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I don’t know why, but I’ve always had the impression that Coldplay started out as some sort of discount version of Radiohead – but that comparison is grossly unfair to Radiohead. Maybe Coldplay is the Dave Matthews Band of…whatever generation likes Coldplay. (This is not a compliment)
There is definitely some Radiohead in there, minus Thom Yorke’s deft writing and musical genius. There’s also more than a whiff of post-Achtung Baby U2 from the era where everybody started to realize that U2 actually wasn’t very good.
Zooropa and Achtung Baby are brilliant. Easily U2’s best albums. They never got close to those heights again, maybe because Eno got bored.
I think you are correct, but they’ve diverged more as time goes on.
I always thought the same, but I just could not get into them even in the early days, maybe because when my roommate was still flogging Yellow, I was perfectly happy with keeping Amnesiac in my own rotation. Coldplay is, to me, one of those aggressively milquetoast bands like Imagine Dragons is now and the aforementioned U2 became before them. Huge followings, but just so bland and uninteresting.
That said, I’m not sure the DMB comparison works (beyond Chris Martin’s vocals sounding kinda similar to those of Matthews), as I think they’re the millennial/zoomer version of jam bands like the Grateful Dead or Phish, just without all the psychedelia.
I guess my DMB comparison was more about the demographics than the sound. The Coldplay fan is perhaps the same sort of person who would have been into DMB in the early 90’s.
Speaking of aggro milquetoast, I think the Foo Fighters should also be on that list. I can’t understand why people care at all about them.
Coldplay are the 2000’s equivalent of Cliff Richard. Safe and non-threatening, and ultimately, not that exciting.
I’m not surprised DT likes Coldplay given his well-known-around-these-parts lack of pop-culture literacy. It’s not bad music (if not great.) Every Coldplay song I’ve ever heard sounded good the first time I heard it.
What makes them hated is overexposure, which boiled over when the ClearChannel algo held onto Viva La Vida like a mother bear protecting its’ cub back in 2010-11. They should be called Overplay.
Wow, I can’t help but comment
-Coldplay sucks and is overrated
-same w/ Taylor Swift/Beyonce
-The Beatles suck so bad
-Most mainstream music especially “pop” is trash
-Pretty much all music made this century sucks and is fake
-1960’s through 1990’s has a lot of the best music ever made; w/ the 80’s being the best era ever (mainly rock)
-Any kind of rock, especially metal is the best and rules forever
-I suggest you find some REAL music
-I can’t even imagine what Adrian thinks of…OASIS…Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I hate them with the fury of a thousand suns.
Hey now, don’t look back in anger. Roll with it.
MARIANAS TRENCH MENTIONED RAAAHHHHH
I find Coldplay to be lacking musical diversity. I don’t expect progressive music or anything, but Chris Martin’s vocal range is limited, which I feel doesn’t allow the band to explore more complex and diverse musical styles. The band appears to now basically consist of Chris Martin indulging his obsession with pop, while the other members are silently dragged along behind him.
I listen to a lot of mainstream stuff too, but I find more joy in things like King’s X. Well, ok, no one is like King’s X.
I had the Faith Hope Love tape back in the day, I need to see if that’s on Spotify.
“Send more Chuck Berry”
I read this article and didn’t realize David had joined the group, as pictured in the topshot. 🙂
That top shot is *chef’s kiss*
Captain Beefheart.
Although admittedly a weird guy to hang out with.
To each their own, but to paraphrase Robert California…Coldplay is arena rock for people who hate arena rock.
Maybe Nickelback? (bursts into flames)….
Maroon 5?
I have a visceral response to any of the 90s bands with numbers in them… Maroon 5, blink-182, Matchbox 20. That being said music is highly subjective.
What about when Matchbox 20 rebranded to… Matchbox Twenty?! Is it better if the number is spelled out?
