⭐🎈⚡"𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆" 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘⚡🎈⭐

⭐"𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨.“⭐
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘)

Photo credits: Screenshots from the video, covers of the single, edit by Marti

Hello soulmates,
I dare say we all know it, that emptiness in the mind when some crazy party is over and we are looking at the rising sun, totally exhausted, feeling completely empty, and while other "regular citizens" are running to work, we are somewhere on the border of two realities and it is clear to us that sleep, which would help us to bridge this feeling, will not come just like that...

🔹𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭.
🔹𝐀 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞.
🔹𝐀 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.


⭐🎈⚡"𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆" 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠⚡🎈⭐

‼ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬:
🔹𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 was released 24 years ago - 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟑, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

⭐The first version:
Pure Morning (Radio Edit),
Mars Landing Party
Leeloo

⭐Second version:
Pure Morning (Album Version),
Needledick,
The Innocence of Sleep

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

🔹PURE MORNING became 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥.

The song reached no. 19 in the US Billboard Chart and no. 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

🔹💬 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍: “Before it we were none in America, and it was also the first song in which we introduced the electronic in our music”
(𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌, 𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸00𝟺).

"'Pure Morning' has gone really quite severe on commercial radio over in America.I guess it has an American accent on it, but it doesn't sound like any other American band. It rocks, but not the rock they're used to. Maybe it's the Bonham drum beat. In America you only need one big hit to sell truck loads of albums."
(𝙼𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛, 𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)

"It was completely spontaneous, it was a gift from the God of Music, who descended from the skies and said 'Here boys, you've been working really hard, have a hit.'"
(𝙹𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)

🔹💬 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍: "I do think it's a catchy 'we're back' type of single, but one with a twist. It'll grab the attention of Placebo fans but also the kind of people who haven't been fans before. It has a crossover quality."
(𝙳𝚘𝚝𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)

Photo credit: MTV Studios

𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍?

It's hard to believe but “𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠” wasn't even meant to become a single in the first place. The band recorded it as b-side song after the album “Without you I'm nothing” was already finished. But they immediately knew it was too good to use it as b-side and so it was added to the album in last minute and became the lead single of it. This explains why it is the only song on “Without you I'm nothing” that was produced by Phil Vinall (who had worked with Placebo on their single “Nancy Boy” before) while all other tracks were produced by Steve Osborne.


⭐𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆⭐
"Well, 'Pure morning'... we kind of feel it was a little bit of a gift really. We'd finished our album and we'd given it to the record company and the pressure was off. We were just relaxing and doing a B-side session, and we were working in a way that we hadn't worked before. We went into the studio with just a guitar loop in the morning and built a track on top of that as the day went on, so you don't really know where you're going and it's a more spontaneous thing. By the end of the day we had "Pure morning," and once we took a step back, it became painstakingly obvious that it was far too good for a B-side and ended up being the first single off the album. It's different, it's a new departure for us and it's probably quite indicative for where we're going in the future."
(𝙼𝚃𝚅, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)


⭐𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆⭐
"'Pure Morning' is definitely an episode by itself. We’d finished recording and delivered the second album and went into the studio to do some b-sides. When we do b-sides we have a much more relaxed approach to it. “Pure Morning” started as a loop in the studio which we never ever thought would be part of a song and by the end of the day we piled on the rest of the instruments and Brian’s lyrics came pretty much off the top off his head. So it was a complete fluke, really! And when we sent it off to the record company and said ‘this is one of our b-sides’ they said ‘ah, no, I don’t think this should be a b-side’. So it is quite different sonically, and I guess lyrically as well. It’s sort of a celebration of a friendship with women and also a song about coming down – about trying to go to bed when the rest of the world is waking up. So it stands apart for those reasons. There’s definitely a streak of melancholy on the rest of the album."
(𝚍𝚋, 𝟸𝟺 𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)


⭐𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆⭐
"It's not indicative of the band's new direction or something. It just stood right out. It needs a couple of listens, but then it's pretty hard to get out of your head. It's a risk, but one worth taking."
(𝙰𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚆𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗, 𝚁𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝙳𝚘𝚝𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)

Photo credit: LUZ Photo Agency

So Stefan has already hinted at what the song is actually about. Brian's inspiration was his friends and also strange states he and Stefan experienced after frequent parties.

🔹💬 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍:
"The people who inspired it are a couple of friends of mine, you know it's kind of like a celebration of a friendship with women. It's also a song about coming down, ending the day, as everybody else's day is sort of starting and feeling dislocated from the world really and kind of like yearning for a friend to put their arms around you to make the come down easier."
(𝙸𝚗 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)

"There's been so many mornings when I've walked out of a dingy, after-hours drinking club in Soho, and gone, 'Oh, shit! The sun's up.' And you know for a fact that you're not going to be able to go to sleep for many hours, and that you're going to tear the wallpaper off... with your fingernails. And it's kind of about that feeling, about feeling the rest of the world is getting up and getting ready to go to work, and you're still coming down."
(𝙰𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)

“Well 'Pure morning' is a celebration anyway so that's cool. It's a celebration of friendship between two women. About that strange sensation you get when you've been up all night and your body feels like shit in the morning. In comes your friend, she makes you a joint and you fall asleep quietly. It's the song when you can't feel your flesh anymore.“
(𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)

“The lyrics were off the top of my head, a first take thing, so I wasn’t even thinking about the significance of them. After that I realised it’s a song about friendship - celebrating friendship with women. It’s about that point in the evening when the sun’s coming up and the rest of the world is waking up and you can’t go to sleep, basically, and you feel like a complete asshole because you’re coming down. And it’s at that point you feel like your life is the least sorted ever and all you really crave is for a friend to put their arms around you and make you feel better. That’s the pure morning, when that happens.”
(𝙽𝙼𝙴, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟾𝚝𝚑 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)


🎈And let's continue celebrating today's anniversary:🎈

I think that the essence of this song is also captured by the cover of the single, 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫 🔹𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲🔹.
Did you notice?
The setting of abandoned dilapidated swimming pools, two young people hugging, a third lonely young man sitting nearby... we can perceive this as a feeling of emptiness in our living space, and the lack of a hug, the warm arms of someone who helps us to understand that the world is in which we live in ok...

