Known for their Parisian ode "Dans la salle du bar-tabac de la rue des Martyrs", Pigalle have perpetuated the tradition of chanson réaliste within the French alternative rock movement. Formed in 1982 by singer and multi-instrumentalist François Hadji-Lazaro and bassist Daniel Hennion, Pigalle devoted themselves to the stage until their leader founded the Boucherie Productions label, recording their first homonymous album in 1987. Influenced as much by the spirit of punk as by tradition, through the use of instruments such as the barrel organ, the darkly inspired group scored its biggest success in 1990 with the song "Dans la salle du bar-tabac de la rue des Martyrs", taken from its second album, Regards Affligés sur la Morne et Pitoyable Existence de Benjamin Tremblay, Personnage Falot Mais Ô Combien Attachant, the cover of which was designed by cartoonist Tardi. After a long tour that included the Olympia in Paris in 1992 and festival appearances in Germany, the U.S. and Japan, the live album Pigallive (1992) and its studio-recorded successor, Rire et Pleurer (1993), were released. François Hadji-Lazaro, who manages his own label, an acting career and the groups Les Garçons Bouchers and Los Carayos, ceases the activities of the latter two to embark on a solo career, without abandoning Pigalle, which produces the album Alors... (1997), followed by Des Espoirs (2010), T'Inquiète... (2014) and Ballade en Mélancolie (2018), released on his new label Saucissong Records. On February 25, 2023, he died of septicemia at the age of 66.
