Placebo

Placebo is a Britain-based band famous for their specific image. The lineup is multinational. Singer and guitarist Brian Molko has American and Scottish origin, but was raised in Great Britain. The other founder of this formation, Stefan Olsdal, was born in Sweden. Both went to the same school in Luxembourg, yet they came to know each other only after moving to London in 1994. In the British capital, the two formed a band, initially called Ashtray Heart, and began playing music with a strong influence of Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana. The drum kit was occupied alternately by Robert Schultzberg and Steve Hewitt until the latter decided to come back to his former group. Renamed to Placebo, the trio made an agreement with Caroline Records in 1996 and soon released the debut self-titled album. The record appeared a nice surprise to the British music lovers with the songs Nancy Boy, and Bruise Pristine becoming the group’s first established hits. Placebo instantly made themselves known all over the Kingdom as they played a streak of gigs as a supporting act for such celebs as the restored Sex Pistols, U2, and Weezer.

In the meantime, Shcultzberg did not go along with the rest of the outfit and soon left his duties to Hewitt once again. Placebo tested the new member during the special concert dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of David Bowie. The great musician invited the group personally to come and play in New York to see his new darlings live. In 1998, Placebo moved to a bigger label called Virgin Records and released the long player Without You I'm Nothing. This record was a good seller at the English market and drew much attention in the USA introducing Placebo to the local audience for the first time. Bowie once again showed his fondness of the young band when he sang with them in New York during the group’s USA touring. Moreover, David participated in the recording of the remake for the title song from Without You I'm Nothing, delivered as single in 1999. In 2000, the British artists prepared their third long player, Black Market Music. This record marked some significant transformations in the group’s music to mixed replies from critics. Compared to the earlier works, the given album was considerably lighter due to the addition of hip-hop elements and dance rhythms. The USA version of Black Metal Music was slightly different from the British one. It contained the cover of the Depeche Mode hit I Feel You and the aforementioned remake of Without You I/m Nothing.

In 2003, Placebo demonstrated their skills to play a much heavier type of music with their rockiest album Sleeping with Ghosts. It sold about one and half a million copies worldwide. Placebo spent the largest part of 2004 travelling around the globe and playing to support their fresh product. By the end of the year, they released a compilation called Once More with Feeling: Singles 1996-2004. The nineteen featured tracks included the songs that were most popular in Britain and the brand new composition Twenty Years. In 2006, Placebo introduced their fifth studio effort under the title Meds. The band continued balancing in between pop- and rock-music with an amazing ability to satisfy both their old and new supporters. 2007 was a very busy year for Placebo. The group took part in the major Projekt Revolution tour accompanied by Linkin Park, and My Chemical Romance, released the Extended Play EP and a collection of covers, Covers. In 2009, Placebo gifted their fans with a brilliant present, another studio work entitled Battle For The Sun.