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I know plenty of people from “bros” to “hipsters” who despise Coldplay, but I still can’t see the logic behind their hatred. Coldplay has produced some of the greatest songs ever recorded and has received almost universal acclaim for a majority of their albums.
Their first album, “Parachutes,” was released in 2000 and succeeded beyond all expectations. Earning the band’s first of many Grammy wins, “Parachutes” remains one of their best albums to date. The lyrics, mostly joyful and upbeat, clash with the melancholy sound produced for the album. While the sound never evokes the same feeling as the lyrics, the juxtapositions are what made their style so intriguing at their debut. “Yellow,” “Shiver,” and “Spies” have three of the most varied progressions and instrumental feels on the album, yet all of them are connected on an emotional level through the experience of listening to the songs.
After being propelled to success by “Parachutes,” Coldplay released “A Rush of Blood to the Head,” considered their magnum opus, and “X&Y,” my personal favorite album. In “Rush of Blood,” Coldplay set a more melancholy tone, with lyrics like “I’m gonna buy a gun and start a war/If you can tell me something worth fighting for” in the album’s eponymous track. Additionally, the music video accompanying one of the albums most popular singles, “The Scientist,” depicts a heartbreaking sequence of events that ended with the death of front man Chris Martin and his onscreen love interest. In contrast, “X&Y” featured more songs that started out softly and built to boisterous anthems that rang with shouts of redemption and longing. “X&Y” also marked a famous shift in lyrics for Coldplay. For the first time Martin mainly sang in first person rather than third person, beginning to personalize the band’s sound even more. When I sing along to the lyrics of “Fix You,” which happens often, the song becomes an extremely emotional experience for me.
I realize at this point that my basic reason for listening to Coldplay is that their lyrics really speak to me, and while I know that sounds very cliché, that’s what music is really about, isn’t it? Many other bands that I love also connect with me to an extent, but then there are others like Vampire Weekend who sometimes confuses the hell out of me despite how much I listen to them. An example: “Sweet carob rice cake/she don’t care how the sweets taste/ fake Philly cheese steak/but you use real toothpaste.” Seriously, I’m not really sure what the hell that’s trying to say. Maybe it’s not trying to say anything, and that’s fine. In an interview, Vampire Weekend once mentioned that they don’t use lyrics that make sense but rather just whatever they come up with that sounds good with their music. Still, I listen to them no matter how strange their lyrics can get. Then there’s artists like Kanye West and Kid Cudi. While I’m a huge fan of both, there are plenty of points where I just can’t relate to the stories they tell through their music.
While I’m not the biggest fan of “Viva la Vida” in comparison to their other albums, I still own and listen to it from time to time. With their newest album, “Mylo Xyloto,” coming out later this month and tour plans to follow, I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to see them live sometime in the next year. And I’ll admit I did mutter to myself the first time I saw the title of their new single, “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” that it seemed fairly trite, but sure enough after a few plays I was once again in awe of Coldplay’s talent. No matter how much the band changes their sound and style, I guess I’ll always be there to listen to what they have to offer us.
1 Comment
Anonymous
I don’t get the hatred either, an honest band making honest music. A plethora of classic tracks over their 4 albums. Yellow, the scientist, in my place, shiver, fix you. A songtrack to my life. It’s the tall poppy syndrome once a band become massive they instantly can’t do anything right by music snobs. I can’t wait for the new album, I’ve heard some of the songs live at various festivals and I love Charlie brown and hurts like heaven.