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AllMusic
The Boston Phoenix
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NME	8/10
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PopMatters	7/10
Rolling Stone
Select	3/5

Without You I'm Nothing is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Placebo. Recorded in mid-to-late 1998, it was released on 12 October 1998 by record labels Hut and Virgin Records.

The album was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number seven in the UK Albums Chart and at number 20 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart. Without You I'm Nothing went platinum in the UK and gold in France and has sold over one million copies to date. The album spawned five singles, including "Pure Morning" and "You Don't Care About Us".

Placebo released their debut album Placebo in 1996 and was a massive success, going gold in the UK. The same year they began writing new material for the album. Still on Hut Records, the band signed to major label Virgin Records in 1997 and began recording the album.

The recording sessions were difficult for the band, not the least because Placebo chose Phil Vinall to replace Steve Osborne as producer at the last minute to produce "Pure Morning". Later on, Placebo's frontman Brian Molko stated that, despite appreciating Osborne's producing skills, the chemistry between band and producer "didn't spark the way we wanted it to spark", also adding that the album was "overproduced" and contained "too many slow songs for a second album". That said, he did not disown the album, adding that it is still a record the band is proud of.

The album was recorded over three months in 1998 at Real World Studios in Wiltshire. Twelve songs were originally recorded in the sessions, excluding "Pure Morning" and including another track, "Kitsch Object", which was never included on the album as the band weren't satisfied with it. The guitar was recorded in a "U shaped" control room. The band said that whoever wrote the part for the guitar played guitar, Molko noting that "It's not that we're territorial – anything but – it's just an idea that the best person to follow an idea through is the person who had it". The vocals are considerably lower in tone; Molko said he was tired of having a high-pitched "squeaky" voice. These were recorded in a control room at Real World Studios and the drums recorded in a kitchen.

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