⭐𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘: 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐒⭐

💥... & 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 ‘𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨. 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞’, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏💥
Exactly 23 years ago today, on 22nd November 1999, a French version of 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 was released exclusively in France under the title 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄̧𝒂𝒊𝒔.
➡️ https://bit.ly/3ALV9Zw

In its original English version, the song is the 12th track on 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈’𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 album.

Photo credit: Rudy Leonet, Radio 21; single cover / edit by Olga

⭐The song was written during a soundcheck in Leipzig on Placebo’s first German tour in October 1996, and was one of the first songs to be written for the album, along with 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝑶𝒇 𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔.
⭐Adaptation of Brian’s lyrics into French was done by Brian’s friend Nicholas Elliot. 🔶𝑵𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑳𝑨𝑺 𝑬𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑶𝑻🔶
Nicholas Elliot is an American-French director, actor, and writer. He was born in Massachusetts (USA) in 1974 and grew up in France and Luxembourg. He studied theater and cinema in Paris where he lived for 6 years.
Besides translating Burger Queen into French, Nicholas designed 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒔 and together with Russell Thomas, worked on the video compilation 𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 (2004) released on DVD. He also directed a short film 𝑺𝒖𝒆'𝒔 𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒆 with Brian as an executive producer.
Later, Nicholas Elliot moved to New York to pursue his film career and join the band Turkish Love Circus as a singer.

⭐𝑹𝑬𝑳𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑬𝑺⭐
▪ 𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒗𝒆:
Burger Queen Français
Aardvark
Every You Every Me live from the End Session on April 10, 1999
&
Burger Queen Français
Pure Morning video

▪ 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 (𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒌 / 𝒋𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆)
Burger Queen Français
Aardvark
Every You Every Me live from the End Session on April 10, 1999

▪ 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒓
Burder Queen Français
The Crawl (Live Version Radio 21)

▪ 𝑳𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒙 𝒔𝒆𝒕 that includes 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑰'𝒎 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 album and 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄̧𝒂𝒊𝒔 single was also released only in France.

Photo credit: Francis Tsang

⭐The single was recorded at the Real World Studios and Matrix Studios, mixed at Whitfield Street Studios and Matrix Studios.

⭐𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲 is by Risto Bimbiloski based on photography by Corrine Day.
🔶𝑻𝑰𝑻𝑳𝑬🔶
𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 is a play on words between the name of the famous fast food chain Burger King, the word queen and the Luxembourg where Brian and Stefan spent their teenage years.

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Yeah, we did a song. A new song that will be on the new album, which is called Burger Queen. It's a pun on Burger King and it also means Luxembourger queen. The queer from Luxembourg. It is a very sad story. The character in this song is in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's one of the worst things to be in the wrong place. He is homosexual, he is goth, he's on heroin and he lives in Luxembourg. These are four things you can have in your life ... No. I'm not saying that being homosexual is bad. It's the worst place where you can be all of those things. It makes us cry to listen to this song and play it."
(𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑆𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤, 1997)

⭐The 𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐒 are inspired by Brian’s lonely adolescence in Luxembourg.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "I've always been a loner. The three of us were, we spent our teenage years locked in our rooms, playing music. And like many boys of that age, I dreamed of becoming a star. A city like Luxembourg can be stifling when you are trying to create an identity. I couldn't be myself there. I felt isolated, far from the places I wanted to be. There was no place where I could express myself, find an echo. From this isolation I made songs, Teenage Angst or Burger Queen, because it inevitably turned me into a voyeur. Which is not the most enviable position to observe the world."
(𝐿𝑒𝑠 𝐼𝑛𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑁°169, 14 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 1998)

▪ ▪ ▪
𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧: Maybe your European upbringing allows you to get away with lyrics that you wouldn't have dared use if you'd been brought up speaking English in the UK or America. I'm thinking especially of those rhymes in 'Burger Queen'...
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: That's the whole point of a song like 'Burger Queen' sort of like structurally or if you're talking about it from a musical standpoint. The whole point of that song is to use a cheesy rhyme but to use words like infection, you know, connection, erection, you know. So it's subverting the cheesiness. It's like putting fuck and baby in the same verse.

