Just a few quotes I read in the last few days, which got met to thinking about Coldplay.

 

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins):

 

Corgan reaffirmed once again that last year's Zeitgeist was the last proper album from the band. He said, "People don’t even listen to it all. They put it on their iPod, they drag over the two singles, and skip over the rest. The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance, and do the arty track to set up the single? It’s done." He added, "Our primary function now is to be a singles band, that drives Pumpkins Inc. through singles. We’ll still be creative, but in a different form."

 

Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle):

[in reference to APC making a new album]

 

"Most likely we'll just kind of concentrate on one or two songs at a time, rather than investing all the time and money and effort into making those plastic discs that no one cares about anymore."

 

Question: Would you prefer Coldplay to continue to make albums like Viva la Vida, or would you like them to become more of a singles band? Although I would like new Coldplay music more often, I would be heartbroken if they stopped making full length albums. Maybe I am just old fashion.

I really think those quotes are a bit of an overstatement. Music has not gotten to the point at which the public refuses to buy albums. I can't really think of any band that actually operates in this way: releases three-four singles per year without an album to back it up. In the future, maybe. But it definitely hasn't happened yet. Perhaps there are bands that concentrate on a few singles and then record shit to fill out the album, but those bands are still releasing albums. Initial hype comes from the release of an album.

 

So, to answer the question, I expect (and want) Coldplay to continue making the usual 40-50 minute album every few years.

I see where he is coming from

Most of the ignorant population ( The type who will go to a Coldplay gig and only know the words to Viva La Vida ) do not check out the bands albums and songs that they have not released as singles, yet they say they are big fans of the band, this pisses me off a lot.

I think great Bands such as Coldplay should always be making albums, because they have great fans (such as people like us on this forum) who will religiously listen to their albums and know ever single song backwards.

 

But for random indie bands such as Foals or The Pigeon Detectives or some shit like that, no-one really cares, cos no-ones gonna learn every song on their albums, only their catchy singles that will be the next best thing for about 2 weeks, until its replaced by something that sounds similar but is in a different accent.

 

I dunno if they have this problem in america or anywhere else, but in the UK i think a lot of teenagers these days have a big identity crisis and feel the need to say they listen to all these bands, when really they only know a few songs.

 

Rant Over

I want them and other artists to continue making full albums. However, I think the reason why some folks, myself included, tend to skip over songs on the albums (though I do not do it to any of Coldplay's albums) is because the artists themselves are not putting 100% of their creativity into their album. I am so tired of wasting my money on artists who make a few good songs but their album as a whole sucks balls. You know there are certain artists who put everything into their albums such as Coldplay and then you have others who don't.

However, I think the reason why some folks, myself included, tend to skip over songs on the albums (though I do not do it to any of Coldplay's albums) is because the artists themselves are not putting 100% of their creativity into their album.

 

I agree completely. That is why I love Vida la Vida: the sum is greater than the individuals parts. An intro like Life in Technicolor and an outro like Death and All His Friends makes me feel like I have been on a musical journey. For artists I like, I purposely listen to an album from beginning to end out of respect for the artist and the voyage they have attempted to map out. You can tell this is important to Coldplay when they talk about the arguments over the sequential order of track selections.

 

The only reason I brought up the Corgan and MJK quotes is that these are both artist that I respect, and I read it on back to back days. We are not there now, at least for most artists, but just some food for thought about what may be coming down the pike.

Well, there was a girl at my school wearing a Ramones shirt.

One of my friends walks up to her and asks her her favourite Ramones song.

"Oh, I don't really know who they are!"

 

Teenagers are getting more and more ignorant these days and only take what they're fed. It's going to be a stupid stupid human race if this keeps going...

From Wired Magazine: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_yorke?currentPage=all

 

David Byrne: I've been asking myself: Why put together these things — CDs, albums? The answer I came up with is, well, sometimes it's artistically viable. It's not just a random collection of songs. Sometimes the songs have a common thread, even if it's not obvious or even conscious on the artists' part. Maybe it's just because everybody's thinking musically in the same way for those couple of months.

 

Thom Yorke: Or years.

 

Byrne: However long it takes. And other times, there's an obvious...

 

Yorke: ... Purpose.

 

Byrne: Right. Probably the reason it's a little hard to break away from the album format completely is, if you're getting a band together in the studio, it makes financial sense to do more than one song at a time. And it makes more sense, if you're going to all the effort of performing and doing whatever else, if there's a kind of bundle.

Yorke: Yeah, but the other thing is what that bundle can make. The songs can amplify each other if you put them in the right order.

