Pure Morning: How Placebo Tried to Kill Their Own Image and the "Nancy Boy" Hangover

Comments · 222

• ME

  @MetaFunction · 1 month ago

  Programmer / Engineer who worked on some of those songs here. I worked for producer Phil Vinall (pronounced Vinyl - RIP) who produced Nancy Boy, Pure Morning , Every You Every Me & Twenty Years. I did the loop stuff for them on Pure Morning - theres two, the 1st two guitars you hear - the strum and the picked arpeggio like riff. Stefan directed me to lay some parts off their dat tape from jams into Logic and then we found loops & I looped them for 10 mins and we printed them to tape. The loops acted like a click track. By the end of the day the song was mostly cut. I remember Brian writing lyrics whilst sitting on the sofa at Livingston (owned by ex Beatles tape op and later Buena Vist Social Club Producer) as we cut the drums. There was later some digital editing done on the multi track and then we went back to Livingston to mix. The songs working title for weeks was Le Bottom. As it was part of B sides seasons the label didn’t show up once to check in on us, unlike (I guess) they did at Real World. That helped the vibes.

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• MO

  @morgancorey982 · 1 month ago

  Without You I’m Nothing is one of the few perfect albums. Every track is a banger, not a single track is a skipper. A much more intelligent album than most give it credit for.

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• CL

  @clairepaffey1727 · 3 weeks ago

  I saw the video to Pure Morning on Kerrang TV (around 2007) and then mentioned to my dad that I liked a band called Placebo. Dad said "Right... Hang on a second." He went upstairs, brought back their entire discography upto that date, handed me the CDs, and said "There you go. Have fun." Turns out he'd been a fan since the 90s (when I was a child) and was thrilled he could get me into them. They are now one of our family bands. I got to see them live in 2016 with my parents and it was brilliant.

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• DA

  @davyprendergast82 · 3 weeks ago

  I watched Placebo on top of the pops when I was 14 with my homophobic dad. "Bet you think she's a pretty lass, eh son?" "Do you know what her name is Dad?" "What son?" "Brian."

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• SQ

  @SquirrelSeb84 · 1 month ago

  I saw the video for Pure Morning one late evening while battling insomnia and it blew my mind. Placebo showed me it was okay if I didn't felt like fitting into the rigid prision of standard masculinity and that it was okay to be an outsider.

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• ST

  @stthbldt3594 · 2 weeks ago

  Never understood the "shock" of Placebo when Suede had literally just done all this

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• RA

  @rachaelh9193 · 1 month ago

  I saw them twice in Brisbane in the early 2000s, they blew me away both times. Visceral, sexy, emotional, depressing but at the end you felt like you’ve been through something heavy together and felt closer than ever.  Purged and cleansed. Fn brilliant.

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• KI

  @Kibernizzle · 1 month ago

  Placebo was a beautiful part of my teenage angst 🖤

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• JE

  @jerrywilson4771 · 3 weeks ago

  Found Placebo in 2005 from a fellow employee at work.  Their debut album had me hooked form the start to the end!  I would work late in the evening, sometimes until 2am, and this CD was on repeat!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this band!!  Seen them 6 times.   LOVE!

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• JE

  @jessiewilliams6561 · 1 month ago

  It isn't just gays and trans that liked Placebo..I'm straight, kids and husbands etc and I loved them, the riffs were great listening, my g/kids loved them too.

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• CA

  @CaptainFutura · 1 month ago

  Hello boys is a reference to the ads for (I think) Wonderbra which were everywhere at the time.

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• MR

  @MrJack452 · 3 weeks ago

  I remember back in 2005 when I was hanging out with my dad, 13 at the time, just listening to music and stuff. I heard "Pure Morning" come on for the first time from one of his playlists and was hooked on them immediately. Still a huge fan to this day 🤘

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