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧: I bet it's also the first time caesarean section's been used in a pop song!
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I know, I'm so, so proud of that. I'm so proud of that one. (laughs)

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧: Is that song based on a real person?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: No, that one's kind of more of a story really. It's kind of about being in the wrong place at the wrong time you know and I guess you just finally... since we kind of grew up in Luxembourg - finally since we've written a song about it we can kind of forget about it now. But you know I think it's just... the play on Burger King, Burger Queen, Luxemburger, just kind of you know amused me when I first came up with it and along with 'My Sweet Prince' I think it's one of the saddest songs, but really beautiful, that we've written. I think there's a real beauty in our sadness you know when it goes down there there's something in it that really pulls at your heart, you know, and I don't know how we really achieve it but it's there. There always seems to be a tiny bit of hope at the end of it as well which is important."
(𝐼𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑛, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 1998)

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

💥To make this anniversary post a little bit different and more interesting for you, I decided to add excerpts from 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔’ book 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎. 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 (2009) which I translated for you. From its first chapter, 𝐋𝐮𝐱𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, part 1 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐲, we can feel the atmosphere of this tiny bourgeois country and learn more of Brian’s childhood.

🔸 ▪ 🔸 ▪ 🔸 ▪ 🔸
Having passed Lorraine, finding yourself in the Grand Duchy comes a true shock. Just a few steps from the rapeseed fields close to the former mine basin, and the border clearly warns of the inevitability of the shock coming: alcohol and cigarettes at a price that can withstand any competition, signs in two languages: French and Luxembourgish. The latter resembles distorted German with guttural sounds.

Very quickly, the roads turn into avenues lined with tall buildings with signs of the of the largest commercial banks on the planet; luxury multifunctional cars and high-end sports cars are proudly displayed in front of them. No one walks here, people mostly drive in soft silence, muffled by financial well-being.

It was in this universe of comfort and slowness that the childhood and adolescence of young Brian Molko passed. Within this reliable but terribly predictable world, the young guy couldn’t find his place. He felt completely out of touch with his older brother and couldn't find any suitable cultural pursuits for himself. “My teenage years were dark, filled with loneliness and boredom. I felt out of place. All the time I was waiting for something special to happen and turn my whole life upside down.” (Brian Molko)
[…]
“What was great about Luxembourg, that’s its extremely international community. I grew up surrounded by children of various nationalities. I think, it made me open to different cultures, different traditions at an early age. And that taught me a lot. It taught me tolerance and understanding towards others. I think it's very important." (Brian Molko)
[…]
Next to his mother and older brother, his life flowed like a long and very calm river. Constantly busy with his own affairs and being in endless departures due to his business, Brian's father was very rarely at home. It’s the lack of paternal attention that future leader of Placebo would later call an important factor that had a huge impact on his personality.
“My father is an American financial freak. Of course, in a family where there was no place for any artistic aspirations, I felt like a black sheep. Nobody believed in me. So, I locked myself in my room and learned to play guitar." (Brian Molko)

“When I was a kid, we often drove somewhere in the family van, and my parents listened to The Beatles, The Kinks and other bands like that on the road. I was put to bed to the Elton John’s music … The Bee Gees and questionable masterpieces of The Wings, but at the age of 7 you can’t protest, you have to endure. My father was a big fan of Buddy Holly. It was really cool because my friends’ parents loved Elvis and I was kind of an anti-Elvis." (Brian Molko)

Photo credit:  Robin Sellick 

Studying at the prestigious American International School of Luxembourg, founded in 1962 as Dupont School, Brian was languishing; the only thing that fascinated him was drama course. Being a fragail and insecure boy, he was lost in the crowd of diplomats and bankers’ children he studied with. That close presence of the arrogant offspring of American financiers convinced him to never ever live in countries where people of his father’s job do.

Molko suffered of deep frustration and to replace it, he often visited Luxembourg bars of – which bothered his parents a lot. Unlike the little American bourgeois around him, he didn’t do any sports and instead, he escaped to the Netherlands where he also visited local bars with a wide range of psychotropic substances

“The Luxembourg school is the worst thing that happened in my life. I had to quit the high school because I was constantly bullied there. I used to provoke others, including the guys two times bigger than myself. Standing in front of a small, frail boy, they didn’t dare to hit. I remember that once, they hang me up by my feet at a height of six meters. If they had untied the rope then, I would definitely have my neck broken. So, I looked into the eyes of death at a very young age." (Brian Molko)

“Sometimes, I still have nightmares that I’m back to school. But the good thing is that in the middle of a dream, I always realise that school is over for me many years ago, and then I begin to badmouth everyone on my way.” (Brian Molko)
(𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 ‘𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜. 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑠𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒’)

Post by Olga

🟪▪𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆▪🟪

There were quite a few times when we talked to you about Placebo songs inspired by the books or the ones that got their titles ‘borrowed’ from Brian’s favourite novels. Today, I’m going to tell you about a book which, other way round, was named after Placebo song, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄 by the American author 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏.
The novel was published in September 2011 in the United States and consists of photographs by 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 and corresponding text by 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏.

