[Article] He loves Coldplay, she hates it. How about you?

[busybeeburns]

 

Whiny Brit band or winning foursome? A critic and writer face off in advance of the band’s visit to American Airlines Center this week

 

When discussing controversial musicians, the usual suspects often crop up: the Sex Pistols, Eminem or Madonna.

 

But Coldplay?

 

Believe it or not, this British foursome has provoked just as much negative passion as positive — hard to tell whether that hilarious insult from the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin (you know the scene we’re talking about) was a homage or petulant swipe — and a quick Google search for "Coldplay" and "hate" unearths plenty of screeds aimed at frontman Chris Martin and his bandmates.

 

"It does seem to be the case that Coldplay have become one of those definitive cultural dividers, the twain of which shall never meet," wrote Andy Gill in London’s The Independent in June. "They’re sort of the anti-Sex Pistols, an act that repulses not through outrage, bad manners and poor grooming, but through their inoffensive niceness and emollient personableness."

 

Then there’s the matter of The New York Times’ scathing 2005 broadside, in which critic Jon Pareles labeled the group "the most insufferable band of the decade": "[W]hen the music swells up once more with tremolo guitars and chiming keyboards, and Mr. Martin’s voice breaks for the umpteenth time, it sounds like hokum to me."

 

Yet the band continues to plug ahead, having released its fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, in June and embarking on a world tour shortly thereafter. (The tour wings its way into Dallas’ American Airlines Center on Wednesday.) As seemingly one of the only music critics who actually doesn’t mind Coldplay, I decided to face off with colleague Erin White, whose distaste for the band and its songs is practically palpable. Who makes the better case? You decide.

 

Why I love Coldplay by Preston Jones

 

1 - Despite all the hatin’, they’ve still managed to sell more than 40 million albums worldwide. Normally, critics despair when acts get so big that everyone hops on the bandwagon, but in my opinion, this is a rare case where the public has good taste. Believe me, when you’ve got artists like the Pussycat Dolls, Hinder or Metro Station burning up the charts, racking up eye-popping sales on the iTunes Store and plastering themselves all over any televised awards show that’ll have ’em, the consistent success of a band like Coldplay is low on the crummy scale.

 

2 - Do you really think rappers Swizz Beatz, Brit-rock icon Richard Ashcroft or the equally legendary Brian Eno would collaborate with just anyone? Outside of Coldplay’s own albums, Martin has built up quite the Rolodex, reaching out to some of modern music’s most fascinating talents, offering up songs he has written in whatever spare 10 minutes he has, as well as providing vocal cameos for his pals Jay-Z (on the admittedly iffy Beach Chair) and Kanye West (on the far better Homecoming). Plus, you’ve gotta love any pasty Brit who unabashedly loves hip-hop.

 

3 Many times — and as a music critic, I’m certainly not excluded — people bash what they secretly love. After all, coolness is in the eye of the beholder. Someone’s buying all those albums, T-shirts and concert tickets, and it’s not legions of people wanting to vent their spleens in Coldplay’s direction. So, I’m guessing, a lot of this sound and fury over Coldplay has more to do with putting up a front rather than genuinely getting all worked up over some rather pleasant pop-rock tunes.

 

4 - One of the most frequent charges leveled at Coldplay is that Martin and company shamelessly rip off other, better bands like U2 or Radiohead — and it’s true, the band does owe a debt to its rockin’ British forebears. Still, there are days when I’d rather pop in a track like Talk (from 2005’s X&Y) with its recycled Kraftwerk riff than listen to another band trying and failing to break new ground. Sooner or later, they all work their way back to the source. Why not embrace a band that willingly acknowledges this?

 

5 - Anyone who suggests that every Coldplay album sounds the same hasn’t picked one up in a while. Even a quick spin through 2000’s Parachutes doesn’t begin to point the way toward 2008’s Viva la Vida. Each album has gradually expanded the group’s sonic scope, incorporating a variety of elements that cement Coldplay’s status as one of the most forward-thinking rock groups out there. It’s a delicate balance between retaining that which made the band popular initially, while not becoming locked in a predictable rut, and so far, Coldplay has managed to avoid the trap.