Photo credit: Screenshot from the video

🔹𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎🔹
🎬 https://bit.ly/3vCIZlc

𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐒𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
The video, directed by Nick Gordon, was filmed at the junction of Savoy Street and Savoy Hill in London.

𝐀𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:
🔹💬“We did a good job of making it look like The States, considering it was next to Savoy Hotel in London“.

And why did it have to look like in The States?
Because Brian's inspiration for this little black and white video was the movie 🔹"𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬"🔹 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟏 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲.

⭐𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎:⭐
"We wanted to show a state of extreme desperation. We didn’t want to make another video showing us performing. Um… I don’t know, we wanted to make a video in which we can actually act, a video like a small movie. Anyway, the video started from our idea, and we wanted a very intense, desperate drama, which you might be feeling when you wake up to a pure morning. We wanted a video that can keep the viewers on the edge of their seats from the start to the end. And it also has a very important meaning that I don’t die in the end. It shows some hope, I think.“ …/***/
(𝚂𝚄𝙱, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)

𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲, “𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠” 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗,

However, the band's enthusiasm to play this hit live slowly waned. Over time, the guys no longer wanted to include PURE MORNING in the setlist.
𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞:
🔹 https://bit.ly/3zQWosn


Pure Morning was played live 410 times. The most from 1999 to 2003. After that, the song slowly disappeared from live performances.
Simply put, the band's bond with this song was gone.

Brian said that he never had a problem with ‘Pure morning’ musically but was not satisfied at all with the lyrics.

Stefan revealed that they used to call it "𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆" after a while:
🔹💬 “It’s actually even more of a pain to play than “Nancy Boy”, because ever since we wrote that song we’ve had to play it at every single gig.”
(𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔, 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸00𝟻)

   Photo credit: Adrian Green   

At the last concert of the Project Revolution tour 2007 in the USA Brian introduced “Pure morning” like this:
🔹💬 "I hate this fucking song. The tour ends tonight and I’m happy to know that we’ll never play it again.”

One of the reasons could be this:
🔹💬 Interview: However there are some songs that you don’t play anymore?
Brian Molko: Yes, “Pure Morning” I never feel like playing that one again. I still think the music is cool but the lyrics make me nauseous. They sound as if they were written by a teenager.

Interview: Maybe that is the reason why so many teenagers like this song.
Brian Molko: Of course, but the lyrics are not sophisticated, there’s no depth in them. They show perfectly the circumstances under which they were written: we were hanging around in the studio and I was composing for myself goofing around. Nowadays, I feel ridiculous going on stage and performing that song.
(𝙼𝚊𝚐. 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝙽𝚘𝚟.𝟸0𝟷𝟹)

🔹💬 ”If I had realised it was going to go on the album, I probably would have spent a little more time on the lyrics but I was more interested in how we were using loops and new techniques in the studio at the time.”
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟽𝚝𝚑 𝟸0𝟷𝟽)


So the song disappeared from live performances for almost a decade. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝... :

🔹💬 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 „ ….I did a radio interview recently and they asked me what song I wanted to hear. It occurred to me that I hadn't heard Pure Morning in 10 years so I chose it. So I heard it for the first time in so long and was actually surprised by how modern it sounded, that it hadn't dated. That was a really pleasant surprise."
(𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜, 𝙳𝚎𝚌 𝟸0𝟷𝟼)

🔹💬 “We’re happy to be coming back to Australia this September to deliver fans something extra special,” says vocalist and guitarist Brian Molko. “Let’s just say there will be songs in the set that I’ve sworn never to play again. I think it’s time that we purposefully acknowledged what a lot of Placebo fans really want to hear. They’ve been very patient with us since we rarely play our most commercially successful mate-rial. A 20 year anniversary tour seems like the right time to do so. That’s our intention. This tour is very much for the fans and a chance for us to revisit a lot of our early material. So, if you want to see us play songs like Pure Morning and Nancy Boy which we haven’t played in almost ten years and may not play again, then you’d better come along to these shows! We’ll have some surprises in there too.”
(𝙷𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚊 𝙼𝚊𝚐., 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸0𝟷𝟽)

Photo credit: Gill Flett

🔹💬“It’s actually been quite cool,” Molko told NME. “We’d exhumed ‘Nancy Boy’ and ‘Pure Morning’ and decided to play those. It’s highly likely that we won’t play them again, or you might have to wait another 10 years. The thing is that we thought it would be a real drag, but the sheer joy that we see every night coming back from the audience makes it worth it.”
(𝙽𝙼𝙴, 𝙾𝚌𝚝 𝟸0𝟷𝟽)

Dear friends, what to say in the end?
Let's celebrate together the time when the song Pure Morning gave us goosebumps.

𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨'𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐬 -🔹
🎶 https://bit.ly/3JpLZHk 🔹
 to which this quote relates:

🔹💬”Going on Top of the Pops and saying 'A friend with weed is better' is a laugh.
You know that's quite a coup being able to subvert that set-up in that way you know. It means that we're never going to compromise ourselves lyrically you know in order to have a hit, we don't need to.”
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚘𝚗, 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾)

Post by Marti

⭐𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢: 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡, 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡-𝗨𝗣 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬⭐

“WHAT I DO IS ANSWER HONESTLY THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE ASKED. I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE TO BE PARTICULARLY BRAVE TO SAY WHAT YOU THINK OPENLY”

Brian Molko, October 1998

Photo Credit: Kevin Westenberg / Magazine Cover

Today I bring you an interview given by Brian to the historical Italian music magazine "Rockerilla", which celebrated its 500th issue in April this year.

In this case it's the issue 218th of October 1998, and the interview was given on the occasion of the release of Placebo's second album 'Without You I'm Nothing'.

I guess that just a few of you have already read it, as it is in Italian and only in print. So I have translated it hoping that you will find it as interesting as I did.

The interviewer, Elio Bussolino, asked Brian a series of interesting and by no means obvious questions.

And he in turn spared no words, giving us a lengthy, genuine and passionate interview, as only Brian can do, even more so in those years.
Enjoy reading and take care of each other.

Placebo live @Rolling Stone, Milan (Italy) on November 20th 1998 

Maybe Brian Molko is still too young to have learnt how to balance his energies. Or maybe he is still too caught up in the desire to talk about Placebo's new album, to feel the slightest need to spare himself.