Photo credit: Scarlet Page; book cover / edit by Olga

The book tells the story of Evan, a young boy whose best friend, Ariel, has recently suffered a psychotic break. The narration is addressing Ariel and tells how Evan is dealing with much guilt surrounding this experience. This guilt is made worse by mysterious photographs that are being strategically left for him.
▪ ▪ ▪
📢As for the title, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 said that "when I started writing the book, I wanted the novel to be my equivalent of a Sleeping with Ghosts era Placebo song. But in the book itself, it never says that the character listens to Placebo. The reference is more to the writing than to the events of the story, or the point of view."


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨)
➡️ https://bit.ly/3NZqEFf


🟪Here are some excerpts from the book 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 I’ve found for you.
"In this high school-set psychological tale, a tormented teen named Evan starts to discover a series of unnerving photographs - some of which feature him. Someone is stalking him… messing with him… threatening him. Worse, ever since his best friend Ariel has been gone, he’s been unable to sleep, spending night after night torturing himself for his role in her absence. And as crazy as it sounds, Evan’s starting to believe it’s Ariel that’s behind all of this, punishing him. But the more Evan starts to unravel the mystery, the more his paranoia and insomnia amplify, and the more he starts to unravel himself. Creatively told with black-and-white photos interspersed between the text so the reader can see the photos that are so unnerving to Evan, Every You, Every Me is a one-of-a-kind departure from a one-of-a-kind author.

Screenshot from Every you Every me promo video

𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.
And like with other David Levithan’s novels, Every You, Every Me is full of David’s thought provoking ideas and views of things and life. His philosophy is scattered in the story making Evan’s thoughts more profound than a usual teenager character. David’s words as always carry something bigger and deeper in them – they are not just strings of words put together to tell a story but words of wisdom from a genius person like David.


𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏, 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔."
(𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒.𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠.𝑐𝑜𝑚)


🟪▪𝑸𝑼𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑺▪🟪
☑️“You don’t know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. And you can’t know every me, and I can’t know every you.”
☑️“A photograph it a souvenir of a memory.
It is not a moment. It is the looking at the photograph that becomes the moment. Your own moment.”
☑️“I had gotten so used to being alone, but never entirely used to it. Never used to it enough to stop wanting the alternative.”


🟪𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 is an American young adult fiction author and editor who, particularly, has written numerous works featuring strong male gay characters. Six of Levithan's books have won or been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making him the most celebrated author in the category.


Some other David Levithan’s young adult novels:
▪Survivor (2000)
▪Boy Meets Boy (2003)
▪The Realm of Possibility (2004)
▪Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006)
▪Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2007)
▪Invisibility (2013)
▪You Know Me Well (2016)
▪Dear Diary (2017)
▪Take Me With You When You Go (2021)
▪Anwers in the Pages (2022)
▪The Lover's Dictionary (2011) is the author’s only adult novel so far.

The book by Leviathan

🟪The whole story of how 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄 book came into being, started with David Levithan’s fascination with photography…
📢“For the past sixteen years and three months, I’ve taken at least one photograph every day. It started as a new year’s resolution, and for about a decade, it existed on film. … When I started, photographs were physical objects – to see them, you had to have them developed, usually handed back by the batch in unmailable envelopes. Now, photography is everywhere but photographs –physical photographs – are harder to find. […]
𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝑰 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏?
[…] Every roll of film became the smallest of time capsules – pieces of memory sealed away until they were unearthed at a later date. […]
I also like sending photos in the mail. […] 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. […]


I started writing novels at about the same time I started taking a photo a day, and a recurring thought I had as my novel-writing career developed was whether I could combine the two in some way. I love visual-hybrid novels, and since I will never, ever be able to draw like Brian Selznick, the most obvious form of illustration was photography. ... The problem was: When I saw my own photographs, I could not separate them from what they already were.


