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Can someone explain what’s “alt” about coldplay? They’re as mainstream as it gets.
Yikes.
I’m fine with Coldplay and T. Swift. But both are wildly over-hyped.
Both seem to take trends in indie rock/indie music and present them in a way that is more palatable to the masses. Which is fine, I guess.
Both are essentially beige.
Everyone should just like wheat they like. I definitely have room in my heart for some overplayed, basic, mainstream music.
Personally, Coldplay lost me between Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood to the Head. Play me “Yellow” as much as you want, but I never need to hear “The Scientist” or “Clocks” again. Aside from just not being a thing I’m into, they fall into the “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”/”Sex On Fire” category of songs that were played so much on the radio and in movies and TV that it felt like they’d been weaponized against the populace. Seriously, it’s been like 20 years and I never need to hear them again. In fact, I’m annoyed thinking that I could hear them again.
That said, Coldplay’s overexposure brought us this gem from Peep Show, so that’s something.
“People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can’t trust people, Jeremy.”
I have call Matt out for “Call Me Maybe is the most intricate and amazing production of all time.” Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and the ghosts of Phil Spector and George Martin would like a word with you out back in the alley.
Never could get into 2000’s pop rock. Coldplay is fine, I guess, but not an album I’d ever buy or a song I’d leave on when I’m in charge of the stereo.
Coldplay … the band that was in the mind of whoever thought up the ridiculous term “Yacht Rock”.
No one is going to call out Matt’s bad Vanessa Carlton take? Fine, I’ll do it.
I went to a free concert here last year where she was the headliner. She has exactly one memorable song. Textbook one hit wonder. She might be a talented performer, but she’s a very meh songwriter, which I think is more common in the industry than most people realize. I’ve lost count of the number of artists I’ve heard do one song well (sometimes original, sometimes a cover) and when I seek out the rest of their music I find that it’s very blah. I actually think the ability to write a hit song is more rare than the ability to perform one.
That said, I’m here for his defense of Call Me Maybe. Yeah, it’s 100% bubblegum pop, but it’s a very well done example of the genre.
There’s a lot of self-confessed rage in the comments over Coldplay. Why lmao
I freely admit I like garbage and still have “Clocks” on my playlist but like… most of it is white noise? No strong feelings to be had.
Geez, the comment section is acting like he was praising Creed or Nickelback.
All three are on the same level. Creed might even be slightly better than Coldplay.
Coldplay was basically fine for the first couple albums when they worked as sad-sack alt-pop accessibility bridges to less well known ‘indie’ music of the late 90s and early 00s. I don’t think you get St. Vincent or Death Cab for Cutie or any number of less accessible acts without Coldplay dancing about in the foreground.
Once their music was, on average, more in major keys, they stopped being interesting.
Also – it really can’t be emphasized enough just how much the movie ‘Garden State’ – for all its inherent problems and problematic contributors – completely altered the landscape of popular music when it came out in 2004.
Dude, there is no shame at all about being the ‘extremely basic’ one out of that bunch. Just like any hobby, the most ardent enthusiasts often end up so far up their own asses they no longer realize they’re sniffing farts. My go-to example in the music world is what currently passes as jazz – while dyed-in-the-wool enthusiasts might be able to listen to it and hear masters of their craft improvising movements of pure genius, most of us mere mortals just hear a bunch of discordant noodling. Which is because it is just a bunch of discordant noodling.
You also hit the nail on the head when you say ‘experts rarely like the standard stuff’ – Matt’s music picks at the end of each TMD is a perfect illustration of this. The common thread is that the artists he highlights are *different* than what you’ll find in the mainstream. Different =/= good or pleasant to listen to, but at least it isn’t the same as all the rest of the music to which Matt is presumably suffering overexposure.
Thanks for making me aware these other artists and genres exist, but I’d rather listen to some old Johnny Cash or Muddy Waters or Billy Joel… or Coldplay, sure. Plenty of gold left to mine in the back catalog of recorded music, at least for me.
I worked in the CD section at Circuit City in 2000/2001. They had a tv playing music videos on loop. I don’t remember which Coldplay song was in that loop, but any makes me cringe now. There was probably something by Maroon 5 and Nickleback in the loop too.
Yes, anything we’ve been overexposed to gets sour, for sure! Interestingly I predict this is a phenomenon that only impacts folks over a certain age – after the year 2005 or so streaming became A Thing so you didn’t have to listen to the same 5 songs that the radio decided were The Hits This Month over and over again. If you don’t want to hear that song again for the hundredth time – you can just skip it now. Revelation!
There are a bunch of bands that fall into the category of ‘overplayed to the point of ridicule’ that objectively no longer deserve the hate – Nickelback is among them, and at least for me the OG of that phenomenon is Creed. My teenage son came to me the other day and sort of sheepishly stated “I just started listening to Creed… and they aren’t bad?” and he’s 100% right. Nothing wrong with Creed’s music beyond the fact that they were terminally overplayed sometime in 1996 or so. I found that my scars have healed sufficiently over the intervening decades that I could actually listen to ‘arms wide open’ without wincing.
Reminds me of the Michael McDonald video in 40 Year Old Virgin
I feel the pain of this struggle. I’m the oldest guy in my band. I’m supposed to learn Viva la Vida, and I’ll do it. Because it’s easy for me as a bass player. Will I geek out over it? No. I geek out when we play Tom Sawyer. And Hush (Deep Purple). Because I’m the old guy. Not sure how that happened, but at least our set list is all over the map.
Coldplay stanning might make me leave the site for the day. Yikes.
I am stoked to see GWAR in a cave this summer so my tastes may not be relevant. But Coldplay?
I saw GWAR at a Holiday Inn lounge in Indianapolis on the Scumdogs of the Universe tour. Quite possibly the weirdest setting for a show that I’ve been to and yet wholly appropriate for this band. GWARbar is great.
I don’t get to Richmond often enough, but that bar is on my shortlist for next time. I think Holiday Inn might be weirder than their NPR Tiny Desk concert.
Matt, I think you’re severely underselling Carly Rae Jepsen. Call Me Maybe is a good song, great even, but it’s not gonna sway a guy who seemingly picks his musical “GOATS” from the t-shirt section at Target.
No, what David needs is the cure to his musical malaise, pop in it’s purest form. He needs Carly Rae Jepsen’s Dedicated. (keep Boy Problems off Emotion behind the emergency glass just in case though)
The cogs will start turning again, I’d bet a membership tier upgrade on it.
I’ve been listening to Colplay since about 2000, saw them live in 2002 right before they got REALLY big…and apart from a few duds, I still think they’re the consistently best band of my lifetime. My inner hipster hates how popular they still are. I always looked forward to the days when my favorite bands were past their primes, playing small venues for affordable prices, but most bands just live forever now.
Minor exception in that I’m going to see Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, and Spin Doctors this fall. At a smaller venue. For affordable prices. I missed all three of them the first time around and honestly probably wouldn’t have wanted to see just one of them…but all three together is a no-brainer.
Coldplay is a musical equivalent of automatic Toyota Corolla with some anemic engine option: well made but gutless and void of excitement or any othel emotion whatsoever and they both seem to run forever.
As someone who started buying vinyl last year, it was disappointing to find out Branch’s The Spirit Room had a limited release during Record Store Day a few years ago. I love that album, but I cannot spend hundreds of dollars to get it on vinyl. Sigh.