As a matter of fact, it is rare to meet such an affable and chatty artist, even after a whole day spent countering mischievous provocations around his gaudy make-up, dealing with gossipy curiosities, and answering questions of circumstance, as is the norm in the busy schedule arranged by a record label's press office, on the eve of the release of an album on which it has staked so much.

The kind of person you don't really have to mince words with, the singer of Placebo. But also a young man who is always very careful not to evade questions, and not to blow smoke around answers. Not even when the topic forces him to return to facts and circumstances that have upset and hurt his dignity as a human being, before even his sensitivity as an artist.

Here's what he told us about the new songs of 'Without You I'm Nothing', about the hallucinating phone calls he received some time ago from some deranged person, about his ideological and musical 'allergies', his experiences on the set of 'Velvet Goldmine' - the film celebration of the glam era - and about how much all this has contributed to his personal growth and the growth of the band whose fortunes he firmly holds.

Photo credit: Levy 

Let's start with 'Pure Morning', the first single from the new album. Someone described it as a slower version of 'Nancy Boy'. Do you find the comparison pertinent?
I believe the juxtaposition is not entirely out of the blue. Of course the two songs are quite different, but surely everyone was expecting us to return to action with a song not far removed from 'Nancy Boy', maybe some kind of 'Nancy Boy' part two. We prepared ourselves in such a way that we didn't make a very clear break with our previous production, although the overriding need always remained not to repeat ourselves and rather to strive to go beyond what we had done. In this particular case, I would say that we mainly tried to give a more hip-hop feel to the rhythms and a more Jesus And Mary Chain-esque timbre to the guitars. This eventually distances the new single quite a bit from the other one, although to us it seems to work just as well, and does the best job of introducing our second album, which tells everyone unequivocally: "That's it, Placebo are back." Among other things, there is an interesting story about 'Pure Morning'. Originally it wasn't even meant to be included on the album, it was just a guitar loop intended at best to occupy the B-side of a single. Actually, we weren't even sure we were using it before Phil Vinall - the producer of 'Nancy Boy' - heard it. He was the one who convinced us that it was worth working on, that it could become a good single. At that point it all happened so quickly that we hardly noticed. In one day we finished the whole thing. And I have to say that no one had rushed us, and that, in fact, recording at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios was almost like taking a holiday, so much so that we were made completely comfortable. That's why I am convinced that 'Pure Morning' is much more than just an invitation to listen to our album.

Photo credit: Space Circus 

Still on the subject of 'Nancy Boy', if I remember correctly, that song did give you the satisfaction of entering the UK Top 5, but it also gave you quite a bit of hassle. I'm referring to the death threats you started receiving around that time. Did you really take them seriously?
I really couldn't help it when several times a day I would pick up the phone and hear phrases like: 'I know where you live, you son of a bitch, and be aware that I'm coming to get you!' Maybe this is something that happens to anyone who manages to gain a modicum of celebrity, but in all honesty this thought did not reassure me at all. At first I felt a great anger against the person who was making those delusional threats to me. Then I tried to react more rationally and positively, I even changed the voice on my answering machine, but it continued to repeat itself for a long time and the messages, indeed, became more and more awful. To get an idea of what I went through, just listen to the hidden track on the new record: it contains a recording of one of those messages.


Were you then able to come to terms with it, to understand why you were subjected to those threats?
Well, I tried. I believe one reason is that we are a band capable of arousing very intense and diametrically opposed emotions, of making people love or hate us without any possibility of mediation. I don't think Placebo can be indifferent to anyone. I won't hide from you that this is something I'm proud of, despite the risks it entails, starting with that kind of phone call.


I hope it's all over now....
Fortunately it is. I am almost free of that nightmare.

Photo credit: David Titlow 

Well, then let's get back to the new album. Several songs, from 'Every You Every Me' to 'Scared of Girls', 'You Don't Care About Us' to the very 'Without You I'm Nothing' that gives the record its title, give the impression that you have been - and maybe still are - struggling with serious identity issues, or at least personality conflicts. Would you like to talk about that?
Sure. First of all I want to say that in this record I tried to talk about my relationships with the media and vice versa, to go into more detail with the relationships I have with people as human beings. Almost the whole album is set on that subject, on trying to describe my relationships with others in terms of emotions, anxieties, troubles.In 'Every You Every Me', for instance, I tried to draw a kind of identikit of those in a relationship who tend above all to overpower the other. 'Scared of Girls' is a kind of investigation into the reasons for sexual promiscuity, into the reasons why some men may have relationships with different women at the same time. Is that love on the part of these men, or rather is it fear, hatred, a desire to take revenge on a woman? Because if these are their actual reasons, then one must basically speak of deep insecurity. 'Without You I'm Nothing', on the other hand, is the most romantic track on the album, and it's about how, between two people, there often comes a dependency such that in the end it is unbearable for one or even both of them. This is something that reflects a lot on my personal experiences and those of my two band mates over the last two years. In general, I would say that this record is much more melancholic than the other one, just because it dwells more on the relationships that each of us three has had recently.

There is a title in this album that sounds quite curious: 'Allergic (To Thoughts of Mother Earth)'. Would you mind elaborating on this kind of allergy?
That is perhaps the most political song you can hear from Placebo. Better still, I would say the most ecological one, even though the topic specifically concerns the Christian idea of Paradise as a place foreign to Earth. The latter, therefore, can safely be used as a large dustbin, something one can dispose of without any worries. It is maybe from this belief that the low ecological consciousness of a significant portion of the planet's inhabitants derives. But nature always manages to be more powerful than they are, and to fool them in one way or another.

Photo credit: David Bailey 

Still on the subject of allergies, one that concerns you personally is the one for Oasis and the Verve. Or so you implied in a recent interview. You're not really afraid of making major enemies, are you?
No, not at all. The fact is that it is a personal opinion and should be taken as such. I believe they make very traditional music, but that's not my problem and I certainly don't go around making proclamations against them. What I do is answer honestly the questions that are asked. I play in another band and I think Placebo are much more into something new, that, much more than them, are trying to find new outlets for rock'n'roll. I don't think you have to be particularly brave to say what you think openly.