[...] It took a while for me to figure out a way around this. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 – 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 – 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝑰’𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
Which made me realize: the way around my dilemma was to use someone else’s photographs, not my own. If I didn’t know the story behind them, I could make up whatever story I wanted.
Farmer ... gave me photographs, one at a time, whenever I asked for one. I wrote a novel involving these photographs. He had no idea what I was writing; I had no idea what photograph he would give me next. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆.

Photo credit: David Tonge

Every You, Every Me is many things – the story of a pretty messed-up mind, a mystery in both an actual and an existential sense, and an examination of the things we bring and the things we take from a friendship . . . and how confused the bringing and the taking can become. It also, in many ways, is a testament to the power of the physical; within the novel, the main character, Evan, is both haunted and taunted by photographs being left for him by an unknown person. It is the actual presence of the photos that unhinges him – and also forces him to confront the things he is trying hardest not to confront.
The book would not work if Evan were simply being emailed the photos; it would not work if hitting a delete button were an option.


Photographs are easy enough to destroy – all it takes is a few rips, or the kiss of a lighter – but they also bear a certain permanence when held and seen. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒔.
… 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.”

You can read the full story in David’s own words here:
➡️ https://bit.ly/3yyUXg7

Post by Olga

🟧▪𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐆𝐎 𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐎 𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐎: 𝐚 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦▪🟧

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Never Let Me Go", I think it's a very Placebo title. "Without You I'm Nothing", "A Place For Us To Dream", "Never Let Me Go", it's a very human title and it's inspired by one of my favourite books by Kazuo Ishiguro, it's a book about clones. It's really a book I recommend. That's the inspiration for the title."
(𝑂𝑈𝐼 𝐹𝑀, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 22𝑛𝑑, 2022)

📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: "I think it's hard not to be impressed by what's going on around us, but we liked the idea of giving the album 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆."
(𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 9𝑡ℎ, 2022)

Photo credit: screenshot from Rock am Ring 2022 interview; book cover / edit by Olga

🟧With most of their previous albums, Brian and Stefan remembered searching for the title at the very last moment, when everything else about the record was already done. As we know, they reversed the whole process with 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐, so that applied to the title as well. Not only they were keeping it in mind but they got the words written in front of their eyes while working on the songs at the studio. The phrase, as well as the image chosen as a cover, was leading them throughout the whole creative way…

𝐏𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡: […] Never Let Me Go – I think it’s one of the most popular phrases in pop music.
📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: It could be. It’s certainly one that describes something romantic, enormously desperate, it’s just four little words. It was a phrase that kind of grabbed us for a long time. I have it written on a piece of paper at the studio where I am now. I think we wrote it down and it kind of stared at us for all the time we created the album. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒍𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔. Even right now, I can think of many fast interpretations.
𝐏𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡: It’s positive…
📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Yeah, it’s surely a dramatic phrase.
𝐏𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡: I said positive…
📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Well, yeah, we can say so. Such a love pleading, it could be applied to, you know, heavenly bodies as well as human bodies.
(𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜 357, 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 9𝑡ℎ, 2021)


🟧And here, at the point of 𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵, starts one of the basic connections between Kazuo Ishiguro’s book and Placebo’s album.

In the novel, one of the main characters, Kathy, used to listen to the song “Never Let Me Go” on a tape, one of a few precious objects she owned in her childhood. The girl listened to the song on repeat when she felt lonely, dancing and singing along the chorus lines, "𝑶𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚, 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚, 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒐." What Kathy imagined, was a woman keeping her beloved child close to her heart and asking to never let her go. 𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

That was the first moment that literally stroke me while reading the novel and clearly reminded some Brian and Stefan’s quotes.
📢For 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧, “it remains imperative that each listener discovers 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 – I really don’t want to tell anyone how to feel”.
(𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 15, 2022)

Photo credit: Mads Perch

That’s what 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 recalls from his own childhood when he could escape into his imagination through music and create his personal universes within songs…
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I’m nostalgic for that period in music [the 80s] because I think we’re given too much information today, so there’s less capacity for us to create those personal universes through somebody else’s work. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓. […] I could leave the drudgery of my everyday life and my family situation and escape into my imagination – that’s still what I look for today in music.
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑦 1𝑠𝑡 2022)

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: When you go to watch a Steven Spielberg movie, especially with the music, you see Spielberg's hand always pushing a button. "Okay now you're going to feel like that. Now you're going to feel like this and now you're going to feel like this". 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄. 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕.
(𝑅𝑇𝐿2, 𝐿𝑒𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 25𝑡ℎ, 2022)

📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: We're not here to try to tell people what to think or to feel. All we can do is express our truth and narratives that do in some ways come from personal experiences. As soon as the record comes out, the listener will make of each song what they want, and that is absolutely fine, as the music is not really ours to begin with. We serve the song and not the other way around.
(𝑅𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 24𝑡ℎ, 2022)

📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: I believe the themes a little bit more difficult, the complicated and dark ones, have always been a side of Placebo. And on this album there are still a lot of those themes. But at the same time we have never tried to be a band that wanted to tell the listener what to feel or what to think. So far I've met a lot of people who have taken parts of lyrics and given them positive energy and optimism.
(𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑜, 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 305, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 1𝑠𝑡, 2022)

📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Placebo never wrote songs to tell people how they should think or react. We are musicians and creators, Never Let Me Go reflects how we felt when we recorded it over two years ago. It's a snapshot. Today, it no longer belongs to us. In the light of the pandemic, what is happening in Ukraine or their own experience, people will interpret it differently. We have to accept it.
(𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 25𝑡ℎ, 2022)

That’s what happened in the novel too: another character, Madame, interpreted the scene of Kathy listening to the song in a completely different way, though her personal experience: the lady is overwhelmed by guilt and sadness because of what they were doing to the children, the clones…

☑️“I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel, world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go.” (Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go)

Photo credit: Pete Connor

🟧So, 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑵𝑬𝑺…
We should not forget that 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨 is a dystopian science fiction novel that takes place in an alternate reality of England during the 1990s. By that time, human cloning was authorized and performed. Human beings are reared for the purposes of harvesting their organs once they reach adulthood; afterwards, they “complete”, or simply, die.

🟨𝑨 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌🟨
▪Never Let Me Go (2005) by British author Kazuo Ishiguro was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize; Time magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the novel in its "100 Best English-language novels published since 1923—the beginning of TIME".
▪A film adaptation directed by Mark Romanek was released in 2010; a Japanese television drama aired in 2016.

It’s not the first time when we can see an influence of 𝒔𝒄𝒊-𝒇𝒊 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔 in Placebo’s songs and videos. Brian has always been interested in that kind of stuff.

📢"While writing the album, Molko returned to the sci-fi films he had loved as a child – psychedelic ruminations on technology and power from the 1970s. […] “I’m very interested in creating, with each song, an alternative universe where the laws of physics don’t necessarily apply,” he says. “Each song really does exist in its little parallel universe. If we’re not tied down to the laws of physics that are generally accepted in the universe we see, then certainly emotion will follow. Certainly anything is possible in another reality. It allows me to speak freely about what bothers me. I try to exaggerate things to increase dramatic effect, to highlight how ridiculous our reality is.”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 12𝑡ℎ, 2021)

It’s VERY hard for me to talk to you about the book yet avoid spoilers. I really want you to read the novel and make your own impression. With the following 𝑸𝑼𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑺 (and my thoughts on them), I’m just trying to give you some taste of the story, the reason why you should definitely reach for it one day.

Photo credit: Yussel Flores

☑️“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart.”

☑️“The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”

☑️“All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.”
These two latter quotes make me think of 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬.
𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖
𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐
𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐…

☑️As for connections to Placebo songs, Madame seems to be scared of the children, the clones, the same way as one can be scared of huge 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔. In 𝐖𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, multiple fears and insecurities are described as spiders crashing from the sky.

The title, Never Let Me Go, shows Kathy’s 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒇. In the end, Kathy “never let go” of her memories.
☑️“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.”

To me, the book is a harsh, ruthlessly honest reflection on a moment which is given to us as our lifetime… The only difference is that in clones’ case, this period is ‘compressed’ to the extreme measure.
☑️“What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆. 𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.”

Post by Olga

♦️🌟 𝗦𝗘𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗡 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗨𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗖𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗘𝗧 𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗠𝗔𝗨𝗫 🌟♦️

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚... 𝑰𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎! (𝘚𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘥)


🔹 𝑫𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒕 𝑫𝒆𝒔 𝑴𝒂𝒖𝒙 is a French biography about 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 written by 𝑺𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒅 in 2005. He's a radio journalist. He has been a journalist since 1999 on Chérie FM in Angers and a music critic.

Apart from 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜, he did write the biographies of many others artists as 𝐷𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒, 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐼𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑁𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟.

