Beginnings - Week 12!

[The Curmudgeon]

And so we bring this series to a close with the 12th and final entry.. tell you, 12 weeks sure goes fast sometimes.

One of the the pre-requisites of the following band was tricking people into admitting the lead singer was hot. That may sound strange, but the band in question today is Placebo, and the lead singer is Brian Molko.

laurganism.com/wp-images/brianlips.jpg

So, before the band got famous, we (well, me and my friend) would ask people, "do you think she's nice?" and then laugh because, hur hur hur, it's a duuuuuuuude. Yeah. Civilized times. What's weirder though, is I used to have a big poster of Brian above my bed, wearing a cropped t-shirt and sitting seductively on a chair. I.. don't want to think why.

Placebo are sort of on their own wave-length now. They still have hit albums, they play stadiums and huge gigs but they're not really on any kind of radar to speak of. They've got a huge, devoted fanbase for life. And not every band can say that.

Anyway, this is one of their very first singles, and one of the reasons I got into the band in the first place.

www.youtube.com/user/officialplacebo?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/269AA68C81C1BCD0/27/Dgv7bngXe5Y

Oh, and he's saying "someone tried to do me ache." Everyone asks that.

[trashcanman]

For some reason I thought I hated these guys, but that was pretty killer. Do they have some really big whiny hit ballad or something? And even as a chick, the singer's average-looking at best.

[The Curmudgeon]

Meh, maybe you have to be a juvenile virgin at the time. Anyway, it's an odd thing, Placebo's biggest hit, without actually being a hit, is a cover of a Kate Bush song. "Running Up That Hill" started life as a b-side, then ended up on a bonus disc of covers. It then found itself on the soundtrack of almost every TV show imaginable. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard it in the background of "poignant" scenes (it was even on a Wrestlemania promo). And that could well be the slow, whiny ballad you're thinking of.

I do have a lot of love for Placebo, though. We've seen them a few times, the last being where everyone was waiting for the big song that broke them in the UK, Nancy Boy, to be played. They came out for an encore and everyone was calling for it. "We've only got one more song to play", he says. Everyone cheers. "Anyone know what that song's gonna be?" Everyone shouts for Nancy Boy. "Which song?" More shouts. "WHICH SONG?" Even more shouts. And then they play a cover of the Pixies "Where is My Mind?" Pwned.

[trashcanman]

That's awesome. I'd rather hear a Pixies cover than a hit anyways.