Depending on how emo you felt throughout your teenage years, you may or may not still maintain an emotional attachment to some of Spotify’s algorithmically assembled confessionals, “Crying Sad Mix,” “Sad Girl Mix” and “Melancholy Mix.”
At the same time, depending on which branch of yearning you subscribed to, you may or may not recognize some of Britain’s load-bearing pillars of sadness: The Smiths, Radiohead or, for the slightly younger generation of devotees, Placebo. Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal’s timeless creation Placebo has been soundtracking heartbreaks all over the world since 1996, when their first self-titled album saw the light of day. 30 years later, the band is re-releasing the record using the original master tapes in the hopes to both honor and improve on its legacy — a project that can be interpreted as a nostalgia feat, an installment of personal growth … or a cash grab targeting the youth of yesterday. Regardless of the motivation, it seems to be a great moment to turn one’s gaze back onto the dense discography of the project and either relive one’s angstiest teenage moments … or improvise some new ones.
Handshake: “Protect Me From What I Want”
An outtake from 2003’s Sleeping With Ghosts, “Protect Me From What I Want” is hazy and grungy in the best way. Layers of guitar, semi-industrial screeching,and devastatingly tender-but-desperate keyboard lines create a delightfully chaotic backdrop, stitched together by drumming that sounds as if it’s performed on pots and pans — but with the deepest conviction. Brian Molko’s vocals, cutting and capricious-sounding, are muted and heavily filtered. The track itself, however, is not a rock anthem of the early 2000s, but rather a ballad from a deeply wounded soul: “Maybe we're victims of fate / Remember when we'd celebrate? / We'd drink and get high until late, / And now we're all alone.” The nostalgia and the desperate plea for protection delivered from amidst the wreckage of the first morning light leave the listener with a strange sense of somber emptiness.
This might, perhaps, be Placebo at the top of their early glory. By 2003, the collective was already mature enough to have gotten the reps in: With three original albums and one collection of covers, the band had established both their sound and stage presence, but had not yet slowed down or burned out. More than a decade later, in 2016, a re-recorded French version of “Protect Me From What I Want” and “Protège-moi” landed on Sleeping With Ghosts: B-Sides; it was originally released in 2004, but only in France. A local find, it came with a music video so unsafe for work the band ended up re-recording an alternate visualizer for it, featuring live performance clips. The initial impulse, however, is true Placebo – “that’s why it’s vulgar, that’s why it’s blue,” in Molko’s own words.
Deeper Cut: “Without You I’m Nothing” featuring David Bowie
This version of the track was released as a standalone single. Neither buffered by any other filler songs nor tucked lovingly into the postscriptum of an LP, it is the collective’s only 1999 release. The original edition was the title track on the band’s 1998 album, hailed as the band’s significant early breakthrough both critically and financially — and it is, from all sides, a strong composition. Bowie’s participation, however, added a surprising depth to the recording. He does not overshadow Molko, but rather supports and grounds his voice in a way that is almost imperceptible to a first-time listener. Their dynamic only becomes obvious as they launch into the second verse, a section undeniably excellent melodically but even more so — rhythmically, with lyrics rolling down the tip of the tongue like a boulder gaining acceleration by the end of each line: “I’m unclean, a libertine, / And every time you vent your spleen, / I seem to lose the power of speech / You’re slipping slowly from my reach.” Mere rhymes become a dialogue with both parties expressing something in the language of coming undone. It’s hard to articulate precisely what’s more surprising: Bowie not overshadowing a younger, less experienced artist, or Molko not giving up any vocal ground.
But it is not only notable for a famous feature. The poetry contained in the lyrics is nothing short of brilliance; the melody unfurls lazily, letting the words do their job. Where “Protect Me From What I Want” is dense, almost oversaturated in its execution, “Without You I’m Nothing” is … bare. It is, perhaps, the reason it works better as a duet, bringing a tinge of shared vulnerability instead of an isolated confession. As a double-feature, these songs exemplify the two facets of Placebo that made them so relevant to their generation — the self-contained openness and the strategic vulnerability abundant enough to spill outwards, engaging other artists and listeners alike.
'One Song In, One Song Out' is a music discovery column built around intentional listening. Each installment spotlights an artist through two tracks: an entry point and a deeper cut.
Arina Zadvornaya is a graduate student in the Duffield College of Engineering. She is a columnist for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at az499@cornell.edu.