A few weeks ago, you shared the same stage with Gomez and Idlewild, two bands that are generally highly regarded around here. How do you rate them?
I liked them both. Idlewild have very effective melodies, a very strong pop appeal combined with a decidedly punk attitude. About Gomez, I can say that they have no rivals in the roots field, they are making very interesting experiments combining electronics and new recording techniques with classic sounds, and they know how to get really surprising solutions out of them, a bit like Scott 4. I became fast friends with Gomez, something I cannot say about Idlewild. With Gomez I also happened to record something on acoustic guitar a couple of weeks ago, and it may end up on their next record.


And what about your participation in the Dream City Film Club single, are they other friends of yours?
Yes. Their bass player played for several years with Steve Hewitt, our new drummer, in Breed. Dream City Film Club was formed around the same time as Placebo. We played together several times and became very close friends. They wanted to have a guest on their record and they invited me. I really enjoyed recording that song with them, it reminded me a lot of PJ Harvey's stuff.

Photo credit:  MTV Studios

But what was your actual part in that work?
I went into the studio, was given the lyrics of the song, went out for the time it took to learn it, recorded it in one session and then left for the pub!


And how did you feel as the Flaming Creatures in the film 'Velvet Goldmine'?
It was all extremely funny. The film is a brilliant comedy and the Flaming Creatures are sort of New York Dolls living in London. It was really funny to see us with all that make-up on: Stefan, for example, had his hair backcombed so exaggeratedly that it looked like a lion's mane. I guess the audience will really enjoy that film, I've already seen it twice! And then there is some excellent music and the story itself on which it is based, in fact a love story between two men, is full of twists and turns!


Still on the subject of cinema: you may have heard that your friend David Bowie wants to put the story of Ziggy Stardust on film. Does that sound like a good idea?
Listen, I have a deep respect for him and I'm sure he considered the idea very carefully before making that decision. Anything he does is fine with me.


But don't you think the film risks losing that aura of legend surrounding the character of Ziggy Stardust?
No, David is far too intelligent a person to allow that to happen. If he ever realised that something wasn't working as planned, he would immediately know how to correct it. No, I don't worry at all about how that film will turn out, as he is the one who is taking care of the project himself.

Placebo live @Rolling Stone, Milan (Italy) on November 20th 1998

One more thing before we say goodbye. From what we've heard, you've emerged quite battered from a long series of tours following the release of your first album, and there's already another long UK tour in sight, and then several more dates on the continent. How did you prepare for all those commitments this time around?
With the conviction that we have grown up in the meantime. Before then, I had never been in a band, it was therefore quite natural to indulge in the excesses that the life of a musician always on the move presents you with: parties, entertainment, lively company and so on. We now feel a much greater responsibility to always live up to the expectations that people have of us and that we ourselves feel towards our work and the people who have invested energy and resources in this group. The most important thing is to do your job well and derive the greatest satisfaction from knowing that you are always trying to do it to the best of your ability. In my opinion, this should be enough to prevent us from falling into the usual rock'n'roll traps. We are much calmer than we were two years ago, in short, and much less willing to indulge in the craziness.


The next date with the Italian audience?
It's on November 28th, at the Rolling Stone, in Milan. Original Interview by Elio Bussolino - "Rockerilla" Magazine nr 218 - October 1998
Transcript and Translation by Emanuela

Post by Emanuela

⭐𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐇-𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐅 "𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆" 𝐀𝐍𝐃 "𝐒𝐕𝐄𝐅𝐍-𝐆-𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐑"⭐

⭐„𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑇𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 5 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 “𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔” 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟 𝑅𝑜́𝑠. 𝐼𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐽𝑜́𝑛𝑠𝑖. 𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠.“⭐
(𝙿𝚘𝚙𝙱𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚜, 𝙾𝚌𝚝. 𝟸0𝟷𝟹)


Dear friends,
welcome to my first post in the new year. May this coming time be full of new positive experiences for all of us in love and mutual respect.

This post today was created as if by complete coincidence. That evening I watched one of the many Placebo gigs on YT (you will find a link to it at the end of the post) and noticed an intro that intrigued me.

So before we talk about it, check out the video I share with you.
Which of you had the opportunity to experience this intro before the concert?

What is actually interesting about this input track?
It's a brilliant and magical mashup of two songs:
"𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠" 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 and "𝐒𝐯𝐞𝐟𝐧-𝐠-𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐫" 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐨𝐬 which we often talk about here on this page.
Placebo love the music of Sigur Ros and there is a friendly relationship between the guys.


⭐"Svefn-g-englar" was released as a single in 1999. The title of the song is an Icelandic pun mixing "sleepwalkers" and "sleep angels").
It is basically one of the most famous songs of the band Sigur Ros which made the band famous beyond the borders of Iceland.⭐
🔸🎶 I recommend you take a nice moment just for yourself and play this unique musical gem before going to bed:
https://bit.ly/3mQZ6Hm


🔸🎶 And for those who would like to see this song live, here is a link to a concert from 2001. Not only Jónsi's vocals are breathtaking, but playing of the strings on his electric guitar make this song a living diamond:
https://bit.ly/3zlXvyp

Photo credit: Valentina Kalinkevich

⭐ 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨:
I don't know who created this perfection that he combined two such different songs ... I didn't find the author. However, I always believe that this information will reach me sooner or later.
Anyway, the Placebo guys definitely know that very well and this mashup enchanted them so much that they used it as their intro during the Loud Like Love Tour and paid tribute to their Icelandic friends.


⭐ Interestingly, although the LLL tour lasted three years - from 2013 to 2015, this intro was not used for the entire tour. It is very difficult to find accurate information, but according to the setlist archive, it is certain that those of you who were at the concert in 2015, were lucky enough to listen to this mashup.


⭐ 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒏 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, 𝑰𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒏, 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑲𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑳𝑳 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓.
This intro was also experienced by fans who were on the American part of the LLL tour. It is clear that this remix was definitely used more often than the setlist archive states.
So even though I've calculated from everything available on the Internet that Placebo used this intro 44 times, I don't think this number is definitely accurate.
But for the remaining concerts of the entire LLL tour, the intro song B3 was used, during which the band entered the stage and started the show with this song.


