‘Guys would think I was a girl then get aggressive when they found out my name was Brian’: how Placebo made Nancy Boy

‘I thought I could regain some power by writing a celebration of debauchery that was so brazenly sexual it would infuriate the people who insulted me’ Nancy Boy was about reclaiming the homophobic insults that were hurled at me every time I went out because I had long hair and wore eyeliner and nail polish. I’d walk into a bar and people would react vociferously, or guys would think I was a girl then get really aggressive when they found out my name was Brian. I thought I could regain some power by writing a celebration of debauchery that was so brazenly sexual it would piss off the people who insulted me even more. Also, [Suede singer] Brett Anderson had recently told NME he was a “bisexual man who’d never had a homosexual experience”, which I thought was bollocks. I thought he was being a sexual tourist. We know each other now and he’s a fantastic person – back then we all said cheeky things for effect – but part of my motivation was to write a song about a bisexual man who has had a bisexual experience. I was living on income support in Deptford, London, when I came up with the chorus, but I thought the chords were too catchy or mainstream. I wasn’t sure if I