One of these days (depending on territory) marks the 10th anniversary of Placebo releasing their 6th studio album, Battle For The Sun, which was meant to be a turning point. It proved to be one, but probably not in the right direction.
1994-1997 "Placebo"
Brian Molko (guitar and vocals) and Stefan Olsdal (mostly bass and backing vocals, but also guitar and keyboards) founded the band in 1994, some sources say they were first called Ashtray Heart. Steve Hewitt played drums for them in the very early days, but he had other commitments at the time, so another left-handed drummer, Robert Schultzberg replaced him.
Not long after the 1996 release of their self-titled debut album, they parted ways with Schultzberg, Hewitt returned (appearing in the video for Nancy Boy with his face obscured to avoid legal troubles) and that's the "classic" line-up of the band we got to know and love.
Discovering them a few years later, I have no idea how much I would have liked the album at the time - Brian's voice is not everyone's taste, and this young, very high-pitched "version" was a bit strange even to me. Most songs that made the album are very good though, and there are some gems hidden amongst the B-sides as well (there were so many they could have made up another album, not a very good one though).
1998-1999 "Without You I'm Nothing"
I became aware of the band when I saw the video for Pure Morning, the lead single from the second album. I wasn't immediately impressed, but I definitely took notice. Apparently, the band hit their stride very early on, because the album itself is pretty much flawless (maybe if we lose the hidden track from the end), a great mix of energetic but melodic songs and some really effective emotional ones, with a distinctive voice.
Their live sound was also evolving, so Bill Lloyd joined them as an extra playing member on stage (bass and keyboards, hiding behind the guitar amps at first).
2000-2001 "Black Market Music"
Slave To The Wage turned out to be the song to finally make me a fan, I could no longer resist after hearing it. I quickly bought the albums and some singles, and I wasn't disappointed. Black Market Music is the one for me that is up there with Without You I'm Nothing, it's so good that they even managed to get away with a song incorporating a rap by a guest artist. I saw them live for the first time in 2001, and they were incredible. With the set built almost entirely on the 2 latest albums, it wasn't hard for them to win me over, and they played with such passion and precision that is almost unrivaled. There are lots of great live recordings from them from the 1998-2001 era, they are all well worth checking out.
I wasn't aware at the time, but when I learned later that they shared my love for bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure and R.E.M., it didn't seem like pure coincidence that I liked them so much.
2003-2005 "Sleeping With Ghosts" + "Once More With Feeling" (singles compilation)
This was their first album that I eagerly anticipated as a fan, and though it couldn't entirely match the brilliance of the previous 2 albums, it was still great, and I certainly didn't mind them using even more electronic instruments than ever before, English Summer Rain was a definite highlight for me. In order to perform all their songs properly, they extended the stage line up with a full-time keyboard player, Xavior Rodie. They put on great shows, and with songs that didn't need his guitar playing (so he could move around), Brian became an even more entertaining performer.
Autumn 2004 saw the release of a singles compilation, and they celebrated the release and finishing the first decade of their career with their first huge arena show in the UK at Wembley, with a special guest appearance by Robert Smith. I can't tell you about the actual performance as I wasn't there, but it seemed odd to me they only played 18 songs on such a special occasion, and only 1 of the early hits usually missing from the set made a comeback, a fairly uninspired slow version of 36 Degrees. After taking this "hits" set to Latin America in early 2005, they took a well deserved break, and quite a few live staples disappeared from the set after this tour - an understandable decision after playing them every night for years, but I didn't agree with the selection.
2006-2007 "Meds"
Album #5 was a bit of a mixed bag. In the interviews, they tried very hard to emphasise how they returned to their roots, playing a bit more simple, but direct, and most of all, fast songs. I managed to find 3 fast songs on an album of 13: Meds was great, Drag was not very memorable but OK, and lead single Because I Want You sounded like a slow song played at an artificially increased speed. It sounded way more natural when they played it acoustically, and the factt that they later re-recorded it in a slower version, and used that one for their "20 Years" compilation kind of proves my point. Still, I mostly enjoyed the mid-tempo and slow songs, nothing groundbreaking, but a good overall listening experience.
With the more guitar-orientated sound (and song selection) for the tour, Xavior was replaced by Alex Lee, who alternated between guitar and keyboards. The summer leg (mostly festivals) was great, Space Monkey, Post Blue and a killer version of their Kate Bush cover Running Up That Hill were clear new highlights of these shows, but the arena shows in the autumn didn't do it for me. They dropped Post Blue from the set (why???), introduced I Know (a song from the first album, never played live before, and it didn't sound like it needed to be), brought back Bionic (not a bad song by any means, but played to death from the very early days up to the previous tour) and needlessly extended some songs without actually adding much worth listening to, the 3-song encore usually lasted for 30 minutes, finishing the songs with basically making noise for minutes.
