Placebo: 1996-2005

[fallenangel]

Was gonna say '94, but demos don't count. No one cared. Even though most of those demos are fabulous and should be proper songs. :(

Anyway, on to the topic at hand. There was a thread awhile ago about Orgy changing their music and style to be more generic mainstream and how much they suck now. Placebo has done much of the same image-wise, but have managed to not suck at all. If you compare the looks (especially Brian's) over the last decade, it goes from slightly glammed up alternative to near tranny to gay mullet chic to...whatever it is now. The buzzed hair Stef impersonation.

Like I said in the Orgy thread, most of that is just age. Growing out of the excessive statements to more...maturity (if I could ever refer to Brian as mature with a straight face). The look is still very feminine but not as over the top.

If anyone saw them perform on Live8, I don't know how much of the footage they showed on mtv/vh1, but it's available to watch on aol.com. They're still top notch musically, but the glitz isn't there.

So does it matter? As visual as Placebo is, were they better when Brian had the long hair and bright red lipstick, performing in a too-short dress and grinding with his guitar, vs the buzzed hair and conservative makeup? Stef is Stef, leather and fishnet always suits him well. And Steve, always the straight man to contrast them. But I'm curious, because so many fans turn on other bands that grow out of their initial image.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/brianboy2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://files.photojerk.com/deuceswild/brianmolkoeyes.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/RyansOcelot/FAC/briandrag3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/brianmolkopretty.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/brianmolkobw.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/brianshirt4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/brianshirt3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://files.photojerk.com/deuceswild/brianmullets.jpg[/img]
[img]http://files.photojerk.com/deuceswild/brianstef2.jpg[/img]
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[eclipsedmoongoddess482]

Image is like great for most bands. I mean, sometimes the band's image alone is what draws fans to them and the musical talent of the band is what should keep them. Placebo is like a great example of this because even after they've changed, they still do sound good and have pretty much stayed true to their roots 'n such.

They're still hot. Thats probably why I like them even now. That and their music. But it really doesn't hurt that Brian looks like good even now.

For some reason, Placebo is reminding me of Motley Crue. You know, both of them had like a glitzy image at first and then as the years go by they toned it down and like looked a little more conservative. The Crue actually really benefitted from this since they Dr. Feelgood was like a part of their toned down image but then as the years went by, they tried to fit into the styles of the generation and actually strayed away from what made them famous and thus, they crashed and burned. I don't think Placebo really did that. They never really tried to fit in, just improve with age. Nothing wrong with that.

Oh and that first pic of Brian Molko is like really hot. Thats like my favorite one. The fourth one is great too. I keep thinking of the nipple twisting pic that I think follows soon after that pic was taken.
_________________
Vaccum cleaners may look fun, but are deadly sex toys. as are certain vegetables like, terri schiavo -Powtaz

[fallenangel]

[quote]Oh and that first pic of Brian Molko is like really hot.[/quote]

The Pure Morning video. <3 The only place I know of to watch it online is Rolling Stone, but it rarely works for me. Maybe you'll have better luck. It's probably one of the best as far as Molks being prettier than most women.

http://www.rollingstone.com/artist/videos/...geregion=subNav

N' I agree, their image progression is rather like the Crue. Nikki has business sense, Brian has common sense. Can't be 33 and still dressing like a 22-year-old tramp without looking sad.

In a lot of ways, the image matches his personality, at least when it comes to public image. If you compare the loud, arrogant Brian of '96 to some of the most recent things, he's still overwhelmingly cocky but more subdued. I rather like it, he comes off less fake. And he used to be quite admittedly fake, at least when it came to trying very hard to prove himself, but he was like that before the fame.

Despite the obscurity in America, it's rather impressive that they have four excellent albums, and not a remotely bad one. Without You I'm Nothing may have been a bit mellow for a follow up to Placebo, but it's still good. It's hard to beat the video for You Don't Care About Us. There's a documentary of sorts as an extra on the concert DVD, and it makes me sad to see them going from playing to 60,000 in Mexico to 600 in Seattle. Although being in such a small venue that the front row is trying to take his pants off has its good points...