 

Why I hate Coldplay by Erin White

 

1 - They are smug. In the latest single, Viva La Vida, lead singer Chris Martin alternately compares himself to a puppet, a warrior and a hunted, wanted man. He repeatedly refers to how he used to rule the world and how now, one supposes from trying to interpret the impenetrable lyrics, he no longer does and he’s angry about his waning influence. Perhaps this kind of self-seriousness is somewhat warranted if you’re a pop-star-turned-activist like Bono. Or if you’re a pop-star-turned-political-rabble rouser-like the late John Lennon. Maybe even if you’re legitimately bringing something musically new to the table like Jay-Z. But when you are a pop-star-turned actress-marrier-turned-hipster-dad like Martin is, it’s just irritating and infuriating.

 

2 - They were an iPod commercial before iPod even existed — slickly produced to appeal to hipsters with money and boomers who want to feel like they’re still relevant. This is not, in my book, a good thing. And they do not even have the saving grace of being wonderfully bouncy like Feist.

 

3 - All of their songs sound the same. Create a strummy melody. Add some piano. Add some strings. Build to the chorus. Throw in some whiny lyrics. Sing in a falsetto. Voila: a new Coldplay song. And if you’re not irritated already, consider this: Martin’s vocal stylings are directly to blame for the Fray. Still not upset? They’re to blame for James Blunt, too.

 

4 - All of their songs are boring. This is, in my opinion, why they have been able to build a fan base. They are the white walls of the music industry — nonthreatening, appropriate for every situation, able to be projected upon. They are Nickelback for the yuppie crowd. I can forgive a lot of things — silliness, vapidness, being just plain bad. I can’t forgive boring.

 

5 - They are lacking in any real substance. That doesn’t mean all music needs to address topics of global importance. But I can’t stand bands that package nonsense under a label of something of great importance. "You’re part of the human race/All of the stars and the outer space/Part of the system again/All this noise, I’m waking up/All this space I’m taking up/I cannot hear, you’re breaking up". . . . . Come on. That is a pretentious re-wording of the "What does life really mean" journal entries every depressed teenager wrote in high school. U2, a band to which to Coldplay is often compared, created major radio hits writing songs about the violence in Ireland. If Coldplay wants to be taken that seriously, it ought to start reading a newspaper and write about something other than itself.

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/nightlife/story/1035167.html

[The Escapist]

 

Why I hate Coldplay by Erin White

 

1 - They are smug. In the latest single, Viva La Vida, lead singer Chris Martin alternately compares himself to a puppet, a warrior and a hunted, wanted man. He repeatedly refers to how he used to rule the world and how now, one supposes from trying to interpret the impenetrable lyrics, he no longer does and he’s angry about his waning influence. Perhaps this kind of self-seriousness is somewhat warranted if you’re a pop-star-turned-activist like Bono. Or if you’re a pop-star-turned-political-rabble rouser-like the late John Lennon. Maybe even if you’re legitimately bringing something musically new to the table like Jay-Z. But when you are a pop-star-turned actress-marrier-turned-hipster-dad like Martin is, it’s just irritating and infuriating.

 

2 - They were an iPod commercial before iPod even existed — slickly produced to appeal to hipsters with money and boomers who want to feel like they’re still relevant. This is not, in my book, a good thing. And they do not even have the saving grace of being wonderfully bouncy like Feist.

 

3 - All of their songs sound the same. Create a strummy melody. Add some piano. Add some strings. Build to the chorus. Throw in some whiny lyrics. Sing in a falsetto. Voila: a new Coldplay song. And if you’re not irritated already, consider this: Martin’s vocal stylings are directly to blame for the Fray. Still not upset? They’re to blame for James Blunt, too.

