RunForTheHills

Aww, it was really nice! :nice:

Really I think Coldplay only sound U2-ish in a few of their songs, and even then, the similarities are only in the sound of the music. Their lyrics are completely different to one another. Some of X&Y sounded a bit U2 in my opinion, and also songs like Lovers In Japan, but again it's not like anything is identical. There a plenty of other bands out there that sound a LOT more like Coldplay than U2 do, Thirteen Senses, The Fray, and Starsailor, just to name a few. And then you have Embrace, that sounds like U2 and Coldplay merged together.

If we're talking Pop in terms of how popular the band is now, in terms of album sales and the number of fans and the like, then yes, Coldplay have become progressively more popular with each album release. But if we're talking strictly in terms of the genre of music they produce which I think was more what the question was implying, then I don't think it's nearly as straight forward. Firstly, when we think about "pop music", what kind of traits do we notice while listening to it? For me, its mostly the song structure and catchiness that define whether a song can be considered pop or not. Pop songs are usually the easiest out of all genres of music to learn and memorise, which is why i think, they are so successful on the radio and most music TV channels. They don't really require much attention to really enjoy them, and the melodies and / or lyrics usually get stuck in your head after one or 2 listens, whether you like it or not. Taking that into consideration, I think that coldplay have always had some elements of "pop" in their music. But I find that they execute that quite differently to a lot of the radio friendly pop groups around these days - its generally more subtle, and I like that. People generally see Parachutes as being their least poppy record, which does make sense in some ways, but I still think most of the songs on there fit the pop genre quite well when taking into consideration the song structures, at least. Yellow got so much radioplay at the time it was released because it has a simple, catchy melody, with memorable lyrics, arguably more than the other songs from that album. And I think you'll find that if you look at which coldplay songs got the most radioplay, such as the scientist, clocks, speed of sound, Lost! and viva la vida, you'll see that they all have one or two very obvious "hooks", some more obvious than others - clocks is the most interesting one out of all of them, because there is barely even a chorus in that song. But for clocks the hook has to be that ingenius, repeating piano riff - and personally for me, this is one Coldplay's least "poppy" singles, and its interesting that its also one of their most recognisable songs ever. I think that highlights the genius of coldplay - they really know how to blur the line between pop and alternative rock, while keeping the best elements of both genres in their music. I actually think they achieved this fusion of genres most successfully on AROBTTH, which its probably why I like it so much. With X&Y, I think they lost their charm a little, maybe, and for me that album feels a little less timeless because of it. In my opinion, I think the approach to that album was very different from the last two - while Parachutes and AROBTTH were primarily alternative rock albums with pop elements subtly infused into them, X&Y was probably made with more of a "big and catchy" mindset... something they do well, definitely, but I think they sacrificed some of their subtlety and I think thats really what makes their music special. With VLVODAAHF, I definitely think they regained a lot of that charm and subtlety that I loved on AROBTTH, but in a slightly different way, I think. Nowadays, I think coldplay are very concious that they have very high standards to live up to, which is why they felt the need to be a bit more "big" sounding on X&Y. But on the new album, I think they have readjusted their sound so that its very much that nice blend of pop / alt rock that they produced during the AROBTTH era. And its interesting because I wouldn't call it AROBTTH part 2 either - there's a lot more going on here, more exploration here and there, more dynamics, I think - but only just. In terms of how poppy it is though, I wouldn't say any more than their last albums, apart from Viva La Vida and Lost!, and perhaps LIJ, I'd say they are very much where they were 6 years ago, only now with expanded horizons. If anything, I think the new album is less poppy than X&Y, maybe even AROBTTH, but its hard to say. But I think the key difference between AROBTTH and VLVOD is something a lot more intangible. As much as they've tried to make their music more subtle and less straight forward again after X&Y, well, I think that's just it - with this one, they were conciously trying to be more expansive, or however you would like to put it. Not that they were trying too hard, per se, but I think they were definitely more relaxed on AROBTTH - it seems to me that they weren't thinking too much about how this and that song should specifically sound, it was just more, I don't know... natural. So I think this might be why I and a lot of people don't think that VLVOD is quite as good as AROBTTH is, just because its slightly lacking a very subtle ingredient - Coldplay doing what they do best. Just to say that I love all their albums regardless :D. And sorry for such a long and drawn out post - bad habits die hard :rolleyes: [/needs a blog]

Haha, exactly, I think that'd be so awesome :D But just as long as they havn't thrown them out though, I guess...

Or hang all them from the cieling by strings, so that they could turn them around and still read the messages on the back :D

Now that WOULD be awesome :D :P

^Even then, I don't think there's much point in doing another project that involves sending stuff to the band, because it will never have the same impact as this one did. And planning to organise something for the release of the next album is the wrong way to think about these things - the Postcards project just WORKED, mostly because it wasn't planned beforehand to celebrate the release of anything. It was a product of INSPIRATION.

Exactly, i really don't see the point of making a project just for the sake of doing one. And something like that is pretty empty and meaningless (in my opinion). Whereas, the Postcards project was arguably perfect, and very well timed, too. It was relevant, and not overdone. And I don't think we'll have the oppertunity to make anything quite as special for a LONG time.

I really think we need to give this project at LEAST 2 years to seep in. Because really, it's special just because it was original and unexpected, and thanks to Lore, it was inspired directly by one of their songs. That's what really made this special. So unless something else really inspiring comes out next year or something, I don't think starting up another project is such a cool idea.

:bigcry: I probably look like a big sap, but I just can't get over this video :P :D :hug:

:dead: :hug: I can't even really describe it, Chelsea. It's amazing to know that the guys know you exist, and its even more amazing knowing that they recognised how much work you put in. Really, I couldn't have asked for anything more :nice: And you impeccable organisation, that wonderful coverletter, EVERYTHING you did... none of this would have been possible without you :nice: [/slightly_cheesy]

Ahhh, that is amazing to hear :D. That has seriously made my month, possibly even my year :nice: I just can't believe this all worked out! And I'm so glad they liked it:D And thanks for pointing that out to them, you are seriously the best :P

*huge all encompassing hug* :hug: It's such a perfect day :wacky:

Hahaa, aww :P Well I definitely think it was worth it :D. I tried to get my postcard laminated (didn't in the end), but the guy behind the till was all like ":inquisitive:" :P

Yes, that was me :D Semy. It's just an amazing feeling to see the logo on the video, too. :nice:

Debs, thats such a nice story :nice: I'm so glad they liked them! And that caricature of Chris was mine! :P I'm glad he didn't freak out when he saw it, I was worried he'd start thinking that's the way people actually see him :lol: Again, thank you sooo much :kiss:

This is litterally the best thing ever. Thank you sooo much for making this video Debs :bigcry: :dance: Can anyone tell me how to rip this video? Its really urgent, Chelsea (who was heading the project) hasn't even seen it yet :sad:

I SAW MINE! :dead: THANK YOU SOOO MUCH DEBS :dance:

:bigcry:

:wideeyed: Can't wait to see what it is! :dance:

Wow, I love Kingdom Of Rust (the song). I thought Jetstream was pretty good, but now I'm really excited for this album :D

Flick to page 311.

That would be amazing :cheesy:! Thank you :nice: And if anyone needs me to search for stuff, I'll be happy to help. Its a friday night and I have nothing better to do anyway :P

Lore, the first post had all the updates, as you can see. And i didn't see anyone getting confused by the off-topic talk, either - if you could quote the posters that were getting confused, that would make this a bit clearer. But anyone with half a braincell would realise that UPDATES would be put in the FIRST POST, and not the most recent ones. I still don't really see what the problem is.