"You know when I had my feet up on the railing? They-they were trying to unzip my fly. They can't do that! 'Cause-'cause...I'll get arrested! For indecent exposure. I-I don't think it matters whether I get it out or they get it out, if it's [i]out[/i]..."
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[eclipsedmoongoddess482]

[quote]Despite the obscurity in America, it's rather impressive that they have four excellent albums, and not a remotely bad one. Without You I'm Nothing may have been a bit mellow for a follow up to Placebo, but it's still good. It's hard to beat the video for You Don't Care About Us. There's a documentary of sorts as an extra on the concert DVD, and it makes me sad to see them going from playing to 60,000 in Mexico to 600 in Seattle. Although being in such a small venue that the front row is trying to take his pants off has its good points...
[/quote]

I totally agree. Its rare for any band to like have that kind of consistincy with the quality of albums. I mean, some bands that are like considered legendary today only have like one really great album. Placebo has four good albums that are even borderline great so how they don't have the same legendary status as like a couple years ago, I'll never know I guess. :(

[quote]"You know when I had my feet up on the railing? They-they were trying to unzip my fly. They can't do that! 'Cause-'cause...I'll get arrested! For indecent exposure. I-I don't think it matters whether I get it out or they get it out, if it's out..."  [/quote]

Hahahahaha. Thats certainly something I never expected a rock star to say. Thats what I like about them. I mean,I'm sure they did their share of drugs but they don't really seem to have that whole "Oh my God, I'm fuckin' stoned out of my mind!" look. Thats kind of what turns me off about the Crue. Nikki doesn't look super pretty in a lot of his pics. Molko does at least. Or at least most of the ones I've seen make him look pretty.

I'm not having much luck with the music video. This computer sucks with like media players. <_<
_________________
Vaccum cleaners may look fun, but are deadly sex toys. as are certain vegetables like, terri schiavo -Powtaz

[fallenangel]

The documentaries are great. There's two, one on each DVD. The videos DVD has them sitting around talking about the history of the band and performing and stuff (from the gay mullet era), and the other has footage on tour, which is where the fly thing is from. Really good stuff. The absolute best is backstage at this huge arena festival, and Brian goes storming into his trailer in this horrible southern accent.

Brian: *dancing outside the trailer by an inflatable pool*
camera man: How good is that? *looking at a man in a light up suit*
Stef: I want one. *pout*
Some guy in a suit covered in lights: I'm gonna do like this robot...
Brian: *going up to the trailer* Yeah, here my crib, I got my bitchez! Woo! It's bitch number one. I don't know her name 'cause I don't need to. *Stef comes out* That's when I start feelin' a little AC/DC. *goes inside and hits cooler* This what I like to call my friiiiidge. *gestures at vanity covered in makeup* It's all my pansy s**t. Motherfuckers come on! *goes into the back* Eh, this my bed.
camera man: yer bedroom!
Brian: Yeah, motherfucker.
camera man: What's in there, motherfucker?
Brian: That's my 'do not use' room
camera man: woo, do not use!
Brian: That's where, I go in there when I'm not s'posed to do stuff.
camera man: *looking at shelf* Keep your shoes up there?
Brian: Yeah, I'm not supposed to do that either, but I can do what I want away from my parents.
camera man: What about your cookin' over there?
Brian: Yeah, well, I haven't figured out how to use this yet, 'cause they gave me a cooker without the heart.

The whole thing's so funny. I'm gonna try somethin' tomorrow and see if I can at least send you a few parts of it. Right after that he's standing in a hallway singing "we'll shoot some niggers n'... *laughs* n' whiskers on kittens... *laugh* brown paper packages and golden cock rings, these are a few of my favorite things *raises can of beer*"

They're driving in a van at night, and Brian grabs the camera with the night vision on and starts imitating the Blair Witch Project, only saying "Metallica's coming, Metallica's coming!"

