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Pure Morning: How Placebo Tried to Kill Their Own Image and the "Nancy Boy" Hangover

Poetic Wax

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While the world debated the Britpop rivalry between Oasis and Blur, a new and quite different band took the stage. Placebo seemed to come out of nowhere and appeared to be the antithesis of Britpop. Their song "Nancy Boy" in 1997 announced them as "the Filthiest Band in Britain" full with androgynous frontman Brian Molko singing about hedonism and promiscuity. But the band quickly tired of that image. This is the story of their second album, Without You I'm Nothing, their follow up hit "Pure Morning," and how they sought to quickly dismantle the image that made them famous.

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Poetic Wax is hosted by Andy Fenstermaker.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 The Filthiest Band in Britain
2:13 Outsiders in the Era of Britpop
4:40 Placebo's "Nancy Boy" Hangover and the Mentor
7:18 Into the Real World (The Recording Sessions)
11:07 The Pivot and the Choice (Pure Morning)
13:10 An Album for Outsiders

CLIPS & REFERENCES:
Placebo “Pure Morning” (Official Music Video) Placebo - Pure Morning HD (Official)
Placebo “Nancy Boy” (Official Music Video) Placebo - Nancy Boy (Official Music Video)
Placebo on the Story of 1997 (BBC) Placebo on TOTP: The Story of 1997 | BBC T...
Placebo “Nancy Boy” Top of the Pops (Jan. 1997) Placebo - Nancy Boy - TOTP - 31 January 1997
BBC News: Blur Vs Oasis: Placebo - Nancy Boy - TOTP - 31 January 1997
Blur vs Oasis Battle: Blur vs. Oasis battle for No. 1 - Newsroun...
Placebo Interview (Pinkpop, May 18, 1997) Placebo Interview - Pinkpop, May 18, 1997
Placebo Interview 1997 with Gary Crowley Placebo Interview 1997 with Gary Crowley
Placebo in El Sol, Madrid, 6 June 1997 (MTV Superock) Placebo in El Sol, Madrid, 6 June 1997 (MT...
Cruel Intentions Opening Scene with Placebo Opening Scene from Cruel Intentions (1999)...

#vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollection #andyfenstermaker #fensepost #vinylchannel #poeticwax #musicessay #musicstory #albumstory #musichistory #albumhistory #musicdocumentary #placebo #nancyboy #brianmolko #stefanolsdal #90smusic

20 Comments

@MetaFunction 1 month ago

Programmer / Engineer who worked on some of those songs here. I worked for producer Phil Vinall (pronounced Vinyl - RIP) who produced Nancy Boy, Pure Morning , Every You Every Me & Twenty Years. I did the loop stuff for them on Pure Morning - theres two, the 1st two guitars you hear - the strum and the picked arpeggio like riff. Stefan directed me to lay some parts off their dat tape from jams into Logic and then we found loops & I looped them for 10 mins and we printed them to tape. The loops acted like a click track. By the end of the day the song was mostly cut. I remember Brian writing lyrics whilst sitting on the sofa at Livingston (owned by ex Beatles tape op and later Buena Vist Social Club Producer) as we cut the drums. There was later some digital editing done on the multi track and then we went back to Livingston to mix. The songs working title for weeks was Le Bottom. As it was part of B sides seasons the label didn’t show up once to check in on us, unlike (I guess) they did at Real World. That helped the vibes.

@morgancorey982 1 month ago

Without You I’m Nothing is one of the few perfect albums. Every track is a banger, not a single track is a skipper. A much more intelligent album than most give it credit for.

@clairepaffey1727 4 weeks ago

I saw the video to Pure Morning on Kerrang TV (around 2007) and then mentioned to my dad that I liked a band called Placebo. Dad said "Right... Hang on a second." He went upstairs, brought back their entire discography upto that date, handed me the CDs, and said "There you go. Have fun." Turns out he'd been a fan since the 90s (when I was a child) and was thrilled he could get me into them. They are now one of our family bands. I got to see them live in 2016 with my parents and it was brilliant.

@SquirrelSeb84 1 month ago

I saw the video for Pure Morning one late evening while battling insomnia and it blew my mind. Placebo showed me it was okay if I didn't felt like fitting into the rigid prision of standard masculinity and that it was okay to be an outsider.

@Kibernizzle 1 month ago

Placebo was a beautiful part of my teenage angst 🖤

@rachaelh9193 1 month ago

I saw them twice in Brisbane in the early 2000s, they blew me away both times. Visceral, sexy, emotional, depressing but at the end you felt like you’ve been through something heavy together and felt closer than ever. Purged and cleansed. Fn brilliant.

@stthbldt3594 3 weeks ago

Never understood the "shock" of Placebo when Suede had literally just done all this

@davyprendergast82 3 weeks ago

I watched Placebo on top of the pops when I was 14 with my homophobic dad. "Bet you think she's a pretty lass, eh son?" "Do you know what her name is Dad?" "What son?" "Brian."

@Ssspaceform 1 month ago

Why Oasis became so popular has been a mystery to me

@CaptainFutura 1 month ago

Hello boys is a reference to the ads for (I think) Wonderbra which were everywhere at the time.

@jessiewilliams6561 1 month ago

It isn't just gays and trans that liked Placebo..I'm straight, kids and husbands etc and I loved them, the riffs were great listening, my g/kids loved them too.

@jerrywilson4771 4 weeks ago

Found Placebo in 2005 from a fellow employee at work. Their debut album had me hooked form the start to the end! I would work late in the evening, sometimes until 2am, and this CD was on repeat! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this band!! Seen them 6 times. LOVE!

@MrJack452 4 weeks ago

I remember back in 2005 when I was hanging out with my dad, 13 at the time, just listening to music and stuff. I heard "Pure Morning" come on for the first time from one of his playlists and was hooked on them immediately. Still a huge fan to this day 🤘

@MozWilde 1 month ago (edited)

My favorite band(besides The Smiths). Brian Molko is such an underrated lyricist.WYIN is my favorite Placebo album. Thank you for doing a video on them.

@RC-gh7os 3 weeks ago

I literally have been in love with them since I was 12! I wrote all over my desk at school 'Brian is coming. He will save us March 2003' 😂 the first time I went to see them.

@ChairView 2 weeks ago

First time I heard of this band in Canada, was the video for Pure Morning "a friend in need is a friend indeed but a friend with weed is better" lol but is such a shame that when Running up that hill became a big hit after Stranger Things, that Placebos cover didn't get any mention!

@Alan_Watkin 2 days ago

Love Placebo, can't wait for December 🙌

@MozWilde 1 month ago

Saw Bowie perform with them at Irving Plaza, NYC. They performed "20th Century Boy" and "Without You I'm Nothing."

@ThePlutonicWay 1 month ago

Thank you for reminding me how much I love Placebo. Haven't listened to them in a while; I'm going to now

@lizakolganova7608 1 month ago

"Every you, every me" from this exact album once made me think of how great their sound is, literally elecrifying, and I dived deeper. WYIN surely is not my fave album of them (Meds is, no song could top "Follow the cops back home"), but it's so stylish and consistent. "My sweet prince" live performance from some 1999 tv show (easily could be found on YT) is an absolute brilliance.
Unique band, incredibly underrated, tbh