✨𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝟱𝟱 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬✨

Today, on February 20th, an alternative rock icon Kurt Cobain would have celebrated his 55th birthday.
⭐️💫𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝒀 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝑲𝑼𝑹𝑻 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆💫⭐️

Placebo covered Nirvana's 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐄𝐒 and performed it live mostly during Battle For The Sun tour. But in fact, it was in 2001 at Sziget Festival in Hungary when they played the song for the first time ever! Almost ten years later, the cover was brought back on stage and, as far as we know, included into 36 Placebo setlists in total.
📍𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐄𝐒 was released as the final song on Nirvana’s third and final studio record, 𝐈𝐧 𝐔𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨, in September 1993. On December 6, 1993, it was released as the second single from the album to become the band’s final single before Kurt’s suicide four months later.

Photo credits unknown

𝐍𝐢𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐚 - 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐌𝐓𝐕 𝐔𝐧𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑
➡️ https://bit.ly/35iV5FE

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐚, 𝟐𝟏.𝟎𝟔.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎
➡️ https://bit.ly/3g3PYeM

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎
➡️ https://bit.ly/3rTK5pW

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲, 𝟐𝟖.𝟎𝟗.𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎
➡️ https://bit.ly/3o5VdPA

Photo credit: Getty Images

⭐️𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐍, in full Kurt Donald Cobain, (born February 20, 1967, Aberdeen, Washington - died April 5, 1994, Seattle, Washington), was an American rock musician who rose to fame as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the seminal grunge band Nirvana.
◾️Cobain had a generally happy childhood until his parents divorced when he was nine years old. After that event, he was frequently troubled and angry, and his emotional pain became a subject of, and catalyst for, much of his later music. As a teenager, he moved between various relatives’ houses, stayed with friends’ parents, and occasionally slept under bridges while he began to use drugs. Cobain was musically inclined from an early age, and in the mid-1980s he began to play with members of the local “sludge rock” band the Melvins. In 1987, he formed 𝐍𝐢𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐚 with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard and established it as part of the Seattle music scene which later became known as grunge.


◾️One of the band’s demo tapes found its way to Jonathan Poneman of the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop, which signed the band to produce its first single, “Love Buzz”, in 1988 and its first album, Bleach, in 1989. The album had a unique (and soon-to-be signature) sound that mixed the rawness of punk rock with pop hooks, and the group soon became a target of major record labels. With new drummer Dave Grohl (who joined the band in 1990) Nirvana released its major-label debut, 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 (1991), which featured the hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; it became the first alternative-rock album to achieve widespread popularity with a mainstream audience. Nevermind catapulted Nirvana to worldwide fame, and Cobain came to be hailed as the voice of his generation, a title that he was never comfortable with.

Photo credit unknown

◾️In 1992 Cobain married Courtney Love, then the leader of the band Hole, and the couple had a daughter that same year. The following year Nirvana released its final studio album, 𝐈𝐧 𝐔𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨, in which Cobain railed against his fame. Cobain had long suffered from depression and chronic stomach pain. He treated his issues with drugs: Cobain was a frequent user of heroin in the years after Nirvana’s breakthrough, and he took a variety of painkillers in an attempt to numb his constant stomach agony. In March 1994 he was hospitalized in Rome after overdosing and slipping into a coma in what was later characterized as a failed suicide attempt. One month later he left a drug treatment centre and returned to his Seattle home, where, on April 8, 1994, he was found dead. Police concluded he had died on April 5 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.


◾️Cobain was posthumously inducted into the 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝒂𝒎𝒆, along with Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Rolling Stone included Cobain in its lists of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, 100 Greatest Guitarists, and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. He was ranked 7th by MTV in the "22 Greatest Voices in Music". In 2006, he was placed 20th by Hit Parader on their list of the "100 Greatest Metal Singers of All Time".

Photo credit unknown

⭐️𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐍’𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒⭐️
✨“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”
✨“I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.”
✨“If my eyes could show my soul, everyone would cry when they saw me smile.”
✨“It’s better to burn out than fade away.”
✨“Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art.”
✨“No one is afraid of heights, they’re afraid of falling down. No one is afraid of saying I love you, they’re afraid of the answer.”
✨“I would like to get rid of the homophobes, sexists, and racists in our audience. I know they’re out there and it really bothers me.”
✨“They laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at them because they’re all the same.”
✨“Holding my baby is the best drug in the world.”

