I found them when I was in my 'whining' / sad stage so Parachutes was perfect and exactly what I needed. I've outgrown that also although still do have down times / periods of introspection like everyone else. Tbh, I haven't listened to this album in awhile but even thinking about the songs and playing them in my head relaxes me... The tension just releases! :nice:

 

*lol* Yay! I knew I was not the only one hehe I dont associate who I was then to introspection though. That I have plenty of now and even sadness of course many times.

 

But back then when I listened to Parachutes a lot and early b-sides like I Ran Away or even tracks like Warning Sign , Crests of Waves etc...they resonated so much with me because they had in a way a sense of hopelessness and melancholy . I was young, confused, overwhelmed by events in my life and also just a teenager hehe It was also the time I listened a lot to The Smiths, for similar reasons.

I used to find solace in that kind of music, to just put up those tracks so I could drift away from the world...

Now I still get sad aplenty, but Im never hopeless anymore. Thats why perhaps some tracks dont resonate with me anymore. So I think I associate them with a particular time and mood Im in no more (not just sadness), so I only listen to them now only occasionally.

 

Matter of fact on a most rare occasion I was completely overwhelmed a few weeks ago and I got drunk and lo and behold I sang Warning Sign at the top of my lungs and played all Rush from beginning to end *LOL*

But back then when I listened to Parachutes a lot and early b-sides like I Ran Away or even tracks like Warning Sign , Crests of Waves etc...they resonated so much with me because they had in a way a sense of hopelessness and melancholy

 

Funny that... My hubby says the same thing, that their early output sounds depressing and hopeless :laugh3: I have never felt that - I certainly felt the darkness, but within all that there was always acceptance and validation, and hope! Faint, but hope nevertheless :) Although not every song is hopeful - this might be why I tend to listen to their early work in a run eg whole albums / bsides from an era... You find it too depressing but I find the melancholy eventually balances out with hope :D

we live in a beautiful world... I saw sparks... Don't you shiver... But they can't touch you, no... Look how they shine for you... I never meant to cause you trouble... I'll be loving you always... You know what, a thought just entered my head, maybe I found it comforting and hopeful while you find it depressing because I'm female and you're a guy!

Funny that... My hubby says the same thing, that their early output sounds depressing and hopeless :laugh3: I have never felt that - I certainly felt the darkness, but within all that there was always acceptance and validation, and hope! Faint, but hope nevertheless :) Although not every song is hopeful - this might be why I tend to listen to their early work in a run eg whole albums / bsides from an era... You find it too depressing but I find the melancholy eventually balances out with hope :D

we live in a beautiful world... I saw sparks... Don't you shiver... But they can't touch you, no... Look how they shine for you... I never meant to cause you trouble... I'll be loving you always... You know what, a thought just entered my head, maybe I found it comforting and hopeful while you find it depressing because I'm female and you're a guy!

 

*LOL* Who knows :) To me its not much the lyrics though (after all even Viva has quite a lot of "dark" content), but the chord progressions of some early work are quite melancholic and yes even depressing. The music tone plays a big part for me. So I think its the music that transmits that to me more than the lyrics, even though songs about "love lost/unrequited love" also are much present in their early works and another factor the resonated with me hehe

 

But yeah every album has hints of hope in the end, but to me the early works communicated something like "My life sucks, Im here suffering but maybe there is light in the distant future so on we go" , while the from X&Y and onwards (and especially from Viva) the music is vibrant and the tone of the lyrics/ music say to me "You know what we might be in trouble and suffering right now but the sun will come out!". So hope in both cases but while the first is more passive, the latter is more like actively there! And maybe it all goes back to your conclusion...guys tend to resonate to more "active/strong" tones while girls tend to resonate to the more subtle and mellow. I guess my musings here support your theory ! *LOL*

 

Isn't it great how we are all so different? :)

Interesting... I became a proper fan with X&Y but I was already listening to their music, so I know that AROBTTH and Viva are their best albums, but also X&Y and Parachutes are great and they're not so distant from the other two albums I mentioned before.

Ghost Stories has some good songs (especially Midnight), but also some low points (ASFOS the lowest). The other two albums are just offensive to their back catalogue.

interestingly, there is a trend among fans to rank the album era they started listening to coldplay relatively high, except for gs. and i feel badly for the parachutes era fans. they are at an all time low point with coldplay, much more than the average fan from another era.

 

This is so interesting!!! Thank you for sharing this, it's brilliant!

My theory on the trend mentioned above is that people get attached to the album that got them to fall in love with the band as a whole, more than to other albums, like members who previously posted on here have suggested. I became a die-hard fan with MX, and while I probably wouldn't rank it as the highest if I was somehow capable of making a ranking of all their albums, I definitely would never be able to put it last, because I will always feel a strong bond to it. It's at that time that I first watched tons of Coldplay concerts, that I joined this community, that I first went to a Coldplay gig, that I watched all those interviews from every era.... I think we're bound to be biased regarding that first album, maybe we associate memories of falling for the band and everything, and so the other albums don't bring as much passion as that one.

My theory on the trend mentioned above is that people get attached to the album that got them to fall in love with the band as a whole, more than to other albums, like members who previously posted on here have suggested. I became a die-hard fan with MX, and while I probably wouldn't rank it as the highest if I was somehow capable of making a ranking of all their albums, I definitely would never be able to put it last, because I will always feel a strong bond to it. It's at that time that I first watched tons of Coldplay concerts, that I joined this community, that I first went to a Coldplay gig, that I watched all those interviews from every era.... I think we're bound to be biased regarding that first album, maybe we associate memories of falling for the band and everything, and so the other albums don't bring as much passion as that one.

i too think this is a valid point. but i'm an outlier here. i got into coldplay just before mx was released because i saw the 2003 grammy performance, and never turned around. but i rank mx in the bottom half, and hardly listen to it fully. but generally, i think you are right :)