Black Market Music (album)

Speaking to Kerrang! in June 2009, Brian Molko remembered:

We had a real swagger and bravado when we went into the studio for this one. We had just come off a really successful tour and felt we'd really exploded. We felt like cowboys of rock! We were also really heavily medicated and beginning to get quite deep into drugs. That's probably why it took nine months to make an album. The drugs also contributed to a certain amount of arrogance. At least that's what I remember from the time. I think we had a desire to write about the world we saw around us. We thought it was cool that, though other people were a little afraid to get deep down and dirty, we could take it on ourselves to write about those things. I think that album was the start of us trying to mix genres. We had so much hatred for rap-rock bands like Limp Bizkit and all they represented – misogyny, homophobia and commercialism – that we wanted to do our own version of it.Bryant, Tony. Kerrang! #1267, 27 June 2009. Treasure Chest. An Intimate Portrait of Life in Rock. Brian Molko, p.60

The album is dedicated to music publicist Scott Piering,{{Cite AV media notes|author=Placebo|author-link=Placebo (band)|title=Black Market Music|publisher=Virgin Records|id=CDFLOORXX13|year=2000}} who died of cancer in early 2000.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1867278.stm|title=Cerys's charity gig with Stereophonics|date=11 March 2002|work=BBC News|access-date=25 March 2020}} The song "Commercial for Levi" is a reference to the sound technician Levi Tecofski, who on one occasion saved frontman Brian Molko's life: Molko, drunk and about to cross the road, was quickly pulled back by Tecofski from the path of an approaching vehicle.{{cite journal |date=20 October 2000 |title=I'm the Anti-Eminem |journal=Melody Maker |url=http://www.placeboworld.co.uk/archive/melodymoct.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220112809/http://www.placeboworld.co.uk/archive/melodymoct.htm |archive-date=20 February 2008 |access-date=30 October 2011}}

{{expand section|date=January 2015}}

Black Market Music was released on 9 October 2000. It reached number 6 in the UK Albums Chart.{{cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/placebo/ |title=Placebo | Artist | Official Charts |website=Official Charts Company |access-date=20 November 2013}}

{{music ratings

| MC = 65/100{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/black-market-music/critic-reviews |title=Critic Reviews for Black Market Music|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=26 February 2012}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/black-market-music-r501078 |title=Black Market Music – Placebo: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |last=Carlson |first=Dean |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=30 October 2011}}

| rev2 = Alternative Press

| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite journal |title=[Black Market Music review] |journal=Alternative Press |issue=155 |page=80}}

| rev3 = Christgau's Consumer Guide

| rev3score = ambiguous{{cite web |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Placebo |title=Robert Christgau: CG: Placebo |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |website=robertchristgau.com |access-date=8 January 2015}}

| rev4 = Drowned in Sound

| rev4score = 8/10{{cite web |url=https://drownedinsound.com/releases/2401/reviews/13- |title=Album Reviews: Placebo – Black Market Music / Releases / Releases |last=Price |first=Dale |date=9 October 2000 |website=Drowned in Sound |access-date=8 January 2015 |archive-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108064813/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/2401/reviews/13- |url-status=live }}

| rev5 = NME

| rev5score = unfavorable{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-nme-3091-339215 |title=Black Market Music |date=12 September 2005 |website=NME|access-date=8 January 2015}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6score = 2.4/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6327-black-market-music/ |title=Placebo: Black Market Music |last=Cooper |first=Paul |date=8 May 2000 |website=Pitchfork|access-date=30 October 2011}}

| rev7 = PopMatters

| rev7score = neutral{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/placebo-black-2496024591.html |title=Placebo: Black Market Music |last=Taylor |first=Nicholas |date=7 May 2001 |website=PopMatters |access-date=26 February 2012}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}

| rev9 = Q

| rev9score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev10 = Trouser Press

| rev10score = neutral{{cite web |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/placebo/ |title=Placebo |last=Neugebauer |first=Delvin |website=Trouser Press |access-date=4 July 2016}}

}}

Black Market Music received a generally favourable critical response, though a less enthusiastic reception than previous records. Dean Carlson of AllMusic wrote that "Black Market Music finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world [...] Placebo seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion." Dale Price of Drowned in Sound called it "a heavily revised upgrade of their back catalogue. And then some." Nicholas Taylor of PopMatters called it "highly listenable dark guitar rock".