Post by Olga

⭐𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗨𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗢 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 (𝗙𝗔𝗥 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭)⭐

"𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐’𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒔." (𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘔𝘤𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘺)

Photo credits at the end od the text

🔸 Today, I'd like to share an article about "𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐" by 𝐹𝑎𝑟 𝑂𝑢𝑡. It was published on Brian Molko's birthday, December 10th, 2021. 🔸

What a beautiful tribute 💕
Enjoy reading as much as I did 😊

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐

📕 Placebo’s Brian Molko has established himself as one of the most significant figures in the world of music over the past 30 years. Defying musical, aesthetic, thematic and personal mores, he and Placebo partner in crime Stefan Olsdal showed that music did not have to be the boisterous and misogynistic place it was in the mid-late 1990s amongst all the Britpop and nu-metal.


Following in the footsteps of Lou Reed, David Bowie and perhaps even Leigh Bowery, Molko shaped Placebo into an outfit that helped to bring the discussion of sexuality, fluidity and politics into the mainstream and change pop culture for the better.


To put things into perspective, when the 1997 single ‘Nancy Boy’ went to number four in the UK Singles Charts, the band stuck out like a sore thumb, but a refreshing and necessary one, to say the least. Discussing what were then taboo themes, the band’s message contained considerable weight, particularly when you match it against what Oasis were doing at the time with tracks like ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’.


Taking off when Britpop was at it the tail end of its commercial zenith, ironically, this proved to be very fortuitous for Molko and Placebo. They became the de jure band for all the outsiders, the square pegs in round holes, an outfit that didn’t relate to the bucket hat-wearing, alpha male brashness of the bustling music industry of the time.

Photo credit: Par Pope

It wasn’t all about sexuality, though. Molko’s lyrics touch on a whole host of challenging topics such as death, violence, teenage angst, drug use and the modern fascination with money. They often provide a means of escaping from humanity’s increasingly grim reality. The latest single, for example, ‘Surrounded by Spies’, discusses surveillance culture and the environmental collapse that world leaders are ignoring, showing that Molko always has his finger on the pulse.


Like Lou Reed, Molko has never been afraid to get into the nitty-gritty. This is one of the key facets of his brilliance, he’s a realist, a cynic even, and this again has filled his music with a pulp that many of his contemporaries could only have dreamed of having. There’s a reason why we’re still talking about Molko and Co. today and why, in comparison, Britpop eventually committed suicide by becoming a ridiculous caricature of itself, as did the mid-2000s indie scene. Placebo has, to varying degrees of success, remained relevant.


Again like Reed, Molko’s lyrical style positions him as somewhat of a Gonzo journalist stuck right in the middle of society’s most critical debates, peeling back the curtain and revealing the truth. He’s a witness that provides lessons in how we can better ourselves by outlining our faults, much like Thomas Pynchon or Hunter S. Thompson. He’s also captivated us by instilling a thrill to all of his music, much like the stomach churn you get after popping a pill. It’s a little naughty, but one hell of a ride.


Musically, in the early days, his down-tuned guitar and Generation X attitude aligned him with Sonic Youth, Nirvana and even riot grrrl groups like Pussy Riot. He espoused a caustic, sardonic wit that constantly proved that society’s established mores are flawed and something to be laughed at. “𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒,” Molko said in 2017, when he explained the band’s early ethos to The Independent. “𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑐 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ‘𝑂ℎ, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟’,” ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑. “𝑆ℎ𝑒’𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑡! 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠-𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑒𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑢𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑡; 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.”

Photo credit: Alfred Steffen

It’s a shame Kurt Cobain didn’t live long enough to witness Placebo’s rise, as it is certain he would have been captivated. In many ways, they are Cobain’s subversive spiritual successors. Showing just how provocative they are, in 2013, the band teamed up with the literary master of satire, Bret Easton Ellis, to deliver the pertinent video for single ‘Loud Like Love’, and his narration on suburban secrets is another superb indication of Placebo’s artistic vision.


“𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑,” Molko told The Guardian in 2021. “𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ, 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 90𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 – 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑦 1% – 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒’𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔”.


Another exemplary element of Molko’s artistry is that he has always tread his own path, staunch in his beliefs even if millions of dollars are offered to him. He once turned down the offer of a million euros to become a judge on the French version of The X Factor, saying “𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑” that could have persuaded him, regardless of the fact he’s bi-lingual and speaks French fluently.


Molko is driven by artistry and dedication to what is right. That’s what makes him such a refreshing breath of ice-cool air. He’s not a careerist or a money grabber, he’s Brian Molko, and he’s true to his own convictions. Considering that we live in the age of cultural pastiche, where rip-offs reign supreme both economically and musically, Molko continues to lead by example. 📖

(Mick McStarkey - faroutmagazine.co.uk)


🔸 I never thought about the fact that Kurt Cobain might have liked Placebo, but it seems like a no-brainer to me actually !