I consider Nickelback to be a number band. Nickel = 5 = Bad band to me
As a goth, there are certain artists from the mainstream I will give a pass; Gaga, Lil Nas X, Duran Duran, etc. But Coldplay? T. Swift? I would sooner drive an Altima than listen to people like that.
Ok, but none of the newfangled bands mentioned here compare to Faith No More now get off my lawn!
Or Fugazi, for that matter.
I still wait.
Sitting in the waiting room…
I hate hate hate Faith No More so much. Mostly based on Epic, but nothing else I’ve heard has redeemed them. I’m at least mature enough now not to attack you personally for it? That’s a win for the Internet, at least.
To each their own, I’ve found that most who have a negative opinion of FNM base it off of Epic which undeniably got overplayed. The good news is there’s also Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantomas, Mondo Cane, Peeping Tom, Dead Cross, Nevermen, Loveage, and others for you to listen to.
For sure! I’ve also tried to learn more, keep learning, and appreciate FNM even if I don’t like their music. Having a black frontman was a big deal and is frankly still pretty uncommon in hard rock and metal. There’s more than that of course, just an example of a way to remember not to equate my/royal your musical tastes with larger value judgements.
Doesn’t mean I don’t love or won’t make ridiculous claims or say silly things, but I try to leave the actual people out of it. Sorry if this is gibberish, I haven’t slept much.
Chuck was a treasure and he is missed. He did a lot of stuff after FNM that’s really good even if it never caught any commercial success. I saw him live in my hometown just a few months before he passed, he was a really cool guy to talk to.
Mr. Bungle rules
Fucking Mr Bungle…every 5 years or so I go on a Bungle bender and blast them wherever I am.
Over the years my coworkers have gone from “what the hell are you listening to?” to “is that that Bungle stuff again?”
One of mine called it, “Deranged Carnival Music”
It was their first album so she wasn’t wrong.
I love FNM and Colplay equally. Maybe I missed all the overexposure for Coldplay, but the last time I saw them in concert, they had 2 albums, and played their asses off for 1,500 people in a theatre. Still the best concert I’ve ever been to. No pyro, no stage theatrics, just 4 guys doing what they love and incredibly thankful that people in midsize American cities even knew who they were. I’ve rarely seen that kind of attitude from bands.
That said, I wouldn’t go see them in an arena or stadium if it were free.
I’ve only seen Coldplay once and it was in a stadium. They put on one of the better light shows, everyone got florescent bracelets that lit up when they got their ticket scanned and each was a different color and somehow those were coordinated to blink with whatever was going on onstage so it was kind of immersive. Sometimes the pyro and ligths etc can distract from the music (aHEM, MUSE) but you could tell they put some thought into weaving the two together.
Every time I’ve seen FNM it’s been at a small venue so no light shows, just them on stage rocking out. Though they did have flowers that one time…
I think Cassadee Pope singing in Hardest Mistakes with I See Stars is better than anything she did during/after the Voice. I just thought everyone should know that.
I like some Coldplay but it’s like when they release a song it’s everywhere. Same with Tipsy lately, literally had 3 stations playing it at the same time the other day, 2 of them were pop not country, it’s a great song but dang, there are other songs to play, same with Jelly Roll, I’ll literally hear Tipsy and I am not ok at least twice both going to and coming from work. Same with Call Me Maybe, when it first dropped I was cranking it up, then they just get so played out.
I’ll leave this bomb on my way out:
Nickelback, thoughts? >:)
For me, Coldplay is one of the blandest rock bands that has ever been popular. But it’s just not my scene, I don’t say that to put down anyone who likes them. But to compare them to the Beatles? Sheesh, that’s another level.
Autopian team, I have but one piece of valuable advice for you: Given your musical tastes, stick to writing about cars.
EXCUSE ME?
Incoming rage typed article from Adrian in 3…2…1…
Coldplay is not great. In fact they’re pretty bad. The talent to fame ratio is way out of whack which is always something that bugs me as a musician. Prince? Super talented and super famous. Bowie? Super talented and super famous. Kendrick Lamar? Super talented and super famous. I love all 3.
