This article originally appeared on Noisey UK. "Since I was born I started to decay." These are Brian Molko's words on "Teenage Angst," a single from Placebo's 1996 self-titled debut album. Taken out of context, the line sounds stark and depressing, like an admission of self-hatred. But within the song, it's brilliant and indulgent. Buried between sludgy riffs and delivered in Molko's reedy voice and sardonic tones, "decaying" sounds like something to aspire to; the perfect tagline in an anthem for outsiders.I first discovered Placebo ten years after this song was released. I was a teenager then, which really is the only the time to discover such a band because you'll never be as emotional and theatrical in such a shamelessly dedicated, earnest way again in your life—and Placebo could be all those things. Their music was bleak without being boring, stylish without being overt, and Molko's painted nails, jet-black bob and permanently deadpan expression fit neatly among all the emo bands everyone was into at the time, who had likely been influenced by Placebo themselves a decade prior.Continue reading on Noisey.