🔸🎶 𝑺𝒐, 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒙? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏:
https://bit.ly/3330vDR

🔸🎶 At the end of this evening, I share with you a link to the Placebo performance in San Francisco 2013. Above all, enjoy Brian's great mood and his contact with the fans💗.
https://bit.ly/3EUJ5qa

Post by Marti

PLACEBO INTERVIEWED BY FANS 1998 (part 1)

This afternoon I bring to you one of my favorite 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 interviews. Published by 𝑵𝑴𝑬 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 in November 1998, fans sent in all kinds of questions to the band, as usual 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 gave such honest, interesting and funny answers. They are truly delightful guys!!

… well, you already know that 
Enjoy reading dear soulmates. 💖

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

𝙌 & 𝘼 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊  (𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙸)

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑩𝑶 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎…
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒔? (𝙰𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗, 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚠𝚢𝚣, 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “At a Spice Girls party, I told the American representative of our record company that they could take their record company and shove it up their arse. And I insulted somebody’s wife at the same party, in front of the Spice Girls, and got picked up and thrown across the room. That was pretty embarrassing.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I mistook Scarlet Page (daughter of Led Zep guitarist Jimmy) for Liv Tyler (daughter of Aerosmith singer Steve). I went up to her and said: ‘You’re that famous guitarist’s daughter! Liv Tyler!'”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔?
(𝚁𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕 𝙷𝚘𝚙𝚎, 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I remember being in Africa, and we had a housekeeper. And I have this image of being in my cot and it looking like a jail cell, and she was sweeping up. I think I was about two.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “Being about four years old and running up the drive when my mum called me, and falling over, and sticking my teeth through my tongue and bottom lip and it all being stuck together.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I remember running down a gravel hill near my parents’ house when I was about five, and just falling down. And smashing my whole face up.”

𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓? (𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚜, 𝙰𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚗)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “Mine came a little later. Mine came when I was about 18 or 19 (𝘌𝘳, 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳? – Ed).”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I had a lot. I was a very frustrated, lonely and anti-social young man. I felt very alienated and very bored as well.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝑬𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔? (𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙹𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚎, 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚐𝚘𝚠)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “To be honest, you kind of try and shut it out of your mind as much as possible, otherwise it ends up being a cross you have to bear, really. And it’s much healthier to just ignore it, because it’s so easy for your feet not to be on the ground anyway, that if you acknowledge it you could end up getting completely carried away. It’s absolutely flattering. But often I feel quite undeserving of it really.”

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔? (𝚂𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗, 𝙺𝚘𝚜𝚣𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊, 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I don’t think we would ever go out on a date with anyone who is intimidated. It’s hard to find people who are relaxed around you, but you wouldn’t want to go out with anyone who felt nervous in your presence.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “Don’t know. I’ve more important things to worry about.”

Photo credit: David Tonge

𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕? (𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊, 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗)
(𝘜𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Who me? No, I’ve always been a bit thin up here. If it’s one of these (𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦) then you can pretend to be a monk for a while to accentuate it, like Stipey did. Then you shave it all off.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “It’s true. He’s been like that ever since I’ve known him. I’m balding. I’ve got a bit of a patch up here, and it’s all going to be receding. Over the last couple of months it’s really been freaking me out.”

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆? (𝙹𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝙼𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝙽𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚍)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “If someone was writing my biography, then I’d definitely want it called Getting Away With It, except I think someone’s done that already (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 – Ed).”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d call it I’m Just A Soul Whose Intentions Are Good. Oh, Lord Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. The truth is stranger than any lies we could come up with. And more obscene.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “Oh, I’d call it Take Me Away From All These People.”

𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕? (𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚆𝚛𝚎𝚡𝚑𝚊𝚖)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “No, not really. I would like to be taller, but I guess being short and small is one of the first things that drew me towards girls’ clothes, because they fit me much better, and there’s so much more variation. They’re just funkier, there’s more that you can do with them. The way that they’re cut is usually more flattering, and they’re usually available in pint-size size, which is good.”

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕? (𝚂𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚑 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚢, 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Holden Caulfield (in JD Salinger‘s The Catcher In The Rye), maybe. Just for the feeling of alienation. The only thing Holden Caulfield wants to do throughout this whole book is to call this girl, and he never manages to call her, he never manages to get through. And that sums up my life quite well.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕? (𝙽𝚊𝚘𝚖𝚒 𝙺𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚗 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “You know, that’s about someone I used to go out with really, and that was like me exorcising the guilt of that failed relationship which I was mainly responsible for. But I’m also nothing without these two. At the moment spliff and minibars, because we just go from bus to minibar to bed.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “I’m nothing without a coffee machine, fresh coffee and a mobile phone.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “My bed. Because I’m sleeping about 15 hours a night at the moment.”

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆? (𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎, 𝙼𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚡)
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “In my sleep, and definitely not on an aeroplane.”
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “In oblivion.”
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d be interested in finding out if there is a light which you walk into, and if you do meet people from your life and walk hand in hand with Jesus. I would hate for my death to be tragic: I’d like to be old when it happens. But hopefully a young death is unlikely.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈? (𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚊 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “We were in Cologne and we went to this most amazing rave party, and we got back at 8am and smoked reefers the size of the… tourbus, basically with some German mates.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I spent two hours with my feet above the ground at that party. I thought I could fly. It was really lovely. I saw the sun come up this morning.”
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I haven’t seen the sun for a couple of days. How is it?”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Still the same.”

Photo credit: Karen Mason

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆? (𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛, 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚎)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “My mum was pretty blown away. My dad’s pretty blown away too now, though it took him long enough to get his head round it. He used to want me to get a proper job. They take the image in their stride.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “They’re getting used to it. I think the fear is slowly turning into pride: I think they were quite perturbed in the beginning, but they’re coming round to it. I was always a bit of a loose cannon, then again I was always the artistic one: bit of a social misfit. I probably still am.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒓𝒚? (𝚁𝚎𝚡, 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “‘Nature Boy’ by Nat King Cole and ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ by Jaques Brel.”
 https://youtu.be/ZpF1J9FnD4E
 https://youtu.be/oR_SZR_tmxM
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “‘Montague Terrace (In Blue)’ by Scott Walker.”
 https://youtu.be/okWihNm-4wg
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “‘The Winner Takes It All’, by Abba.”
 https://youtu.be/92cwKCU8Z5c

𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?
(𝙼𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎, 𝙴𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚡)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “I was going to have a Prince symbol done once, but I’m bloody glad I changed my mind. I’d love one of those old sailor busty maiden ones. Tits everywhere. Be f*cking ace.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d probably have a little demon tattooed on my shoulder.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I’d probably have a snake on my shoulder blade.”