Taylor Swift? Kinda talented, disproportionately famous. Not into it. Drake? Kinda talented, extremely famous, pretty lame. Coldplay? Not talented, one of the biggest bands in the world. Whack, uncool, etc.
That’s not to say they don’t have redeeming qualities. I legitimately think Clocks, Viva La Vida, and Speed Of Sound are great songs. I don’t turn any of them off when they come on. But their other famous songs border on unlistenable and you couldn’t pay me to listen to a record front to back.
How do people listen to Yellow and take it seriously? I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it, and I was a teenager. Coldplay is like the musical equivalent of Panera Bread and they have the same fanbase.
Gaga is so much better than Taylor it’s not even funny. I don’t even think they should be mentioned in the same sentence. One is a classically trained multi instrumentalist who’s performed with Metallica, has multiple experimental albums, and more or less has different eras to her music. Taylor has like 1.5 good albums, she shamelessly chases trends, and she’s written the same song like 5,000 times.
She’s a great businesswoman, shes charismatic, and I do have some respect for how personal some of her music is. But again, the talent to fame ratio is totally out of whack. It is as well for Carly Rae Jepsen but the other way. She’s not famous enough for how talented she is.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I actually own some Coldplay albums, but in my head they’ll always be about on par with their contemporaries Travis (eg) who are almost entirely forgotten these days.
Seeing Coldplay headlining international arenas just doesn’t compute to me. I’d expect them to maybe doing a “25th anniversary!” tour of 1000-capacity UK venues, with maybe a couple of gigs in the Netherlands and France just to justify putting “European Tour!” on the posters.
The Man Who and Invisible Band are still in my odd rotation 🙂
I agree completely that I don’t understand the juggernaut of Coldplay…in fact, after Mylo Xyloto and the Really Depressing Gwyneth Divorce Album (working title) I couldn’t believe they KEPT getting bigger. But the first four albums are very good, with Viva La Vida in my top 10-20 albums of all time. I guess switching gears to EDM/synth/prog/whatever is exactly what the mass market wanted.
Music is subjective. You like what you like. However……….
David Bowie is my favorite. He put out like 12 studio albums in 9 or ten years. And they were amazing and still get played all the time. He had 3 albums in the top 10 at the same time!! Cocaine is a hell of a drug! (Full disclosure: I love Bowie)
“Coldplay is like the musical equivalent of Panera Bread and they have the same fanbase.” I am going to steal this and use it any time I can. Sue me!
Bowie is an all time favorite of mine. I miss him dearly.
Blackstar? Who has ever gone out like that? I saw Holy Holy 2 days after he died. They are a “cover” band that is comprised of all the original guys that played with him including Woody Woodmansey and Tony Visconti—his long time producer. They did the entire TMWSTW album start to finish with the bonus tracks EXACTLY as it was recorded. No embelishments or changes.
Wow. Tough to get behind you guys after the all the Call Me Maybe praise.
I need to go cleanse my ears with some Tool or NIN after being reminded of that song.
Would you be surprised to learn that David Ogilvie of Skinny Puppy fame actually mixed/produced “Call Me Maybe.” It has 50+ tracks. He wanted to see if he could make a perfect pop song and he did!
Y’all need to get uncle Adrian out to LA and have a autopian tour of Subconscious Communications. I fully believe a vintage analog synth article would do traffic.
Somehow this makes me like it even less. It’s just so cynical. Just because something is “pop” doesn’t mean it needs to be completely devoid of soul or character.
Lots of talented people have produced absolute dreck. This is proof.
…except it’s awful.
(And Matt, you and I align on music 80% of the time…)
He really should know better.
Sorry Matt, 50 tracks and a producer from your favorite obscure 80s electroindustrial band don’t make that song any less garbage.
It’s like having a bubblegum scented icepick shoved through your ear canal and into your frontal lobe. That song was not released so much as inflicted on humanity.
