Chris Martin: "Being sued is inspiring"

In a spin-off article from Coldplay's official interview recently, Music Radar are reporting that Chris Martin says that being sued for alleged plagiarism has inspired him to become a better songwriter.

Last December, guitarist Joe Satriani sued Coldplay, claiming that the group lifted "substaintial original portions" of his 2004 composition If I Could Fly for their recent Grammy-winning song Viva La Vida.

Coldplay have denied such allegations, and Martin says that he has tried to turn a negative experience into a positive: "Some people are suing us at the moment and although it was initially a bit depressing, now it's become really inspiring," he said in an interview for Coldplay's official website, Coldplay.com.

Martin went on to say, "You think, 'Right, if everyone's trying to take away our best song, then we'd better write 25 better ones'. And so just at the point where I was thinking about getting fat and becoming complacent, I've been finding more inspiration. Now we've got more to prove than ever before."

Joe Satriani isn't the only musician who is accusing Coldplay of plagiariam. Recently, Yusuf Islam - you know, Cat Stevens - has said that Viva La Vida sounds like a lift from one of his songs from back in the day. Of course, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it would appear that the list of people feeling a pat on the back seems to be growing.

Meanwhile, PrefixMag are reporting that the Joe Satriani vs. Coldplay bout is moving past vague innuendos and promises of lawsuits into a possible courtroom showdown. It's unlikely that Coldplay won't settle before a trial, but if they don't, there's a strong chance that the myriad of YouTube commenters who rushed to videos compairing Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" to Satriani's "I I Could Fly" could be called to the stand to testify about the similarities between the songs.

It's unclear who would benefit from YouTube commenters testifying, but either side could use them to their advantage. Coldplay's attorneys could claim that these people can't really say for sure that the songs are similar, and Satriani's attorneys could say that they proved the songs similarities. On YouTuber in particular has been mentioned; a guitar teacher who made two videos breaking down the songs in his studio. I bet getting called to testify would make that dude's life.

Chris Martin at Cruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach:

Pictures: SPIN