Placebo

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     Make what you will of it, but Placebo thrive on ambiguity and confusion; a glorious noise which at once both confronts and celebrates the uncertainties at the heart of the band. Even at their most elemental level, Placebo challenge the stereotypical notions of identity and gender - the pure adrenaline rush of testosterone from a band that playfully revel in subverting the sexual norms.
     If there is a rock lineage to which the band belong, it would include such artists as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and David Bowie, all of whom explored the dangerous ambiguities in their own identities. It is this sense of being unsure, of not knowing, which finds a deep resonance with an audience attempting to articulate their own disaffection. No other contemporary band is so nakedly confrontational in their collective persona.
     Placebo are Brian Molko (vocals, guitar), Stefan Olsdal (bass, guitar & keyboards) and Steve Hewitt (drums). One American, one Swede and one Englishman. There is no common background, although Molko and Olsdal have known each other since early schooldays in Luxembourg.
     Molko came to London when he was 17-years-old, studying drama at Goldsmith's College. Olsdal, meanwhile, moved to a school in Sweden. It was thus serendipity that they were later to meet by sheer accident on the streets of London: Olsdal had followed his parents to England, and was studying guitar at the Musicians Institute in the East End. By that time Molko was also working on his own musical ambitions, writing songs as well as playing occasional gigs with a drummer called Steve Hewitt.
     Molko and Olsdal decided to form a band. Steve Hewitt - whom Molko had met through a mutual friend at Goldsmith's - was also involved with another band called Breed, but contributed to Placebo's initial demos when time permitted.
     In the peculiar alchemy of natural bands, the trio quickly found their own voice and vocabulary, owing very little to the then-burgeoning trends of 'Britpop'. Rather, their music had much more in common with the possibilities explored by Sonic Youth, mixed with the aspiration to match the nakedly confessional qualities of, say, PJ Harvey and the emotional edge which informs Tom Waits' best work. The result, however, was utterly original and compelling: there really wasn't another band quite like Placebo.