Um... I have a slight screencap addiction. But 5 minutes out of a half hour ain't bad. I'll screencap more and link to it elsewhere some other time.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/brian%20molko/cap1.jpg[/img]

Hm, and just to end this on a non purely Brian note, Stefan is a fabulous bass player. The boy has rhythm...
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[fallenangel]

This is the part where I rock. :wub: Sorry 'bout somewhat poor audio, but you get the picture. Beats paying $25 to get the DVD (which I highly recommend, but it's nearly impossible to find without ordering).

From the Documentary on "Soulmates Never Die: Live In Paris"

Clip 1 - Comments about the bus and crew
Clip 2 - Live performance, backstage, Stef's black eye, bus
Clip 3 - Vegas, elevator, riding, opening act, Stef's gay dance
Clip 4 - Brian's vocal...erm, "talents", friend, dancing backstage, electric suit
Clip 5 - the white trash trailer sequence. He got his bitchez. Singing.
Clip 6 - Night vision Blair Witch, driving, sound check, meeting fans
Clip 7 - Performance, review in newspaper, Mexico meet n' greet
Clip 8 - Final performance


(directions: advertising page will load for a few seconds, then there's a link to continue at the bottom.)
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[eclipsedmoongoddess482]

Fallen f**king rocks. I hate stating the obvious but holy crap fallen, I like owe you big time for this. :wub:

I'm downloading the first clip right now. I can't wait to see this. Its going to be great.

And for the record, Stef is a hottie too. And he doesn't look that short either.

:wub:
_________________
Vaccum cleaners may look fun, but are deadly sex toys. as are certain vegetables like, terri schiavo -Powtaz

[fallenangel]

Stef is incredibly tall (6'4"). Which just makes it all the funnier, considering Brian is so small (5'6"), he looks like a midget standing next to him. A very interesting couple.
He talks about that in the other documentary, but that one's like an hour long thing, and...yeah. The video DVD is way easier to find anyway.

EDIT: He's quite funny, too. The black eye part in clip 2, he goes on about 3 other times throughout the thing giving different funny explanations for it. But it got to be too long, files would've been huge.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[eclipsedmoongoddess482]

Damn those clips were awesome. Stefan is pretty damn cute too. :wub: I like him a lot. He was like really funny throughout the clips. Totally cool guy.

I like had nothing better to do last night but read almost all of the lyrics to Placebo's songs. Some of the lyrics to their songs are like nothing I've really heard before. I mean, some like repeat the same phrase over and over again but I imagine the melody of the instruments makes up for that. It kind of reminds me of earlier NIN work only with makeup and glam. The same type of sleazy, sexy lyrics but a different sound.
_________________
Vaccum cleaners may look fun, but are deadly sex toys. as are certain vegetables like, terri schiavo -Powtaz

[fallenangel]

Like Bionic and English Summer Rain? Yup. I love Bionic. Who doesn't love a song all about a vibrator that only consists of him saying "harder, faster, none of you can make the grade"

His writing is really strong. It's unusual, sorta in that 70s glam way, where it's a lot of imagery that doesn't really make literal sense, but it's not contrived or stupid.

Aaaand, as well as the Velvet Goldmine screencaps I PM'ed you, I vidcapped the performance, so you can at least see Brian perform all tarted up.

http://www.ihud.com/file.php?file=1128926777/0016.avi

I wanted to vidcap part of the interview documentary where he talks about doing it, but I didn't have time. Maybe eventually. But the basics of it are he was horribly nervous to do it 'cause it was the first time he ever performed without his guitar, and he got to the set and looked back at Steve going "what do I do?". Steve told him to do lots of kicks, 'cause glam bands kick. So he does it and goes crazy with kicks and clapping and really getting into it. He finishes it and is so happy 'cause he thinks he did really well, and the director goes "Great, now let's get that on film".
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall