When I read about Coldplay’s plan to release The Singles 1999-2006—on 7-inch vinyl, no less—I thought, Ugh. Lame. A greatest hits set already? You’ve made only three albums. You’re not U2. Booooo.
What’s up with that? Not the new release—they did have a few EPs out before Parachutes, and at least the compilation won’t include the words "Greatest" or "Hits,"—but my reaction. I am a former Coldplay obsessive who now goes around calling them lame. I am lame. Right this second, with "Amsterdam" beaming directly into my ears and me loving it just as much as I used to, I feel like a traitor. But I know I’m not alone. So what happened? Ooh, multiple choice.
When did it become uncool to like Coldplay?
A. When we realized most of the songs on X&Y sounded the same and not so great
B. As soon as promos from The 40-Year-Old Virgin came out ("You know how I know you’re gay? You like Coldplay.")
C. It’s Yoko’s Gwyneth’s fault
D. Bands that care too much about human suffering on a global scale are annoying
E. Never, fool!
(See Annie’s answer after the jump.)
Hmmm. D. is somewhat viable. B. is automatically disqualifiedbecause being gay is cool. And I kind of want to get into howsemi-fascinatingly f—ed up I find Gwyneth. I guess it’s A.: the"nothing new to see here" syndrome, combined with the depressingawareness that liking a certain great band no longer makes youdistinctive. In late 2000, I remember having mandatory, nightlychill-out sessions set to an illegal download of Parachuteswith my college roommate, "Heffa" (I was "Lump"). We felt so cool…until we saw the album plastered all over Best Buy a few weeks laterand realized we were no longer special. We were special in other ways,I’m sure. For instance, we had made ourselves partially deaf, and weheld the title of Most Obnoxious Twosome by our irritated suitemateswho were not yet smitten by Chris Martin, black-only cargowear, andwhat it meant to be allllll yellowww.
Enough with the nostalgia. Coldplay in 2007: Cool or no cool?
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Until they put out a new album that’s actually good AND different, they have some catching up to do in the Cool department.
Coldplay would’ve been cool, but Chris Martin just had to mouth off his self-centered fat head in interviews and show off his true colors..
“Dear Chris Martin: I know Bono and Thom Yorke… And YOU, sir, are NO Bono nor Thom Yorke..
Ditto what everyone has said.
When you guys asked “What band do you just not get”, I wrote about Coldplay. Its a combination of everything. See, Norah Jones doesn’t switch up her sound ever, but she doesn’t claim to be revolutionizing music like Chris (or Christ in his eyes) Martin does. I really can’t stand them.
Parachutes is a good album. But then everything they made after that sounded EXACTLY THE SAME. Oh, and then there was the whole Gwynneth factor. And then you named your kid Apple, dude. Seriously?
Dear Annie Barrett,
You’re an idiot.
I’ll always love Coldplay. What I can’t stand are people who think anything that makes it mainstream is uncool or just not good. Popular doesn’t equate with bad. They probably just became too big and now need to come out with something fresh to remind some why they fell in love with them in the first place.
I really don’t care that they’re planning on putting out a greatest hits CD, but if Hilary Duff can do it after two years and two so-sugary-it-makes-my-stomach-hurt cds, then I say GO COLDPLAY GO!
Speed of Sound wasn’t bad, everything else is VH1 bland.
I saw a performance on YouTube where they sang Can’t Get You Out of My Head. Kyle Minouge was recovering from breast cancer at the time.
It was awful.
I like Coldplay. Frankly I don’t understand the backlash. Granted I haven’t really heard ‘X&Y’ (I didn’t much care for the passive aggressive single, ‘Let’s Talk’ or whatever it was called). But Parachutes…Parachutes…it’s pure musical genius.
I still yellow and I still love Coldplay! I hate that there is all this backlash now. Granted X&Y isn’t that great, it is just okay as far as I am concerned, but I think a lot of the backlash has to do with all the wrip off bands that really suck that have come after them.
The correct answer is, when the music critic at the New York Times wrote a scathing review of Coldplay that the paper highlighted with balloons and streamers. Everyone’s opinion changed overnight after reading that. Probably the most influential article in entertainment history since Pauline Kael convinced everyone that Bonnie & Clyde did not suck and was in fact awesome.
Coldplay lost their appeal for me after Hurricane Katrina. Their song “Fix You” became the official unofficial song of the storm and after losing everything and having to rebuild my life, the last thing I wanted was to be reminded of the whole thing. And every single time I listen to Coldplay now I’m brought back to that experience and it makes me sad (awww).
So, no Coldplay for me.
I think it’s Gwyneth’s fault. She used to be so funny, and now she’s just completely pretentious. And I think that transferred over to Chris Martin. Also, he ok’ed the names Apple and Moses.
Okay, okay, so X&Y didn’t bring anything new to the table… but I love them anyway. I don’t like the whole “people hate on them just ’cause it’s cool to hate them” excuse, but I do feel like they’ve been a bit over-played.
Having said that, though, I saw them live in the fall of ‘05, and I’ll be dammed if I wasn’t entertained! They may not be a super-revolutionary band, but they make good music and put on a very energetic live show. Plus, they get cool points for the Shaun of the Dead cameo.
since when are you considered gay for listening to coldplay?
Yeah, I agree – the problem is that they have been played too too much. It seems like pop and rock and alt and (I would guess?!) easy listening radio stations all seemed to find something from their last CD that appeal to listeners. So people can hate, but when their next CD arrives, it will probably STILL sell a million copies….
The answer is A. Though if you really want to be cool, you don’t need outside approval of your CD collection.
Wow. I had no idea I was the ONLY person on earth who thought X&Y was a GREAT album! I recall reading many positive reviews, including EW’s.
Coldplay is a great band, period. Great sound, simple lyrics that can relate to everyone’s lives, and better than that “radio-crap” I always listen to on the radio. They may not be as groundbreaking as bands like radiohead or the white stripes, but nevertheless, they simply make good music.
Coldplay is a great band, period. Great sound, simple lyrics that can relate to everyone’s lives, and better than that “radio-crap” I always listen to on the radio. They may not be as groundbreaking as bands like radiohead or the white stripes, but nevertheless, they simply make good music.
Come on guys, coldplay could never write an interesting song even if their life depended on it.
Annie gets it. There used to be a time when liking Coldplay made you cool, musically-speaking. That time doesn’t exist anymore, and Coldplay’s earnestness immediately hurts their cred with the indie hipsters, so they have to survive on the strength of their music alone. And that music is occasionally great, but largely repetitive. Plus the lyrics on “X&Y” were very bland, although there are at least four songs on that CD that I love.
I have been a Coldplay fan since right after parachutes was released and I will always be a fan. Yes x and y was not very good, but their first two albums are still great and are in a regular rotation in my cd player. It is just that now that they are enormously popular people think that it is uncool to like them because everyone else does.
Yeah, I’m gonna have to go with ‘A’. I loved the first single but when I got the album was VERY not moved. When they toured w/ Fiona I knew the magic was gone because I would’ve normally salivated at the thought of those two artists together but I didn’t care. (Saw Fiona alone and she rocked though!) Still looking forward to the next album maybe they can bring it back. I felt (almost) the same about Incubus’ last album but I’m liking the new stuff.
I still love Coldplay, but yeah X&Y was not as good as the first two and I would like them to rethink their strategy of acting like they are U2.
Cool? Cool? Who cares if they’re cool? T-Rex was cool, and they only had one great song. You can’t be cool and care about the world, that’s a given, but you can be great musicians and care about the world… Rush of blood to the head didn’t win awards in 2003 because the band happened to be cool, but because of the quality of the music…
Cool? Cool? Who cares if they’re cool? T-Rex was cool, and they only had one great song. You can’t be cool and care about the world, that’s a given, but you can be great musicians and care about the world… Rush of blood to the head didn’t win awards in 2003 because the band happened to be cool, but because of the quality of the music…
Cool? Cool? Who cares if they’re cool? T-Rex was cool, and they only had one great song. You can’t be cool and care about the world, that’s a given, but you can be great musicians and care about the world… Rush of blood to the head didn’t win awards in 2003 because the band happened to be cool, but because of the quality of the music…
my guess is just that they were burned out by the third album. the first two were so great that there was enormous pressure for the third. since there was a significant break between 2 and 3, pressure kept building. remember that they said in interviews that they were halfway done with an album and then they scrapped it and started fresh? that is all about pressure. i hope their next CD gets back to their creative level.
Ps- to the haters of Coldplay lyrics. Chris martin has said in interviews that his lyrics are not creative or complex, but that the music itself is what he hopes will stand up under scrutiny. i think that was the issue with X&Y – the music itself was just too similar.
I think the simple answer is that X&Y was just not a very good album, coupled with massive over-exposure. I still love the first two albums, but wow, was X&Y a disappointment. Not so much about cool for me, more about quality.