 

4 - All of their songs are boring. This is, in my opinion, why they have been able to build a fan base. They are the white walls of the music industry — nonthreatening, appropriate for every situation, able to be projected upon. They are Nickelback for the yuppie crowd. I can forgive a lot of things — silliness, vapidness, being just plain bad. I can’t forgive boring.

 

5 - They are lacking in any real substance. That doesn’t mean all music needs to address topics of global importance. But I can’t stand bands that package nonsense under a label of something of great importance. "You’re part of the human race/All of the stars and the outer space/Part of the system again/All this noise, I’m waking up/All this space I’m taking up/I cannot hear, you’re breaking up". . . . . Come on. That is a pretentious re-wording of the "What does life really mean" journal entries every depressed teenager wrote in high school. U2, a band to which to Coldplay is often compared, created major radio hits writing songs about the violence in Ireland. If Coldplay wants to be taken that seriously, it ought to start reading a newspaper and write about something other than itself.

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/nightlife/story/1035167.html

 

This really annoys me. Hasn't been able to build a fan base? What the hell do they think this website is?!? People who critise Coldplay really piss me off because half the time they are dickheads and the other half like bands that coldplay have influences off and like them better.

[Space Cadet]

The problem with this debate is that as long as both sides use crap arguments like they did, it's never going to go anywhere.

[Lyric]

The problem with this debate is that as long as both sides use crap arguments like they did, it's never going to go anywhere.

 

Agreed.

[Batman]

"All of their songs are boring."

When their songs are so boring, then why are they selling millions of records and being loved all around the world?

 

God I hate such senseless articles :sick:

[The Escapist]

So do I. These guys obviously have no idea.

[Tnspieler1012]

I disagree very strongly with both arguments. Honestly, I think they're both pretty stupid.

 

The pro-coldplayer's first two exhibits are, they can't be bad if they sell this many records and worked with brian eno...

 

the anti-coldplayer is just plain stuck up. Throwing out absurd inarguable statements like "they're smug", "every song sounds the same" and "they're boring".

[majgirl]

I disagree very strongly with both arguments. Honestly, I think they're both pretty stupid.

 

The pro-coldplayer's first two exhibits are, they can't be bad if they sell this many records and worked with brian eno...

 

the anti-coldplayer is just plain stuck up. Throwing out absurd inarguable statements like "they're smug", "every song sounds the same" and "they're boring".

 

Agreed, both came up with very unintelligent statements to support their taste in music. The haters arguments were just annoyingly unfounded, and I personally dislike Brian Eno, and much of the work they've done with him, which shoots the first guys article to hell for me too.

[professa95]

the woman has a very invalid point. Saying that chris martin sings in falsetto is false because one ofthe major parts of the album viva la vida was tobring out chris's deeper voice. How can this statement cover songs like yes?

[Tnspieler1012]

Believe me, she hasn't heard VLV. I expect she may have listened to the first 15 minutes of X&Y at the most.

[Pseudonym]

The Pro-Coldplay one made crap arguments, but at least it sounded as though he's listened to a few Coldplay songs. The anti-Coldplay one is just like everyone else who bashes them, they've only heard a few songs at most. I haven't seen one anti-Coldplay reviewer actually prove to me they've listened to an entire album. They always just compare one song and say "All their stuff is the same" or "All their stuff is boring". It's bullshit. Anyone who actually listens and makes their own opinion would come up with a better argument than that. She's just repeating what others have already said about them, she can't even make up her own criticisms.

 

My drummer was one of those people who had only heard maybe 2 of their songs and he always said Coldplay sucked. So I made him sit and listen to all of VLVOD. Since then, he hasn't said they suck, he hasn't even bad-mouthed them. And he was an avid Coldplay-hater. This proves that anyone who actually gives them a chance (and not just decides on the band based on what others say) will realize most of the bad things said about them are biased, unwarranted, confusing, or just plain false.