Photo credits: Sebastien Michaud unknown, Book cover by Corbis / edit by Laetitia

Originally meant to be entitled 𝑆𝑖𝑛, 𝑆𝑒𝑥 & 𝐹𝑢𝑛 (in reference to Serge Gainsbourg's song Sea, Sex And Sun I suppose), Sebastien changed it in 'Des cadences et des maux'. The title, more than a play on words, is an homophone. "Des cadences et des maux", which means "paces and pains'” has the same sound as "décadences et des mots" which means "decadence and words". These were chosen words from Sebastien who explains he likes this kind of title which forces people to question themselves.

The biography is illustrated with Carole Epinette's photographs and live pictures from Zénith in Paris (2001), Olympia (2003) for example, except the cover which is edited by Corbis.


🔹 Here's an interview of the author done before the book was removed from sales.

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨'𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲?
💬 Before starting to write a biography, I ask myself three questions: which artists do you like so much that you spend several hours writing about them every day? Which artists do not yet have a serious and detailed biography on the French market? And finally, which of them have a career worth developing in several hundred pages? Placebo met all three criteria! It's a band with a unique sound, a strong image and a rich history... In short, it was time to do something about them!


𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮?
💬 Yes, the Placebo bio is my third book. At the beginning of 2002, I published a biography about Depeche Mode, Éthique Synthétique. They've been my cult band since I was fifteen! A fan's dream that I absolutely wanted to fulfill... It was when I discovered Indochine's return to the forefront the following year that I had the idea of my second biography... I knew that Nicola Sirkis was a big fan of DM, so I sent him a copy of it along with a letter asking him if he would collaborate on a bio of Indo, on the same model... He showed up three weeks later, really enthusiastic, and thanks to him, the latest Indochine bio was born, Insolence rock... It was the time (and still is, by the way! ) when Indo fans were also very interested in Placebo... I didn't hesitate for long... I also collaborated on an "essay" on Björk, La Fée Septentrion. All these books are available from Camion Blanc.

Translation of the quote down below. Photo credit: Carole Epinette

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦?
💬 As I explained above, I write about the artists I like. I've already seen Placebo several times: in 97, for the Rock à Paris festival, in Nantes and at the Vieilles Charrues on the Black Market Music tour, as well as at the Olympia, at the Benicassim festival, at the Werchter festival and at Wembley for the last album...

I already briefly met the band in 1997, but at the time I was far from imagining that I would dedicate a bio to them... It was in Paris, after their concert at the Elysée Montmartre. I was in the courtyard of the hotel where Depeche Mode was, on a promotional tour in Paris. With some fans, we were there to take pictures, and the Placebo guys arrived a few moments after the DM guys... It was a coincidence! I just had time to say hello to Brian... Steve, on the other hand, came down to talk to us for about ten minutes. At first he thought we were Placebo fans! A very nice guy in any case... Otherwise, I sent copies of my DM and Indochine bio to Brian, last year, through a French EMI representative... I know he received them by hand, but unlike Sirkis, I never got an answer.


𝐈𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 ?
💬 Like any "cult" band, Placebo already has an extremely charismatic singer, someone who has perfectly understood that great rock bands are often more than a simple association of good musicians... You also need the flashes, the provocative phrases in the press, the look, a writing style and a philosophy of life that can touch the maximum number of people... Well, those who are interested in rock anyway! It's the combination of all that. And beyond all that, Placebo is one of the only bands, over the last ten years, to have preserved its musical qualities intact, while evolving... The result: an impressive number of great songs that we'll still be humming in ten, or even twenty years... It's not given to everyone to be able to produce so many "classics" in a few years.


𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝟑 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨'𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 ? 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝?
💬 Sensitive, human (with all the qualities and faults that entails...) and also a bit "crazy", like any great artist... It's hard to answer the question for the other two: they are much less easy to understand because of their under-exposure to the media... Steve seems to me to be a rather simple person, Stefan too.

𝐈𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 ?
💬 "Without You I'm Nothing": without hesitation! It's Placebo's first big metamorphosis from raw, stripped down rock to something much more complex and worked out... Each track develops a particular mood but at the same time there's a real sense of unity in this album. It's not just a collection of songs thrown together by chance... It's really an intimate, coherent, sometimes violent, disillusioned notebook, with an incredibly sincere tone.


𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 "𝐒𝐢𝐧, 𝐒𝐞𝐱 & 𝐅𝐮𝐧". 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐭 ?
💬 My publisher wanted a title in French, more understandable to the general public. I understand it a little better in retrospect. And then all the other titles in the Camion Blanc collection are in French.


𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐧 "𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬" ?
💬 " Des cadences " because the band has hardly stopped working during its 10 years of career, while living a very " sex, drugs and rock'n'roll " career... " Decadence ", then... and " des maux " : Brian's " ills " which show through in his lyrics, his fragility, his inner conflicts... All this is translated into " words "... I like this kind of title which forces you to question yourself.


𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤?
💬 Seven months, including the corrections. What is difficult in writing a biography like this is to synthesize all the information available for a given period. You have to try not to fall into the endless enumeration of anecdotes... But the most difficult thing, above all, is to talk about the band's music, to try to describe it, even though I myself have no musical training... Knowing how to transcribe your own emotions, what you hear, without falling into a too personal approach. Because a musical bio should not only talk about sales figures and the singer's moods: you have to explain why the music is unique, touching, and make people who don't know the band want to go to the record shop.

Translation of the quote down below. Photo credit: Carole Epinette

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ? 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬...
💬 I already had a lot of articles about the band (I've been buying a lot of rock magazines for over fifteen years). And then there's also my personal knowledge of the events, through what I've seen and heard of the band since its beginnings, or heard from certain fans. Finally, there are also radio and television interviews, listening to some pirate records... As the band did not want to collaborate, it was difficult to proceed in another way.


𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 (𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬) 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞...
💬 I contacted Carole after seeing some of her photos on your website... She immediately accepted the project. She is a very nice person. And the advantage is that she knew the band from the beginning... So we didn't have to go around looking for pictures covering the whole career of the band. Otherwise, I didn't have any other contacts. Nicola Sirkis was to write the preface to the book. He was very interested in the idea at the beginning... Then he finally told me he was working on the new Indo album, and that he couldn't meet the deadline... Too bad... Anyway, it was nice of him, and I hope it will happen when we'll consider re-releasing the book.


𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬?
💬 I was talking about Indochine just now... I think that part of their audience is also Placebo's... Otherwise, this book is as much for fans as for people who don't know the band and who want to know more... I tried to please everyone. Anyway, Placebo has an ever-growing audience.


𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦? 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦.
💬 I don't know... I find it hard to believe. Placebo is a band that sells millions of records and must not be very interested in this kind of private initiative anymore. Brian, in particular, is someone who seems to be very concerned by the control of his image: I don't know if some of my comments, if my subjective tone about his character and the image of his band will necessarily please him. An artist necessarily has a vision of himself different from what he can read or hear. Brian, if you read me: I'm open to any criticism!!! Don't hesitate to give me a call, my contact details are available at the Camion Blanc !!!
(𝘹𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰.𝘯𝘦𝘵 2006)

Translation of the quote down below. Photo credit: Carole Epinette

🔹 Unfortunately, the book isn't available anymore in libraries as it was removed shortly after its publication.

 More details about why the book has been removed from stores:
 https://bit.ly/3pPc8ar

After it was removed, the prices became 'crazy' ! The most expensive I saw was 144 € ! But you can now easily find it at a reasonable price ;)


𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑵𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔 (2003)
🎥 https://bit.ly/3r0fkPM 🎵💖


QUOTES
"Without the Pixies, Nirvana would never have existed. And without Nirvana... The Pixies were one of the greatest rock bands in the world. And this song, in particular, is a wonder, as if it were an evidence. The chorus alone, "Where is my mind?" is enough to make it essential."
Stefan Olsdal


"I find it strange to be worshipped in this way, because the fans can't know who you really are. I don't feel very comfortable with that, and sometimes I feel like cutting myself off from the world. When you start believing in your own myth, you become arrogant and megalomaniac. That's why I play with preconceived ideas and insult myself. Before others do it. Music is an exorcism."
Brian Molko


"I wouldn't say we feel pressure, because we all love what we do. We maintain a balance. It's true that we're getting tired of playing shows. We have less and less free time and more and more shows, but really I shouldn't complain. (...) We've got a lot of new material in the pipeline, but it's in its very preliminary stages at the moment. There's not much time to settle down and analyse the good vibes. But we hope to start recording in January."
Steve Hewitt

Translation of the quotes by Laetitia
Post by Laetitia