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖? (𝙺𝚊𝚝𝚢 𝙱, 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’m getting more and more comfortable with it. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. My comments about the Molkettes and Molko clones have been misconstrued in the press and particularly in NME. I was quoted as saying that they should just get a life, basically, but that was only half of what I said. It’s a strange thing: you get used to it after a while, but you still react with a similar amount of shock. To you, you’re the same asshole that you always were and you don’t understand why someone would want to look like you. But I’m not dissing it at all.”

𝑰𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖? (𝙺𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝙸𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Very bad for you. I can’t go there any more. By the end of the evening you’d really end up hating yourself for being such an over-the-top individual, just like talking about yourself, and you end up really, really paranoid. It all ends up in a big mound of self-disgust. It ain’t good for the soul, man. Just have f*cking spliff, man.”
𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅...

Since they were talking about "𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈", I chose for you an early performance of this eternal classic.
 https://youtu.be/dfjeajTYzNw

See you next Saturday with the second part. Have a happy weekend.
 Much love! 💓

Post by Rita

ANNIVERSARY: PURE MORNING

Today we celebrate the 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 “𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆”, one of Placebo's best known and most successful songs. It was released 23 years ago today on August 3rd 1998. It was the band's first worldwide hit single and their breakthrough song in the USA. Brian: “Before it we were none in America, and it was also the first song in which we introduced the electronic in our music” (All Music, October 2004).

 𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 – 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢
http://bit.ly/2QuvRqF 

Photo credit: Screenshots from the video, edit by Silke

It's hard to believe but “Pure Morning” wasn't even meant to become a single in the first place. After their second album was recorded Placebo were in the studio to record b-side songs. Brian said that “Pure Morning” was “a gift from the God of Music” and that it was quite a spontaneous thing. The song started with a guitar loop in the forenoon and by the end of the day it was finished.
The band immediately knew it was far too good for a b-side. Instead “Pure Morning” became the lead single of “Without you I'm nothing” and was added to the album belatedly. This explains why it is the only song on the record that was produced by Phil Vinall (who had worked with Placebo on their single “Nancy Boy” before) while all other tracks were produced by Steve Osborne.

“Pure Morning” is not a typical Placebo song and the band's manager Alex Weston made clear that it was not indicative of the band's new direction. “It just stood right out. It needs a couple of listens, but then it's pretty hard to get out of your head. It's a risk, but one worth taking," she stated (dotmusic.com, July 1998).

Brian said that “Pure Morning” is overall a song about friendship. “It's kind of like a celebration of a friendship with women”, as he explained in an interview. It also deals with "coming down when the rest of the world is waking up", such as when clubgoers get home as the sun rises and everyone else is going to work, a situation he has been in very often. The feeling of dislocation, "that point you feel like your life is the least sorted ever" could be solved by someone who "slip their arm around you and make slumber easier." Brian summed it up with the words "All you really crave is for a friend to put their arms around you and make you feel better. That’s the pure morning, when that happens”.

𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 “𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚“

https://bit.ly/2WcO5SO

The official music clip of “Pure Morning” was directed by Nick Gordon and shot in slow-motion at the junction of Savoy Street and Savoy Hill in London. Brian once said that „Fourteen hours“, a black-and-white film with Grace Kelly, was an inspiration for the video.
In the clip he embodies a suicidal man, and police and authorities try to stop him when it seems he wants to jump down from the building. Shots of the rest of the band consist of them being arrested for unseen crimes.
News crews report on the scene and a single police officer runs through the building to attempt to safe the young man from jumping. Brian eventually leans forward but instead of falling down all the way he starts to walk vertically down on the side of the building. Later he said about this scene that it was my his “Jesus moment“.
Over the years Stefan and especially Brian developed a troubled relationship with the song. Brian said that he never had a problem with ‘Pure Morning’ musically but was not satisfied at all with the lyrics. Stefan revealed that they used to call it “Pure boring” after a while: “It’s actually even more of a pain to play than “Nancy Boy”, because ever since we wrote that song we’ve had to play it at every single gig” (Classic Rock, January 2005). So after the Project Revolution tour 2007 the song disappeared from Placebo's setlist. Almost ten years later “Pure morning” was brought back on stage for the “20 years” anniversary tour. A lot of fans were very happy to hear the song live again.

𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗙𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚“ 
"I do think it's a catchy 'we're back' type of single, but one with a twist. It'll grab the attention of Placebo fans but also the kind of people who haven't been fans before. It has a crossover quality."
(dotmusiccom, July 1998)
"'Pure Morning' is definitely an episode by itself. We’d finished recording and delivered the second album and went into the studio to do some b-sides. When we do b-sides we have a much more relaxed approach to it. 'Pure Morning' started as a loop in the studio which we never ever thought would be part of a song and by the end of the day we piled on the rest of the instruments and Brian’s lyrics came pretty much off the top off his head. So it was a complete fluke, really! And when we sent it off to the record company and said ‘this is one of our b-sides’ they said ‘ah, no, I don’t think this should be a b-side’. So it is quite different sonically, and I guess lyrically as well. It’s sort of a celebration of a friendship with women and also a song about coming down – about trying to go to bed when the rest of the world is waking up. So it stands apart for those reasons. There’s definitely a streak of melancholy on the rest of the album."
(db, 24 February 1999)

𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 – 𝗗𝗘𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟳

https://bit.ly/35Hdc5b 

𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚“ 
“By the end of the day we had "Pure Morning," and once we took a step back, it became painstakingly obvious that it was far too good for a B-side and ended up being the first single off the album. It's different, it's a new departure for us and it's probably quite indicative for where we're going in the future.“
(MTV, 1998)

"There's been so many mornings when I've walked out of a dingy, after-hours drinking club in Soho, and gone, 'Oh, shit! The sun's up.' And you know for a fact that you're not going to be able to go to sleep for many hours, and that you're going to tear the wallpaper off... with your fingernails. And it's kind of about that feeling, about feeling the rest of the world is getting up and getting ready to go to work, and you're still coming down."
(Access Magazine, February 1999)

