Arriving at the back end of 90s Britpop, Placebo were something else entirely. They weren’t from round here, for a start. Nor were they in thrall to the laddish, oddly conservative sounds that defined what was ultimately a very insular period in British rock. Instead, they were brash, arty and sexually ambiguous.
Led by openly bisexual American frontman Brian Molko, Placebo replastered the spunk’n’glitter of glam, David Bowie and Marc Bolan onto the post-grunge era. And nothing seemed to distil their image better than 1997’s breakthrough single, Nancy Boy.
