‘Guys would think I was a girl then get aggressive when they found out my name was Brian’: how Placebo made Nancy Boy

‘It made people who felt like outsiders feel less lonely, and they became our audience’ … Placebo, circa 1996, from left, Stefan Olsdal, Brian Molko and Robert Schultzberg. Photograph: Andy Willsher/Redferns

Brian Molko, singer, songwriter

Nancy Boy was about reclaiming the homophobic insults that were hurled at me every time I went out because I had long hair and wore eyeliner and nail polish. I’d walk into a bar and people would react vociferously, or guys would think I was a girl then get really aggressive when they found out my name was Brian. I thought I could regain some power by writing a celebration of debauchery that was so brazenly sexual it would piss off the people who insulted me even more.