"It’s definitely the most digestible song on the record, it fucks with your head the least. It’s light compared with what we’ve done before.”
(NME, August 8th 1998)

"We felt quite subversive singing 'a friend with weed is better', on Top of the Pops. We get away with it because of the catchiness of the songs. Our catchiest songs tend to be our most fucked up."
(Hit Music, April 29th 1999)

"'Pure Morning' has gone really quite severe on commercial radio over in America.I guess it has an American accent on it, but it doesn't sound like any other American band. It rocks, but not the rock they're used to. Maybe it's the Bonham drum beat. In America you only need one big hit to sell truck loads of albums."
(Melody Maker, October 1998)

"‘Pure Morning‘ is about that time of day when the sun is coming up and you’re coming down. Everybody else is getting ready to go to work and you’re feeling incredibly dislocated from the rest of the world."
(NY Rock, January 1999)

"It was a gift from the God of Music, who descended from the skies and said 'Here boys, you've been working really hard, have a hit.'"
(Juice Magazine, August 1999)

“Well 'Pure Morning' is a celebration anyway so that's cool. It's a celebration of friendship between two women. About that strange sensation you get when you've been up all night and your body feels like shit in the morning. In comes your friend, she makes you a joint and you fall asleep quietly. It's the song when you can't feel your flesh anymore.“
(Rock Sound, July 1999)

"We feel particularly vindicated considering that ‘PureMorning‘ wasn’t even meant to be on the album, and this ist he song which seems to be breaking us internationally. [...] It was not meant to happen and it just came out of nowhere. We learned a lot about being spontaneous in the studio from working on 'Pure Morning'".
(Melody Maker, January 2nd 1999)

”I've never had a problem with ‘Pure Morning’ musically, but you have to understand that we wrote it during a B-sides session once the album was finished. It was never intended to be a single, but the record company heard it and went 'there's your single'. And we said 'really?' If I had realised it was going to go on the album, I probably would have spent a little more time on the lyrics but I was more interested in how we were using loops and new techniques in the studio at the time.”
(Independent, October 17th 2017)

Post by Silke

𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 & 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐌𝐒: 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐬

In this part of my series, let’s take a closer look at the movies which had an impact on creating of some Placebo videos.

Photo credit: screenshots of the videos, film posters / edit by Olga

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 is a film that was an inspiration for the 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 video.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 told, “It was inspired by the Grace Kelly film ‘Fourteen Hours’ from the 50's about a guy who stands on the ledge of a building in New York for 14 hours. The police, his parents and his wife come and try to talk him down. You never really know why he’s there. It’s a very good film, check it out. We based the story on that.”
(“𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔” 𝐷𝑉𝐷, 2004)
𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 is a 1951 American noir drama directed by Henry Hathaway, which tells the story of a New York City police officer trying to stop a despondent man from jumping to his death from the 15th floor of a hotel.
It was the screen debut of Grace Kelly and Jeffrey Hunter, who appeared in small roles. The screenplay was based on an article in The New Yorker describing the 1938 real story of John William Warde suicide.
Noteworthy, the Pure Morning video has got an opposite ending. “And it also has a very important meaning that I don’t die in the end. It shows some hope, I think,” 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 said. (𝑆𝑈𝐵, 1999)

Screenshot from Pure morning video

𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍
Telling about 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐔𝐬 video in the Once more with feeling DVD Brian said that "there’s a ‘Delicatessen’ feel to this."
𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧 is a 1991 French surrealist black comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.
The film is centered on a post-apocalyptic society where food is in short supply and grain is used as currency. It’s set in a dilapidated apartment building with a delicatessen, a butcher's shop, on the ground floor. It’s run by the landlord, Clapet, who posts job opportunities in the Hard Times paper as means to lure victims to the building, whom he murders and butchers as a cheap source of meat to sell to his tenants. Butcher's daughter and a former clown Louison, who applies for the job, fall in love. Aware of her father's motives, Julie tries to rescue Louison by contacting the "troglodytes", a group of vegetarian rebel sub-group of society who live entirely underground.

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐁𝐀𝐃 / 𝐋'𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞́𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐞̀𝐫𝐞 𝐚̀ 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐝 is a movie behind a story of the 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐧 video.
“…I took inspiration from a film I love, L'Année dernière à Marienbad ('Last Year at Marienbad'),” 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝑴𝒄𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, director of the video, explained, “Not only was the film's enigmatic narrative structure helpful to look at when creating an ambiguous love affair, but the sort of cyclical quality of the track mirrored this kind of repetitive film device. The video had layers of questionable events - did any of it actually happen and if so, with which one. This kind of fragmented reality was a direct nod to that film but something that I thought fit with the band's image of ambiguity at that time.” (𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡, 2017)
𝐋'𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞́𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐞̀𝐫𝐞 𝐚̀ 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐝 (𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐚𝐝) is a 1961 French-Italian film directed by Alain Resnais.
Set in luxury baroque hotel, it’s a tale of a woman and a man who may have met the year before at Marienbad and may have contemplated or started an affair. There is a second man who may be the woman's husband. The characters are unnamed. Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships between the three characters.
The film is famous for its enigmatic narrative structure, in which time and space are fluid. No certain conclusion is offered: what is happening to the characters, what they are remembering, and what they are imagining.
The same dreamlike nature was perfectly recreated in Placebo video.

Screenshot from Taste in men video

𝐆𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐀 is a film that was an inspiration for the 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞 video.
According to 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏, “aesthetically it was by a film ‘Gattaca’ starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. It was the film where they met and first fell in love.”
“Cold, beautifully stylish near future, not sci-fi,” described the atmosphere of the video its director 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒉, “Is it sci-fi, is it whatever? Is it a love story? … If it's not the case, let's build like 'Gattaca', people, they are almost automats in the office – machine or computers but there is one girl who suddenly decides… And ok, that creates a knock-on catalyst effect. So, it started to shred everything, shred, shred, shred… It was colourful, simple and powerful.” (𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡, 2016)
𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐚 is a 1997 American science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. The film presents a biopunk vision of a future society driven by eugenics where potential children are conceived through genetic selection to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. Characters in Gattaca continually battle both with society and with themselves to find their place in the world and who they are destined to be according to their genes.
The film's title is based on the letters G, A, T, and C, which stand for guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine, the four nucleobases of DNA.

𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐕𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐆𝐄 is a film that influenced the making of 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐊 video.
“This is one of my favorites videos.” 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 told. “It’s based on a 60’s movie ‘Fantastic Voyage’. Raquel Welch and a few other people get shrunk and injected into the president’s body and try to save his life. In this video I play Raquel Welch. Unfortunately, the budget didn’t stretch to fake breasts.”
𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒈𝒉 who directed the video for Placebo explained his idea, “It was based on a movie, obviously 'Fantastic voyage'. And I always thought that Stefan looked like an android. I remember a guy from 'Fantastic voyage' turned out to be an android and he was trying to kill everybody. And I thought: 'This is twisted. Let try a mini movie which is all about inside something'.” (𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡, 2016)
𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐕𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐠𝐞 is a 1966 American science-fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer. The film is about a submarine crew who are shrunk to microscopic size and venture into the body of an injured scientist to repair damage to his brain. Almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream, a lot of problems arise on their way.

Screenshot from Special K video

𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒: clips from this film are used in one of the versions of 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 video besides the live footage of Placebo from London's Brixton Academy.

𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 & 𝐉𝐎𝐄: the scenes from the movie are included in the 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤-𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐝 video. It was directed by the same director as the film, Vanessa Joop. The video was filmed at the Hurricane Festival in Germany with two actors, Jana Pallaske and Robert Stadlober, starring in Engel & Joe.

Post by  Olga 

ANNIVERSARY: "PURE MORNING"

Today we celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of Placebo's first big worldwide hit single “Pure morning”. It was released 22 years ago today on August 3^rd 1998. The song reached no 19 un the US Billboard Chart, no. 4 in the UK Singles Chart, no. 21 in New Zealand and no. 8 in Iceland to name but a few rankings.

Listen to the song here:  ♫ PURE MORNING ♫

It's hard to believe but “Pure morning” wasn't even meant to become a single in the first place. The band recorded it as b-side song after the album “Without you I'm nothing” was already finished. But they immediately knew it was too good to use it as b-side and so it was added to the album in last minute and became the lead single of it. This explains why it is the only song on “Without you I'm nothing” that was produced by Phil Vinall (who had worked with Placebo on their single “Nancy Boy” before) while all other tracks were produced by Steve Osborne.
“Pure morning” is not a typical Placebo song and the band's managerin Alex Weston made clear that it was not indicative of the band's new direction or something. “It just stood right out. It needs a couple of listens, but then it's pretty hard to get out of your head. It's a risk, but one worth taking," she stated (dotmusic.com, July 1998).

Brian said that “Pure morning” is overall a song about friendship. It deals with "coming down when the rest of the world is waking up", such as when clubgoers get home as the sun rises and everyone else is going to work, a situation he has been in very often. The feeling of dislocation, "that point you feel like your life is the least sorted ever" could be solved by someone who "slip their arm around you and make slumber easier." Brian summed it up with the words "All you really crave is for a friend to put their arms around you and make you feel better. That’s the pure morning, when that happens”.

The official music clip of “Pure morning” was directed by Nick Gordon and shot in slow-motion at the junction of Savoy Street and Savoy Hill in London. Brian once said that „Fourteen hours“, a film with Grace Kelly, was an inspiration for the video.

In the clip he embodies a suicidal man, and police and authorities try to stop him when it seems he wants to jump down from the building. Shots of the rest of the band consist of them being arrested for unseen crimes.

News crews report on the scene and a single police officer runs through the building to attempt to safe the young man from jumping. Brian eventually leans forward but instead of falling down all the way he starts to walk vertically down on the side of the building.

BRIAN ON “PURE MORNING”

"Well, 'Pure morning'... we kind of feel it was a little bit of a gift really. We'd finished our album and we'd given it to the record company and the pressure was off. We were just relaxing and doing a B-side session, and we were working in a way that we hadn't worked before. We went into the studio with just a guitar loop in the morning and built a track on top of that as the day went on, so you don't really know where you're going and it's a more spontaneous thing. By the end of the day we had "Pure morning," and once we took a step back, it became painstakingly obvious that it was far too good for a B-side and ended up being the first single off the album. It's different, it's a new departure for us and it's probably quite indicative for where we're going in the future."

(MTV, 1998)

”Going on Top of the Pops and saying 'A friend with weed is better' is a laugh. You know that's quite a coup being able to subvert that set-up in that way you know. It means that we're never going to compromise ourselves lyrically you know in order to have a hit, we don't need to. ”(In conversation with Sally Stratton, August 1998)"It was completely spontaneous, it was a gift from the God of Music, who descended from the skies and said 'Here boys, you've been working really hard, have a hit.'"
(Juice Magazine, August 1999)

"There's been so many mornings when I've walked out of a dingy, after-hours drinking club in Soho, and gone, 'Oh, shit! The sun's up.' And you know for a fact that you're not going to be able to go to sleep for many hours, and that you're going to tear the wallpaper off... with your fingernails. And it's kind of about that feeling, about feeling the rest of the world is getting up and getting ready to go to work, and you're still coming down."
(Access Magazine, February 1999)

BRIAN ON THE VIDEO CLIP 

"We wanted to show a state of extreme desperation. We didn’t want to make another video showing us performing. Um… I don’t know, we wanted to make a video in which we can actually act, a video like a small movie. Anyway, the video started from our idea, and we wanted a very intense, desperate drama, which you might be feeling when you wake up to a pure morning. We wanted a video that can keep the viewers on the edge of their seats from the start to the end. And it also has a very important meaning that I don’t die in the end. It shows some hope, I think. Actually some of us view this video from a different perspective, for example, do you remember the scene where Stef and Steve get arrested? We thought of ourselves as special beings with supernatural powers who came from a far future. That’s why I could walk down on the building wall and people arrested Stef and Steve. People wanted to take us away and do experiments on us. That’s why I was standing on top of the building away from the people. Or, the video could be about anything, really. It just raised some questions without suggesting any clear answers. You have to fill in the blanks. It can be interpreted in any way according to the person’s experience and situation. That was our intentions. To raise questions without giving any clues. "
(Brian, S. 1999)

Photo credits: Screenshots from the video
Post by Silke