I think CP boys are onto a winner with this new 'alternate' Violet Hill vid...

 

Coldplay are going to great lengths to find out if you love them (won't ya let them know) with first Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends single "Violet Hill". In a video floating around yesterday but since pulled from YouTube (expect that to show up somewhere soon), the British rockers went to Italy and showed you the fine work the English dentistry profession has done on their teeth. Now, in this "alternate" video, Coldplay are getting a bit closer to the grandiose revolutionary spectacle of their latest album cover. George W. Bush declaring war on Iraq! Rockets being launched! Archival clips cut in and out through static over the song's "Where the Streets Have No Name"-esque opening ambient swell (thanks, Brian Eno). From there it's really-- and I say this as someone who never quite got Coldplay-- pretty great to watch. Bush conducts a military band, Tony Blair strums an electric guitar, and Bush dances, all in time with the music.

 

That's only the first minute. The Clintons, Barack Obama, and MC Rove all make their appearances, too, even as Chris Martin sings about "a carnival of idiots" and how he doesn't "wanna be a soldier" (hey neither did John Lennon). Then it's Boris Yeltsin, terrorists, soldiers, Coldplay in Italy, fireworks, conflagrations... Good God, man! With the late but still perfect timing of a John Edwards presidential endorsement, Coldplay have done something both funny and potentially controversial. Does this mean Michael Moore could've married Gwyneth Paltrow?

 

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/50694-coldplay-violet-hill-alternate-video

 

 

I feel happy after reading this and I don't really know why. I really like this video. This should stick it to the people who say CP are a lightweight Radiohead who only sing ballads about Gwyneth.

 

EDIT: Pitchfork now has a banner at the top of the page advertising the Viva la Vida tour. I have never seen a CP advert on Pitchfork in the 5+ years I've been visiting it.

Pitchfork can stick it where the sun don't shine. Just because Coldplay have done a political-style video (which skewers both Republicans AND Democrats... as well as leaders of other countries) doesn't mean it's suddenly okay to start enjoying their music for its artistic merits.

 

Artists have always tended to be political creatures, but art itself isn't necessarily a political spectacle - it's a physical/aural embodiment of emotion, that's interpretive on the individual level. Violet Hill is a good song, regardless of what it's about, and they don't want to admit that. Pitchfork would rather blab about politics than the return of Coldplay.

 

PS: Where's Putin? If I had made this video, Putin would be at the forefront, along with Kim Jong Il, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, etc.

A positive Pitchfork review!? Has the world gone insane?

 

PS: Where's Putin? If I had made this video, Putin would be at the forefront, along with Kim Jong Il, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, etc.

 

How do those all go in the same sentence? Really? How is it possible that George Bush and Hilary Clinton get lumped in with Putin and Kim Jong Il?

How do those all go in the same sentence? Really? How is it possible that George Bush and Hilary Clinton get lumped in with Putin and Kim Jong Il?

 

Have you not seen over the last 5 years what they've done halfway around the world? Nothing Putin or Kim Jong Il have done comes close.

 

they're all the same, just packaged differently.

Pitchfork can stick it where the sun don't shine. Just because Coldplay have done a political-style video (which skewers both Republicans AND Democrats... as well as leaders of other countries) doesn't mean it's suddenly okay to start enjoying their music for its artistic merits.

 

Artists have always tended to be political creatures, but art itself isn't necessarily a political spectacle - it's a physical/aural embodiment of emotion, that's interpretive on the individual level. Violet Hill is a good song, regardless of what it's about, and they don't want to admit that. Pitchfork would rather blab about politics than the return of Coldplay.

 

PS: Where's Putin? If I had made this video, Putin would be at the forefront, along with Kim Jong Il, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, etc.

 

I agree. Just part of their whole 'culturally sophisicated' facade. :P They can go suck it, for all I care. :lol:

wow, aside from radiohead this is the only positive pitchfork review i've ever seen

It's a pretty stupid reason, the band takes a stab at politicians and suddenly pitchfork forgets all the crap it gave coldplay in the past. The fact that they're giving coldplay props because of this only gives them and their reviews that much less credibility. I don't give a crap if they give the album a perfect rating. They can suck it.