Like when Angie Aparo released Spaceship, a pop song that is so perfect it even mentions how much of a sell-out it is. Catchy, cynical, and meta, the holy trinity.
This is the real gem of the article and comments. Thanks Matt!
The fact that you cited Tool is low key hilarious
For earworm clearing, I suggest Mercury Rev / Yerself ls Steam.
I can’t and won’t comment on any comparison to the Beatles, but I definitely like Coldplay a lot. X&Y is one of my favorite albums of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoFgJ7KgzzQ&t=88s
Miss spent youth, playing bass ans sometimes drums, this is (thankfully) the only album I put this here mainly to annoy Adrian.
That opening twenty seconds almost sounds like The Alarm.
I suspect we would hate each other. for months until
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9h2q_dr9k
Had a beer with Mike Peters once after a show that was almost canceled in Des Moines, IA. Maybe like 20 people there. Missed the big 80s hair Alarm but it was fun.
Coldplay is human fro-yo.
If we associate certain music with certain car types (e.g. Van Halen with pony cars), Coldplay is undoubtedly the band of crossovers.
There’s a commercial for a cat treadmill that uses “Adventure of a Lifetime”. My cat will actually wake up from a nap when he hears the song start so he can watch the cats running on TV. This is the appropriate use for Coldplay.
Wow that’s actually purrfect.
I think music is a generation thing. I grew up in a time where MTV played music videos. True story. The women in the videos and in a small genre TV show called Star Trek wore skimpy clothes. The instruments were all mranual and pulse pounding not electric Noise makers. The singers sang the lyrics without techno help. As for Taylor Swift being the GOAT because 35 Grammys well the Toyota Camry sells a ton of cars but would it be your GOAT Car? I wish I could post a pic of a goat shaped car here.
PS if I have to watch/listen to a slow tempo teen girl love angst song I’ll take Taylor Swift over some twenty something dude in a T-shirt that is having trouble growing a beard.
Was that a dig at rhythm ginger?
Who?
I don’t know who any of these musicians are. I only listen to Steely Dan.
If you’re gonna pick just one band, this would be a valid choice.
But only the original run of Dan albums (Can’t Buy a Thrill to Gaucho). Maybe throw in Fagen’s The Nightfly & Kamakiriad if you really need a little more of that majestic sleaze.
I refuse to acknowledge the existence of those last two 2000’s Steely Dan albums. Kamakiriad, on the other hand, is brilliant.
The Nightfly is pretty darn good.
Yep
There is only one rule in music worth a damn. The gentleman who taught both Frank Zappa and one Edward Van Halen said “if it sounds good, it is good.” If you like it that’s all that matters.
In a sea of snobby “[insert popular artist’s name here] is overrated!” comments, this is a breath of fresh air. 🙂
I’ll buy a membership when a Xtronic CVT deep-dive article is published, how’s that? Or hire me to write it. I’ll do it myself if I must.
Jatco Xtronic CVT is the Carly Rae Jepsen of transmissions.
Hey, I just met you
Nissan techs hate me
But here’s some CVT oil
So fix me maybe
Milli Vanilli, at best!
Do not slander CRJ like that.
Just the thought of “Call Me Maybe” has that goddamn awful thing stuck in my head. Thanks, Hardibro!
David, you do you as far as music goes. Many more people like Coldplay, Tay-Tay and Alan Jackson than Arctic Monkeys, Phoebe Bridgers and Jason Isbell. We like the things we like and there’s no shame in being a “basic b” when it comes to music.
Now, if you were trying to make a case for Maroon 5 I’d be typing something else right now. Probably in all caps.
Songs About Jane is mostly a credible album.
I do like me some Arctic Monkeys, especially Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Those first two albums are magic (505 from Favourite Worst Nightmare is a desert island track for me). They’ve had good albums since then with some excellent tracks but nothing that quite matches up to them.
I always liked Arctic Monkeys but actually prefer their weird foray into Bowie-esque lounge singer plastic soul.