Episode 261 - Placebo by Placebo (Side A)

Download

After a quick break this week we’re back as Chris takes a journey into his youth and nominates Placebo’s self titled debut album.

But before we get to that, we need to talk about the band’s history and their back catalogue. Coming onto the scene when Britpop was ascendant, Placebo were often lumped into with that lot even though they sound nothing like that. Taking cues from The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode and more, they were an alt rock band first and foremost.

With breakout hit “Nancy Boy” charting highly in 1997 (almost a year after the self titled debut was released) they went to create quite the name for themselves not just in the UK, but across Europe and in the US too. Between 1996 and their fifth album, 2006’s Meds, the band kept getting bigger, garnering more acclaim and as a result becoming one the UK’s biggest rock acts. A legacy that still seems somewhat true today.

In this episode we talk about the band’s pre-history and dive into everything from Without You I’m Nothing to Meds.