can find an interview with statements on all songs from the record.

Photo credit: Covers of the album and the singles, edit by Silke

📀 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗦 – 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠
🎵 http://bit.ly/2SdQqfO 🎵

“Meds” was produced by Dimitri Tikovoi, a personal friend of Brian, who was also responsible for some of Placebo's earlier singles, b-sides and remixes.
The album was recorded at RAK Studios and Livingstone Studios, both located in London.
Most of the songs were mixed by Flood (real name: Mark Ellis), a British post-punk and alternative rock record producer and audio engineer.
There are two guest vocalists on the album: R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe on “Broken promise” and Alison Mosshart of The Kills on “Meds”.

The album was leaked to the internet on 17th of January 2006, two months before the official release date. The leak caused a serious loss of profit. Nevertheless in most countries “Meds” charted well, for example it peaked no. 7 in the UK Albums Chart. It reached no. 1 in Austria, Belgium, France and Switzerland.

♠️♦️ 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦 𝗢𝗡 “𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗦” ♦️♠️

🔹𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗦🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The original version of Meds was very different to the one that was recorded. I wrote it during my time in India, like with Song to say goodbye. Meds talks about a loss of self, not recognising yourself. You feel lost, desperate and you don’t know what you’re thinking anymore, what you’re really feeling. It’s a very perturbing sensation, for me or anyone else, and I wanted to express that. I’m glad it’s the opening track of the album. It’s the first time that a Placebo record opens with an acoustic intro.”

𝘝𝘝 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵?
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “I’ve known Jamie [Hotel] for 16 years. When we wrote Meds, we thought that a feminine voice would be a good idea. It was then that Dimitri suggested Alison. Her voice is a real turn-on, like Viagra. She’s from another world. When we sat down in the studio to hear her do the vocals, all the guys got hard-ons. The Kills are an incredible group. We’ve seen Jamie in a lot of bands, and we even played with some of them… but The Kills!… They’re a musical triumph. One of the best modern rock bands.”

🔹𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗥𝗔-𝗥𝗘𝗗🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “It’s a song about revenge. Many tracks on the album talk about alcohol and where it takes you when you drink it in excess. When you drink, you often feel very angry towards those who manipulated you in your life. Then you develop this desire of revenge that Infra-Red talks about. On this track I was very inspired by the early Bob Dylan. I imitate him in places. [Sings] "Theeeere’s gonna beeee an aaaaccideeeent!" [Laughs] It might be our second single.”

🔹𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗚🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “At one moment in my life I stopped writing on the guitar to try to improve my piano skills. I was always rather bad at it, but Drag was born that way. I had just fallen in love and wanted to write a song about feeling inferior to someone. When you fall in love, you see the other person above you. "I’ll always be in your shadow, you’re wonderful…" You think that the person you love is perfect and you just feel like a piece of shit on their shoe. It’s also the only Placebo track that mentions the Seine! The working title was ‘Across the Seine’.”

🔹𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗬🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Steve? I know how you feel about this one…”

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚: “It’s a modern classic. [Laughs] Space Monkey was one of the things we wrote at the start of Sleeping With Ghosts. We decided to drop the guitars and become Kraftwerk. We had an electric drumkit and keyboards.”

𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “On Sleeping with ghosts we wanted to leave the guitars. For this album, it’s the opposite – fuck Kraftwerk, we’re going back to rock!”

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚: “And so, we’d been working for about three days, and on the fourth, the management turns up and says, "so, what have you got?" We explained that we’d just started, we were still at the stage where we were just messing around and that they’d come too early. They asked us to play something anyway. So we did 'Space Monkey' for them. At that point, they asked us what the hell we were doing. We answered that they shouldn’t have got here so fucking early.”

𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “In London, Dimitri [Tikovoi] was doing these bike sessions. One time, we took the bike from him, put it in the studio with a bin, the foot of a keyboard and some bits of metal. Steve played on it for three hours. At the end of it, we had our Space Monkey. The guy isn’t a drummer, he’s a cyclist! Afterwards, we added a real orchestra on it. They came to the studio, they played and we filmed them.”

Photo credit: Nadav Kander

🔹𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗦 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “This track was inspired by Iceland. The first time we went there, it was summer, during the 24 hours of sunshine. We calculated that 3% of the population came to our gig, despite it being a very small concert. Nobody lives out there. While we were driving through the countryside to see the volcanoes and the geysers, we didn’t see a single cop. It was so weird! You wonder what people do over there. And two weeks ago I met Sigur Ros. Those guys are 25 and already have got 7-year-old kids. Seeing that, I said, "are you crazy? Is there really so little to do in Iceland?" They replied "yeah, that’s why we get drunk and fuck." This trip to Iceland inspired us, made us think about what you do when you live in a place like Luxembourg or Iceland where there’s nothing to do. Most of the time, you just go looking for trouble. In the end, this track, like many others on the album, talks about alcohol. You get completely wasted in a bar, you fall on another guy who’s equally pissed, you decide he’s your new best friend and straight away, you go and do stupid things. This particular stupid thing is to follow the cops back home and rob their houses. After having listened to this, if some guy thinks it’s a good idea, then he deserves to get caught. It’s the stupidest thing you could do.”

🔹𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “It’s about alcohol. [Laughs] No, seriously, it’s a song about dependence, loss of self, how one person can be your sole reason for existence. They become your escape, the answer to all your questions. We’ve always written love songs, but our lyrics are more twisted. We talk about impossible love, complicated love, destructive love. A love as destructive as drugs.”

