At the time, Olsdal was taking guitar lessons and was on his way home when he met Molko at the South Kensington tube station.

The duo needed a drummer, and although Steve Hewitt - who would play later with Placebo - was their first choice, he was working with London-based band Breed at the time.

This led to signing a contract with Hut Records and the band began to work on their debut album.

[citation needed] Placebo was recorded over two months in 1996 in Dublin and London and was produced by Brad Wood.

[6] After an argument in August 1996 shortly before their first TV appearance, Molko decided that it would be best for the band if Schultzberg left.

Schultzberg played two more shows with the band in Paris after the US tour, the last of which was a performance at "Nulle Part Aillleurs".

Regarding the album's opening track "Come Home", Molko called it "punk pop for postponed suicides".

[citation needed] The meaning of the album's fourth song "36 Degrees", either sexual preference or death, has caused debate among fans.

Molko has stated the title is a play on words regarding the expression "cold blooded", as the average human body temperature is 37 °C (99 °F).

"[12] "Nancy Boy" differs from previous songs' themes about drugs, sex, gender confusion and bisexuality.

[16]On 23 June 2012, it emerged that the boy photographed for the album cover, David Fox (shown wearing a red jumper and pulling his face downward), was threatening to sue the band for "ruining" his life.

"[28] In his retrospective review, Nitsuh Abebe of AllMusic wrote "[the band] brings together various influences – the epic, noisy 'Chicago sound", late-'70s prog rock and late-'80s 'college rock' – but boils them down into fairly conventional, guitar-heavy melodrama, with the sort of opaque and angst-ridden lyrics usually found in that genre.

That's not to say that Placebo's sound is boring; churning guitars and direct, heavy basslines give the album a good deal of strength, and Molko is able to write moving, gritty melodies and fairly clever lyrics.

[31] All tracks are written by Placebo (Stefan Olsdal, Brian Molko and Robert Schultzberg)* Sales figures based on certification alone.