If you really look at it artists in the old days (days of my parents' generation...yikes!) put out only singles. But, the album format eventually grew in popularity with musicians. So, just putting out singles and not full albums/CDs is not uncommon.

while i see their points, part of me wonders how serious corgan and keenan were being when they said those things. i bet it must be as frustrating as hell to have 90% of your listeners only listen to two of the songs off your album max, but i thought that most musicians were in the business for the love of the music rather than to please fans, necessarily. i would think that "killing themselves to do albums" and putting all that "time, effort, and money into making those plastic discs" is a huge part of the fun and a huge part of the point :\. i think chris has some good quotes about the music being primarily for him and for the band rather than for anyone else. i think i get a bit concerned about artists who are only making music to please the masses and complain about all the effort it takes to record the music...makes me think of the manufactured bands and the like. i know corgan and keenan are serious musicians, which is why i wonder about the seriousness of those quotes a bit.

^As I remember it, one of the driving forces (out of many) behind the Pumpin's original split was disappointment at their rapidly declining album sales once Grunge was good and dead and pop was taking over the planet. I'm not surprised if it's bugging them again.

while i see their points, part of me wonders how serious corgan and keenan were being when they said those things. i bet it must be as frustrating as hell to have 90% of your listeners only listen to two of the songs off your album max, but i thought that most musicians were in the business for the love of the music rather than to please fans, necessarily. i would think that "killing themselves to do albums" and putting all that "time, effort, and money into making those plastic discs" is a huge part of the fun and a huge part of the point . i think chris has some good quotes about the music being primarily for him and for the band rather than for anyone else. i think i get a bit concerned about artists who are only making music to please the masses and complain about all the effort it takes to record the music...makes me think of the manufactured bands and the like. i know corgan and keenan are serious musicians, which is why i wonder about the seriousness of those quotes a bit.

 

I agree with that. If there were two musicians who would be frustrated that all of their work spent on making a complete album (including artwork) was a waste, it would be these two. It could have been out of complete frustration.

^that's kind of sad, actually. maybe i'm old fashioned or idealistic, but i would think/hope that serious, talented musicians were in it for the love of the music and not for the popularity aspect. i imagine being popular and successful is a HUGE bonus, but if you're just not going to bother making good music if it doesn't sell...i find that disappointing. i like to think that regardless of success, most of the musicians and bands i listen to would still be making the same music in their spare time to the best of their non-professional abilities and budgets, but maybe i'm weird :P

Perhaps we will start seeing more EPs. Like Prospekt's March.

EPs are alright. If we got an EP every year, I would be happy but albums feel a bit more substantial and definitely make the listening experience all the more worth while. See, Im the kind of person who listens to albums and not singles, and If a band only released singles, I would be incredibly pissed off. So there is my opinion.

Personally I think Corgan was generalising, there are still an awful lot of people who look at an album as a piece of art, a snapshot of the band at that point in time.

A singles band is quite possibly one of the most artistically corrupt ideas i've heard in a long time. Coldplay are already at risk of being too commercial, they're size makes them easy targets, but becoming a singles band would just be too much for most.

agreed. and it seems like with X&Y and VLVOD, most of the songs on the album end up as singles anyway. i can't decide whether i think that's a good thing or not--it means more people get to hear more of their songs and it can possibly mean more b-sides and videos, but it also makes them seem more commercial and more in-your-face, especially to the people that will always hate them.

People still buy coldplay albums.because theyve been known by the albums not entirely singles...... ALBUMS HAVE THE SINGLES........so why not buy the whole fcking album rather than waiting for the single to release?

But I think there are positives to being a singles band. For one, you would be getting a new song from Coldplay all of the time. I just prefer it in one, singular body of work. And I don't think it is crazy to think that we may start seeing some artists moving this way (well, we at least know it is the intent of Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle). Doesn't Nine Inch Nails shoot out singles-only every now and again (I am only a casual fan).

With the possible exception of proof, IMO there is no coldplay song not worth buying (all apologies for the double negative). To become a singles band implies that they only have a couple good songs per album, when their worst songs are better than half the singles they compete with.

Personally I've also hated the typical pop-radio listening population that only downloads the latest single and collects only a few songs from each band assuming that songs they haven't heard with naturally be inferior, so they don't bother. Whenever I find a band I like, I never download just that one song I heard, but the album it's on. There's almost always a better song there, and I don't think you can really "get" a band's music through their hit singles alone. and personally I'm kind of disgusted by having a playlist of the songs every owns, I much prefer listening to albums. The introduction, the soft songs, the climax, the outro...You never get that whole picture by singles alone.