'Without You I'm Nothing' was released today (October 12th) in 1998.
This week marks the 20th anniversary of 'Without You I'm Nothing'; the epic second album of alternative rockers Placebo, released through Hut and Virgin Records in the nineties. It features one of their most famous songs ever and marked a turning point for the group's sound.
Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing
'Without You I'm Nothing' is one of the band's more melancholy releases and deals with a lot of frontman Brian Molko's past, as well as themes relating to bad relationships, friendship, drugs and gay culture. While Molko laments the fact that the record is heavy with slower tracks, that hasn't stopped it selling over one million copies to date.
Produced largely by Steve Osborne (A-ha, KT Tunstall, U2), the album peaked at number seven in the UK Albums Chart. Phil Vinall was brough on later to produce 'Pure Morning'; a song which became one of their highest charting UK hits and their only song to enter into the US Mainstream chart.
Nonetheless, thanks to the rather muted chemistry between Osborne and the band, it's not one of Molko's favourite releases. On the other hand, the album's title track saw a rather legendary collaboration with the one and only David Bowie, and went on to feature in an episode of 'Queer as Folk'.
Following their self-titled debut album, released in 1996, this album got its title from Sandra Bernhard's 1990 film of the same name. As well as the aforementioned songs, it also featured singles 'You Don't Care About Us' and 'Every You Every Me'.
More: Placebo cover The Cure's 'Let's Go To Bed' for Meltdown
Placebo would go on to support the record with a thirteen-month world tour, however it was fraught with issues relating to the band's health. First, bassist Stefan Olsdal fell off stage and broke his arm in South Africa, and then Molko himself slept in one position for ten hours, woke up with a compressed vertebrae in his neck and was unable to feel half of his head for some time.