🔹𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “It’s our first single in the UK. I’d rather not say anything about it. You just need to listen to the lyrics – everything’s explained in them.”

🔹𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗗🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “It’s a song for the chicks.”

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: “I wrote it four years ago, like Post Blue, when we were recording our covers. The guitars are tuned in the same way on both tracks. At the time, we didn’t want to turn them into B-sides. We kept the original recording for this album, but with the vocals re-worked and extra over-dub.”

🔹𝗣𝗜𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗡🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣:: “It’s a song about destructive relationships, violent relationships. After having written it, I realised that it could well have been about family relations as well as between lovers. A lot of songs – mainly Country – talk about women being hit by their husbands. In Pierrot the Clown, the target of the violence is a man. A vulnerable man, trapped in a violent and destructive relationship. The tile of the track stems from my obsession with clowns and a passion for the circus. At college, I’d thought about signing up to a school for clowns and becoming one…”

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: [Teasingly] “It’s what you do already!”

𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: [Laughs] “But fortunately for everyone, I was accepted at university. When I was a kid, I’d go to the circus. It was a party, but one person, Pierrot, would always be sad. I always felt compassion for him. It’s also the role that Bowie plays in his video for Ashes to Ashes. It’s a very strong image for me, and I wanted to communicate how you can feel alone in a relationship, to the point where you can let yourself be beaten physically and morally by someone. Joyful, isn’t it?”

Photo credit: Nadav Kander

🔹𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “We thought the idea of getting two guys to sing this song about adultery – me and Michael Stipe – was a good one. The result is something halfway between Erik Satie and Metallica. [Laughs] It’s fucking bizarre! It starts with the Satie piano, played by Stefan, then the loud guitars, then Satie, then the guitars… it’s crazy!”

🔹𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗔 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗗🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Because I want you was our most recent track. At the end of the recording, the label called us up at the studio and said to us, "write us more singles." We said "fuck you! Let’s get into the studio and write something with distortion at 100%". From that we got One of a Kind, and we don’t even know if it’ll come out as a single. It’s odd to sit in the studio to try and hatch a single. We didn’t want the track to be poppy, and in a way, we achieved that, it’s got this twisted vibration like The Pixies. It’s a song about having the impression that you don’t fit in the world. You know you have a place, but you feel like it’s not right for you. At the same time, you realise that you’re unique, and that there’s only one you.”

🔹𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “It’s a musical homage to Leonard Cohen. It’s about drugs, being completely fucked, a bit like Pure Morning. It’s 7 AM, everyone’s off to work and you’re just wandering the streets. You get home, look at yourself in the mirror and you think, "why am I like this? I promised myself never to do this again, yet here I am." You feel completely separated from the planet. The rest of the world is living, doing their work and you, you’ve been decadent and weak towards yourself. You’re not happy about it. And you look in the mirror and say to yourself, "I hate you, I can’t stand you anymore.”

🔹𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗔𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗕𝗬𝗘🔹
𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The theme of Song to say goodbye is keeping only the best aspects of your life. It’s the first track I wrote in India. I went over there for a lot of reasons, one of them being to try and change my style of life. I wanted to make myself understand that I couldn’t become a rock’n’roll cliché and that the world didn’t need another dead rockstar. It was written as a letter to myself.“
(Rock Mag, March 2006)

Photo credit: Nadav Kander

Post by Silke

🎵✨ 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 & 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙚𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙚 ✨🎵

Since last Monday was the birthday of 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒆, vocalist and leader of the great American alternative rock band 𝑹.𝑬.𝑴., today I want to share some interesting things of 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 related to him, who is also one of the musical heroes of our 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 and one of his friends. In the quote below 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 talks about his admiration for 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍, the influence he had on him and his collaboration on the 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 song 𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 (𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒔, 2006):

🎤“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.

Photo Credits: 1,2,3,6 unknown - 4,5, Screenshots / edit by Rita

This statement from 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 was on the occasion of celebrating the 25th anniversary of 𝑹.𝑬.𝑴.'s brilliant album "𝑶𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆"(1991), for which he also made an exclusive playlist of his favorite songs from the band. This was his selection:

🔹𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧
🔹𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐞
🔹𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲𝐬 𝐏𝐮𝐥𝐥
🔹𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐧 𝐇
🔹𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐈 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞
🔹𝐎𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡
🔹𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐎𝐮𝐭
🔹𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭
🔹𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
🔹𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝
🔹𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝
🔹𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧
🔹𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞
🔹𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬
🔹𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠
🔹𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫

📍If you don't know much about 𝑹.𝑬.𝑴. this is a perfect playlist to start getting into their music or if like 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 you are already a fan of them you can listen to it here:

🎧 https://spoti.fi/3rVcR92 🎶

Brian Molko and Michael Stipe. Photo credit unknown

Now I want to share an excerpt from another 𝐍𝐌𝐄 article but published 18 years earlier, where they mention 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 and which is very funny.

🔹📄"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.

Here's another great anecdote with 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 from 1999:

🔹📄"𝘈𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘦," 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴. "𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘨𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙.𝘌.𝘔. 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. 𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵". 𝘚𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 "𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥" 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴, "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺. 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?"
"𝘔𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥," 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴. "𝘐𝘵'𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘨." 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵, 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬."
▪️𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚋𝚘 , 𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊, 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 1999.

As you can see, there is really a great friendship between our loved guys and 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒆, as well as in the following quote it's clear that the admiration is mutual. This is what 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 thinks of 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐:

🎶 "𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅!" ~ 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑺𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒆, 09.28.2016

⚡𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐞 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨)
https://youtu.be/kxtg4zh_Osw

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