PLACEBO
PLACEBO
(1996)
A1: COME HOME (5:09); A2: TEENAGE ANGST (2:42); A3: BIONIC (5:00); A4: 36 DEGREES (3:05); A5: HANG ON TO YOUR IQ (5:13).
B1: NANCY BOY (3:48); B2: I KNOW (4:44); B3: BRUISE PRISTINE (3:35); B4: LADY OF THE FLOWERS (4:47); B5: SWALLOW (4:54).
CATEGORY: POP-ROCK | DURATION: 43 MINUTES
Unlike their contemporaries in the mid-90s UK pop-rock void – bands whose critically-lauded albums promised much on paper but delivered only abject mediocrity – Placebo were able to construct a sustainable abstract facsimile of end-of-days glam rock, illuminated by singer Molko’s intriguing
lyrics and androgynous persona. Superficially shiny and sharded, Placebo’s music housed a sexually twisted heart of darkness absent from the falsely-elevated trash which desperate UK pop-kids were forced to cling to in the midnight of their aural desolation. In this world Placebo – supported by David Bowie, a fervent admirer who evidently saw Molko as a final valid iteration of the male/female pop star – were able to rise quickly to mass popularity, an ascendency which for once was clearly not entirely without merit.
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT YOUNG (1964-2014)
“ÆTERNUM VORTICE LACRIMARUM SOMNIAT”