Placebo - For What It’s Worth

PLACEBO's rise has been steady, cultish explosion. And while their British invasion has flown quietly under the radar, their rise has been nothing short of astronomical. In 2000 their third album 'Black Market Music' sold one million copies and hit number one across Europe. In 2003 'Sleeping with Ghosts' topped that selling 1.5 millions albums, going top ten in twenty countries and saw the boys playing to 18,000 at the Bercy in Paris. Six years later they’re still out there and in the meantime have released another successful album with ‘Meds’ (2006). Backed up by a new label and drummer they’re ready to let loose new material in the form of their sixth album ‘Battle for the Sun’, released beginning of June preluded by the single ‘For What It’s Worth

And the track starts without much mumbo-jumbo, classically with a riff already giving rise to the assumption that this one’s about to go terribly into the legs. Brian Molko’s voice soon joins the riff and shortly thereafter the drums hit you with full force. All the time I was wondering from where the hell I know this little synth melody from the chorus that kept ringing in my head on and on. Then it occurred to me! It’s a part of the unforgettable chord melody of Kiss’s ‘I was made for Loving you’, maybe unintentionally. Second track is a cover of a famous 80s piece ‘Wouldn’t it be Good’ by NIK KERSHAW, a more rocking variation that still has the original vibe. Last but not least PLACEBO packed the demo version of the title track onto the single which is pretty stripped down to the basics without a drum section. It has a whole different feeling to it for me and it’s also nice to be able to see in which way the song has developed.

With an appetizer like that I can hardly wait until the full album comes in next week. The single promises great things and if you can’t wait for the album either go and get the single when it’s out on Friday