Among its detractors were NME, who called it "a case of ambition eclipsing talent, of hubris, of a band losing the plot. Placebo's frame of reference has always been narrow, but they've now been reduced to empty gestures without any visionary tunes to tip the balance."

Brian Molko ranked this as his least favourite Placebo album.{{cite web|last=Lindsay|first=Cam|title=Rank Your Records: Brian Molko Skeptically Rates Placebo's Eight LPs|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/3bkk98/rank-your-records-brian-molko-skeptically-rates-placebos-eight-lps|website=Vice|publisher=Noisey|access-date=16 December 2016}}

{{track listing

| all_writing = Placebo, except where noted

| title1 = Taste in Men

| length1 = 4:15

| title2 = Days Before You Came

| length2 = 2:33

| title3 = Special K

| length3 = 3:52

| title4 = Spite & Malice

| writer4 = {{hlist|Placebo|Justin Warfield}}

| note4 = featuring Justin Warfield

| length4 = 3:37

| title5 = Passive Aggressive

| length5 = 5:24

| title6 = Black-Eyed

| length6 = 3:48

| title7 = Blue American

| length7 = 3:31

| title8 = Slave to the Wage

| writer8 = {{hlist|Kannberg|Malkmus|Placebo}}

| length8 = 4:06

| title9 = Commercial for Levi

| length9 = 2:20

| title10 = Haemoglobin

| length10 = 3:46

| title11 = Narcoleptic

| length11 = 4:22

| title12 = Peeping Tom

| length12 = 14:10

| note12 = all versions except the vinyl edition contain the hidden track "Black Market Blood", starting at 10:14

| total_length = 55:44

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Japanese and U.S. release bonus tracks

| title13 = Without You I'm Nothing

| note13 = featuring David Bowie

| length13 = 4:15

| title14 = I Feel You

| writer14 = Martin Gore

| note14 = Depeche Mode cover; contains the hidden track "Black Market Blood" starting at 11:23

| length14 = 15:19

}}

Placebo

• Brian Molko – vocals, guitar, keyboards, 6-string bass, production, mixing
• Stefan Olsdal – bass, guitar, 6-string bass, keyboards, backing vocals, production, mixing
• Steve Hewitt – drums, percussion, production, mixing

Additional personnel

• Rob Ellis – string arrangements
• Bill Lloyd – bass on "Peeping Tom"
• Severe Loren – backing vocals on "Taste in Men" and "Special K"
• Dimitri Tikovoï – string programming
• Justin Warfield – rapping vocals on "Spite & Malice"

Technical

• Paul Collins – sleeve art direction
• Ian Cooper – mastering
• Paul Corkett – production, mixing
• Lorraine Francis – engineering
• Scott Kannberg – sampling
• Dare Mason – production
• Kevin Westenberg – sleeve art direction, sleeve photography

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|award=Gold|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|certyear=2001}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Belgium|award=Platinum|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|certyear=2007|certmonth=3|access-date=14 January 2020}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|award=Gold|number=2|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|certyear=2003|access-date=14 January 2020}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|award=Gold|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|certyear=2001}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|award=Gold|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|certref={{Cite web | url = http://www.mtv.it/news/news-detail.asp?idnews=7274 | publisher = MTV Italy | language = Italian | access-date = 10 July 2012 | title = Placebo: Sleeping with Ghosts | date = 27 January 2003}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Switzerland|award=Gold|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|type=album|artist=Placebo|relyear=2000|title=Black Market Music|id=933-426-2}}

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Discogs master|69952|Black Market Music}}

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Category:2000 albums

Category:Placebo (band) albums

Category:Hut Records albums

Category:Virgin Records albums

Category:Albums recorded at Townhouse Studios