Cleverly named for a word that refers to a substance with no real effect given to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be medicine, the rock trio Placebo flirts with this edgy touch in all of its music. The London-based punk-poppers have swept the ‘90s and ‘00s with a modern Nirvana-type style of music, but behind all their makeup and black fingernails the band is just as masculine as their punk rock counterparts.

Placebo got its start with bandmates Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal, who had both attended the same school at Luxembourg without knowing each other. The duo formed in 1994 as the Ashtray Hearts with the help of a third member, Robert Schultzberg, and the newly-remodeled band changed its name to Caroline Records, quickly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1996. Placebo was a huge hit in the U.K., and the rockers became opening acts for bands like the Sex Pistols, U2 and Weezer. Placebo gained even more support when ‘