[professa95]

The Pro-Coldplay one made crap arguments, but at least it sounded as though he's listened to a few Coldplay songs. The anti-Coldplay one is just like everyone else who bashes them, they've only heard a few songs at most. I haven't seen one anti-Coldplay reviewer actually prove to me they've listened to an entire album. They always just compare one song and say "All their stuff is the same" or "All their stuff is boring". It's bullshit. Anyone who actually listens and makes their own opinion would come up with a better argument than that. She's just repeating what others have already said about them, she can't even make up her own criticisms.

 

My drummer was one of those people who had only heard maybe 2 of their songs and he always said Coldplay sucked. So I made him sit and listen to all of VLVOD. Since then, he hasn't said they suck, he hasn't even bad-mouthed them. And he was an avid Coldplay-hater. This proves that anyone who actually gives them a chance (and not just decides on the band based on what others say) will realize most of the bad things said about them are biased, unwarranted, confusing, or just plain false.

i agree 100% and wow i guess he was in such a trance of coldplays awesomeness he had nothing to say:laugh3:

[Death Hill]

Many of Coldplay's hits do sound similar to those who aren't especially familar with their material like we are. It took me a couple years to differentiate the music to "In My Place", "Clocks" and "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" or even "Speed of Sound". SORRY!

[Pseudonym]

Many of Coldplay's hits do sound similar to those who aren't especially familar with their material like we are. It took me a couple years to differentiate the music to "In My Place", "Clocks" and "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" or even "Speed of Sound". SORRY!

I understand! But personally, the only songs I ever saw a similarity in was maybe Daylight and A Whsiper, only cause they were the 2 songs I couldn't understand any of the lyrics!

 

But from the first listens of the album, I knew there were huge differences. When I first listened to Politik, I was like "Okay...that was interesting" cause it was so different from everything on Parachutes. And then every song on AROBTTH continued to be different. And when I first got X&Y I actually hated it becuase it was so different. I then got used to it and now I love it. But you can see I clearly noticed the differences, and I was only a casual listener at the time.

[Tnspieler1012]

The only slightly significant similarity they've ever had is between clocks and speed of sound. and unfortunately, bashers always cite those two songs to try and say that every song is the same. But seriously, Coldplay has far more diversity in their songs than the vast majority of bands. compare parachutes and X&Y. compare politik and we never change, square one, green eyes, Viva la vida, easy to please, bigger stronger, life in technicolor...they're ADD in that they never get repetitive. they go from everything's not lost into politik for heaven's sake...that's what I like so much about them. If you heard Violet Hill on the radio the day it was released with-out hearing Chris's voice you would've never thought it was a coldplay song. Look how unique the latest prospekt's march previews have been, the only tell that a brand new song is from coldplay would be A. Chris's voice. and B. the fact that it rox.

As 2732 just said, AROBTTH is a flurry of different flavors, and the change in sound between all four album's, IMO, is only beaten by radiohead's crazy jump from "the bends" to "OK Computer" to "Kid A". and frankly, no one's crazier than Thom Yorke, just watch him dance...

[nkydickson]

Both of them made terrible arguments, they are not smug if you would just listen to interviews it's just four funny HANDSOM(Guy):P guys whol love what they do and are amazing at it:)! Sorry they aren't out cheating on their significant others and gettind drunk every night. Fan base?!! I won't even begin to get on this topic b\c well... this website and the people that make it up is well....unbelievable! Finally their songs do NOT sound alike ! From yellow to viva la vida- yeah I totally hear the resemblence.:rolleyes::dozey:

[ricardo]

The only slightly significant similarity they've ever had is between clocks and speed of sound. and unfortunately, bashers always cite those two songs to try and say that every song is the same. But seriously, Coldplay has far more diversity in their songs than the vast majority of bands. compare parachutes and X&Y. compare politik and we never change, square one, green eyes, Viva la vida, easy to please, bigger stronger, life in technicolor...they're ADD in that they never get repetitive. they go from everything's not lost into politik for heaven's sake...that's what I like so much about them. If you heard Violet Hill on the radio the day it was released with-out hearing Chris's voice you would've never thought it was a coldplay song. Look how unique the latest prospekt's march previews have been, the only tell that a brand new song is from coldplay would be A. Chris's voice. and B. the fact that it rox.

As 2732 just said, AROBTTH is a flurry of different flavors, and the change in sound between all four album's, IMO, is only beaten by radiohead's crazy jump from "the bends" to "OK Computer" to "Kid A". and frankly, no one's crazier than Thom Yorke, just watch him dance...

hahaha

this article is stupid, both sides, they think using grandiloquent words it is an interesting and important article

[The Escapist]

I bet half of the hate of Coldplay spawns from these media reviews.

[Pseudonym]

The only slightly significant similarity they've ever had is between clocks and speed of sound. and unfortunately, bashers always cite those two songs to try and say that every song is the same. But seriously, Coldplay has far more diversity in their songs than the vast majority of bands. compare parachutes and X&Y. compare politik and we never change, square one, green eyes, Viva la vida, easy to please, bigger stronger, life in technicolor...they're ADD in that they never get repetitive. they go from everything's not lost into politik for heaven's sake...that's what I like so much about them. If you heard Violet Hill on the radio the day it was released with-out hearing Chris's voice you would've never thought it was a coldplay song. Look how unique the latest prospekt's march previews have been, the only tell that a brand new song is from coldplay would be A. Chris's voice. and B. the fact that it rox.

As 2732 just said, AROBTTH is a flurry of different flavors, and the change in sound between all four album's, IMO, is only beaten by radiohead's crazy jump from "the bends" to "OK Computer" to "Kid A". and frankly, no one's crazier than Thom Yorke, just watch him dance...

I agree with you about the different sounds, and about Radiohead.:lol:

 

But I really don't get the constant comparisons between Clocks and Speed of Sound. Okay, so they have a remotely similar piano part, but the rhythm patterns are different, they are in different keys, and other than the piano, the songs couldn't be more different. Clocks uses airy guitar and bass-bass-snare drums and has the feel of a song being sung on a mountaintop. Speed of Sound uses spacey, Pink-Floydish guitar and synth, and the drums are tom-filled and quite unique. And the lyrics are so different as well, and even the way the two songs are sung are very different. Clocks is sung with a sort of yell in Chris's voice, Speed of Sound has a very earthy sound during the verse, and just smooth falsetto during the chorus.

 

I just don't get the similarities that everyone claims they see, and I really hate it that people compare the two and say they are similar just becuase of the piano intros of the songs.

 

 

 

I bet half of the hate of Coldplay spawns from these media reviews.

They are, and this lady's review was just influenced by prior anti-Coldplay reviews.

[Cobalt]

with a sort of yell in Chris's voice, Speed of Sound has a very earthy sound during the verse, and just smooth falsetto during the chorus.

 

Two words: "You Are"

 

I, personally, think Coldplay are quite grand. :toff:

[Pseudonym]

Two words: "You Are"

 

Even then, the "You are" has a very strong strain in his voice, it' supposed to sound strained. Speed of Sound chorus ("Birds go flying") is much more relaxed falsetto, and it just sounds more resonant with the instruments.

[Cobalt]

Hm, the chorus still sounds a little bit frantic, more the "speed" part of it

[Pseudonym]

Hm, the chorus still sounds a little bit frantic, more the "speed" part of it

okay, whatever. so maybe the chorus's sound similar in the amount of strain in Chris's voice. but in Clocks it's just two words, SOS has a very full chorus. Also none of the notes are the same in the chorus, and in Clocks, the intro piano part is playing during the chorus, not the same in SOS> The similarities are few and far between, and any you can find, you could probably aruge would also be found in 10 more of their songs (i.e. Chris's voice straining in chorus: Yellow, The Scientist,etc.)

[The Escapist]

Can we try not to agree with the hopeless reviewers...

[Mophet]

For some, it's just coldplayed over their ears.

 

They should accept to be taught, but in their arrogance, they miss the good stuff. We can only hope that the deaf ones will eventually hear since Coldplay is an exceptional ear opener.