Placebo frontman Brian Molko has reflected on how years of being mistaken for a woman, alongside experiencing homophobic abuse because of his appearance, ultimately shaped his embrace of androgyny and cross-dressing on stage.
Speaking on an 8 July episode of ‘Queer the Music with Jake Shears’, the British-American musician recalled men approaching him at parties believing he was a woman, only to "freak out" when they learned his name was Brian. The experiences, he said, reinforced his belief that "obviously sexuality is fluid" and "much more complicated than conservative people would like us to think it is."
Molko also revealed that after regularly being subjected to homophobic abuse by strangers, he made a conscious decision to lean further into gender-nonconforming fashion while performing. "That's when we decided to try out some cross-dressing," he said. "And that felt better. Much, much better than just jeans and a T-shirt."
Looking back, Molko said he hadn't yet fully understood androgyny at the time, but remembered being inspired after seeing Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain perform in a dress. "I thought it was cool," he joked. "But I wanted a nicer dress than his... a bit more designer."