Even if you try your best to concentrate on the music only, you can't help but get somewhat attached to the people who create the music that you enjoy so much, so it's always hard to see someone go when you've been following a band for years. It's still a relief to see your favourite act keep going, but departing members can easily become a living breathing mascot representing "everything that was good about them" for a certain part of the fanbase. I went through this process earlier when Alan Wilder left Depeche Mode, then when Bill Berry left R.E.M., or more recently, when Chris Urbanowicz was asked to leave Editors. All those bands did change afterwards, but they were all changing and evolving all the time anyway, and they all produced a lot of great music afterwards. If someone wants to go, or there's no way for them to stay, they have to part ways. So, I wasn't exactly pleased, when Steve Hewitt's departure was announced late 2007, but I remained hopeful.
2008-2010 "Battle For The Sun"
When I first set eyes on the new recruit, Steve Forrest (not a leftie!), I instantly disliked him. He seemed to be so much in awe of his own beauty, being at least half-naked most of the time, even arranging his drum kit in a way that he could be seen from the waist up very clearly on stage, covered in tattoos (don't even get me started on how much I dislike the very idea of drawing/writing something "permanent" on your body). On a slightly envious note, I have to admit that he did have a reason to be proud of his looks. That was only the first impression though, and he undoubtedly provided an enourmous amount of youthful energy to the band, and most importantly, I didn't have any problem with his drumming. Despite the not too promising start, once I could have a bit more insight into his personality through interviews, I grew to like him.
Unfortunately, the now revitalised band didn't sound particularly good. They pushed the rock aspect of their sound a bit too far, occasionally almost sounding like some metal band, and when I first saw the album tracklist, it seemed like a joke. A band called Placebo with a song called Kings Of Medicine? Really? Ashtray Heart??? The former was at least an OK song, the latter though, especially as it only had Brian from the band as writer (with 2 other people), really should have been kept for some side-project.
The tour that followed also didn't convince me about things going the right way. Alex Lee left, Nick Gavrilovich (guitars) and Fiona Brice (violin and keyboards) joined, Brian stopped moving (playing guitar in the new 6-piece line up even in songs like Space Monkey or Post Blue, which didn't require his playing when there was only 5 of them on stage in the Meds era), and the overall sound and the setlist wasn't really my taste.
The album was re-released in 2010 with a bonus disc, containing 1 quite good new song (with a quite embarrasing video), a very forgettable cover, one of the bonus tracks only available on the deluxe edition the previous year (not the right one, it should have been In A Funk from the Japanese edition), and some re-recordings of older songs. Sleeping With Ghosts was originally a soft slow song, then it became Soulmates, a significantly harder take used live (a studio version was also released), now it was turned back to soft and slow as Soulmates redux, failing to mach the emotion of the original. Because I Want You and Drag (2 of the 3 fast songs from Meds) were also slowed down, leaving no impression on me. The only good redux version was Twenty Years, but that particular arrangement was already released as a live recording, and the studio version couldn't match the energy of the live take.
2012- "B3 EP", "Loud Like Love", "20 Years Of Placebo"
The impact of a young and enthusiastic drummer joining the band didn't last too long: it took them 4 and a half years to come up with the next album (which I actually enjoyed more than its predecessor, they sounded like they accepted where they are in their lives and stopped trying to recapture their youth - also, Begin The End is a terrfic song, up there with their best). Since 2013, they managed to come up with 1 self-penned song (and if you listen to it, you'll discover that they shouldn't have bothered) - as a duo, because Steve Forrest left in early 2015. He may have sensed that the band wasn't exactly thriving creatively. On a positive note, the MTV Unplugged live album was quite good (check out Without You I'm Nothing and Meds, those 2 are absolutely brilliant). Oddly enough, they decided to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2016 (2 years too late), with a 36-song compilation, that included some really forgettable and inessesntial tracks (Lazarus, I Know, Breathe Underwater), and every widely released single, except for the one that seemed the most appropriate: Twenty Years. They also did a year-long tour, resurrecting some old favourites (it was so great to hear songs like Pure Morning, Slave To The Wage, Without You I'm Nothing or Protect Me From What I Want played live again), and they were in good form when I saw them, but it felt like a farewell to me. I'm not saying that they're done - that's not for me to decide anyway -, but currently there's nothing that would suggest they're inspired or even interested enough to go on. Whatever happens, their songs are still there to enjoy, I'm grateful for everything they've done, and if they do come up with something, I'll give it a listen.
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