I really like this post by Mick McStarkey who has found the right words to describe the mind of Brian and Placebo. The last sentence, in my opinion, best defines Placebo's line of work throughout their career. And I'm sure that 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑀𝑒 𝐺𝑜 will have some interesting insights in this respect. 🔸

⭐ 𝑆𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ? 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 ? ✨

Photo credit: Sebastien Dolidon

🎶 Let's listen (and watch !) to the first song that propelled Placebo to fame, 𝑁𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝐵𝑜𝑦 , and the latest song they released, 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑠 from their upcoming album, 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑀𝑒 𝐺𝑜 🎶

⭐🎥 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒊 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 1996 https://bit.ly/3q8FNtN 🎵

⭐🎥 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒚 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔 https://bit.ly/3me1PKA 🎵

Photo credits collage: Robin (2), Liam Duke, David Willis, Scarlet Page, Joseph Llanes (2), Mads Perch / edit by Laetitia 

Post by Laetitia

🔸𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐀 𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 – 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐥🔸

⭐"𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆, 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏"⭐

Dear friends,
The idea for this post came from my 13-year-old son.
He loves 𝐍𝐈𝐑𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐀 and in his spare time he searches for various information about his favorites on Google, just as we do.
And as we all know, 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐇𝐋 was the drummer of Nirvana until the death of Kurt Cobain and then founded his great band Foo Fighters.
And my son came to me recently with a big smile on his face and said:
"Mom, looks like your Molko is everywhere ... 😁 Can you please explain this to me?
And he showed me one of the photos - the one with Brian and Dave's tongue ...

Photo credit: Melody Maker / Photo edit: Marti

So dear soulmates - if you don't know the history of these snapshots, now you have the opportunity to learn another piece of the mosaic of Placebo life. Here is just a part of this very long conversation that will take you to times long past - January 9, 1997.

You can read the whole interview here:
👉 https://bit.ly/3B6vevj

I wish you all a pleasant reading.

🔸⭐🔸
𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬
𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕
𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝟓𝟎𝐭𝐡. 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧' 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎'𝐬 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐎𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒' 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐇𝐋.


Why not get the two of them to interview each other, we thought. So we did.
The setting: Placebo's dressing room, backstage at Madison Square Garden.
David Bowie is halfway through his 50th Birthday Concert. Two of his special guests are with The Maker:
Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl who, minutes earlier, had helped Bowie perform a rousing tribal version of "Hallo Spaceboy", drumming on stage for almost the first time since Nirvana; and Placebo's Brian Molko, whose band had earlier performed a blistering opening set.
The two frontmen had met before, during last summer's round of festivals, when Dave nearly hitched a ride up to Reading in Placebo's van.
Dave looks like a Muskateer or a Fifties beat poet with his newly-grown beard; Brian looks...well, like Brian. Androgynous.
Knowing that the two musicians are massive Bowie fans, and knowing that Brian was a massive Nirvana fan and also fascinated by the whole idea of fame, I figured it'd be a good idea to have them interview each other.


🔸Brian: "Tell me about the first time you met Bowie."
🔸Dave: "It was the day before yesterday. And he looks totally fucking amazing! He's 50 years old, he could practically be my parent. He's such a gentleman."/.../
Brian: "It's interesting that you use the word 'gentleman' to describe Bowie. We did two tours in Europe with him - Morrissey gave us our big break, he disappeared and we stood in for him - and when people ask me what he's like, I reply that he's a true, true gentleman with his feet on the ground. He speaks to you. You feel like he's genuinely interested in what you have to say.
I'll tell you about the first time I met Bowie. We'd just done a little tour of England - the biggest capacity venue we played was 300 people - and we got on a plane, we flew to Milan and we show up in this place, 8000-seater! I was quite freaked, so a lot of jack and coke went into my system before I went on. The gig wasn't that fantastic. I broke a string and threw my guitar across the stage.
So we come offstage, high on adrenalin, walk towards the dressing room...there's Bowie, standing by the door, with his arms crossed, shades on, and I'm like, 'All right, Dave. Want a cigarette?' And he's like, 'No, sorry. Just put one out.' And that's the first thing I ever said to him: 'Want a fag?' How did I feel? He really went out of his way to make us feel comfortable. He's a lovely man, and he deserves to be hugged. Constantly."

Photo credit: Melody Maker 

🔸Brian: "Let's change tack. I'm known for wearing makeup, for my androgyny. On our bus, we have a video of Nirvana. Something I loved was seeing you and Kurt onstage wearing bras. So what I'd like to know is: when was the first time you wore women's clothing and have you ever been out in drag?"
🔸Dave: "I've been out in drag. When I was young, I would put on a show for the family - I was always the comedian..."
🔸Brian: "With your mum's clothes? Did you have any sisters?"
🔸Dave: "No, I think it may have been some clothing we had in the attic, something as outlandish and ridiculous as possible..." /.../
🔸Brian: "Tell me more about dressing up in women's clothing."
🔸Dave: "I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household where my parents were divorced, with only my mother and sister, so there was no male balance. There was no father who wanted you to be like dad, so you were left to be an individual because of course your mother didn't want you to grow up to be like your mother, and your sister didn't want you to grow up to be like your sister. That was nice."
🔸Brian: "I wouldn't be the person I am now if I'd grown up with a heavy fatherly influence. My father was hardly ever there." /.../


🔸Dave: "Explain the correlation between theatre and rock'n'roll."
🔸Brian: "Theatre taught me about emotional memory and how to become your character and build a history for it."
🔸Dave: "You studied that?"
🔸Brian: "I have a university degree in drama."
🔸Dave: "You do? Then you're the perfect frontman for the band, aren't you?" (Laughs)
🔸Brian: "I guess so. What that training taught me was how to open emotional doors and lose myself in something."
🔸Dave: "So you lose yourself when you step onstage."
🔸Brian: "Yeah. I put my makeup on and that's instrumental in becoming Brian Placebo instead of becoming Brian Molko. The emotions that are in the songs become easier to express. And it's a completely emotional thing for me, it really is." /.../
"Look, I don't want you to think that what I do onstage is like a Ziggy kind of character. When I step onstage, it gives me the freedom to be the person I've always wanted to be. That's why i loved acting so much, because you could go onstage and do things that, in real life, you wouldn't be able to get away with. It was an escape.
What it does is give me the power to be as large as I always wanted to be - and I'm quite a small guy - for half an hour, an hour. It's real. It opens things up. It's not a character, it's a part of me which I can't bring out all the time. It comes out when I'm drunk, when I've been tooting, when my mind's been altered in one way or another. I'm usually quite quiet, and it's good to go to extremes..."
🔸Dave: "With me, there's always this guilt, stepping onstage."
🔸Brian: "Really? You see, I won't go onstage wearing the same shirt. I'll wear the same trousers all day, but I won't wear the same shirt. Sometimes I'll be really quiet, but all I need to do is put my makeup on, and I'll be there. I'll do your makeup one day."
🔸Dave: "You should." /.../

Photo credit: Melody Maker 

🔸Dave: "When you (Brian) walk onstage, it's a celebration. A lot of the times when I walk onstage, I'm so incredibly frightened. There's guilt, there's fear. There are people out there who are standing, looking at me as if they're reaching out and will never be able to touch me. That's what scares me. Because I still believe I could make a connection if only they didn't think that about me. I want to bring down that barrier."
🔸Brian: "I understand that completely, but unfortunately for you, you were the drummer with the biggest rock band in the world. I try to speak to people after shows and depending on how much I've drunk, how I react is very strange. I'll be like, 'Don't be that way. I'm a fucking human being.'" /.../


🔸Brian: "When you go to the supermarket, do you get recognised? Is that why you grew a beard?"
🔸Dave: "No. No, not at all."
🔸Brian: "I ask you that because I want to be in your position in a couple of years."
🔸Dave: "Well, OK. There's people who see that as threatening, there's people who see it as flattering. It's strange. If somebody comes up and says, 'Oh my God, yeah, that's you, I really love what you do', how are you going to react? Hide away in your basement, unable to cope with people telling you they like you? Fuck no.
You're going to say 'Thank you very much.' It doesn't happen that often and when it does happen you should feel happy about it...until you feel claustrophobic and surrounded by people who want to tear your hair out, freak out. That doesn't happen to me."
🔸Brian: "That's kind of how I feel. I get love letters, but I also get letters from really fucked up teenagers. Sometimes the letters go, 'Thank you, cos when I listen to your records I feel like there's a friend for me out there somewhere', and sometimes it's as extreme as 'When I listen to your records, I feel like I don't have to cut myself as much as I would if I didn't.'
And that fucks with your head, because you start wondering about what sort of responsibility you have - when, in fact, you don't.
The responsibility you have is to yourself, you're expressing yourself because you need to, because you'd be depressed, an alcoholic, a junkie if you didn't. What's amazing is that things happen and you don't have very much control. /.../

Photo credit: Melody Maker 

🔸Brian: "OK. I'll ask you one last question. When you're 33, what are you going to do next?"
🔸Dave: "I don't know. And you? How old are you now?"
🔸Brian: "I'm 24."
🔸Dave: "What are you going to do when you're 33?"
🔸Brian: "I'm going to make movies. David's done it, Courtney's done it, Madonna's done it. They all have. But the difference between them and me is that I have a degree from university."
🔸Dave: "Well, there you go. And there's nothing like a certificate to get your foot in the door."

Laughter. Dave gets up to leave.

🔸Dave: "I hope you're the most famous man in America. Be cool."
🔸Brian: "You too."

Post by Marti