Corkus

I wasn't explicitly going out of my way to bash it here, but maybe I have indeed run my schtick into the ground by this point. Noted. Though that Darth Vader comparison was admittedly pretty awesome. :laugh3:

I'm ashamed I used to be one of you guys who would blindly worship everything they did and couldn't take an ounce of criticism. :facepalm: I'm going to continue hating just because it annoys you guys so much. I've been on this forum for several years and joined during a time where I had been a longtime fan but had wavering confidence. But I stuck with them for the time being because I still saw redeeming qualities in them. Those qualities are gone. Wake up, guys. There's nothing wrong with still liking Coldplay, but I see a lot of posts around these parts about how Coldplay is the only band people listen to, and that clouds your judgment immensely. And yes, I am better than you, deal with it. ;)

"There's no worst Coldplay album"? HAHAHAHA YOU GUYS ARE SISSIES you seriously love them all equally? Pretty obvious what I voted by this point. (click the poll results if you somehow don't know)

Heaven: Charlie Brown Us Against the World Life: U.F.O. Up With the Birds Purgatory: Hurts Like Heaven Don't Let It Break Your Heart Up in Flames Hell: Paradise Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall Major Minus Princess of China

Viva was a huge mix of good and bad. Was my least favorite album to date but I didn't flat-out hate it like MX. It seemed like as a response to the accusations of Coldplay's formula being recycled, they felt like trying a bunch of random experiments to see if any of them took off. Adding strings and bombast was their new thing, as evidenced by the title track's success among others, which I didn't care for since the record didn't sound focused in the slightest. On the other hand, I did enjoy the cleaner, more raw efforts on the album like "Cemeteries of London" and "Strawberry Swing", and I guess "Death and All His Friends" was a nice enough track too. But I also really hated tracks like "Yes" and "42", which were also interesting ideas but far less enjoyable. That said, I think I'm one of the few people who far prefers LiT to LiT2.

AROBTTH is the only correct answer. Voting any of the other albums will get you a specific punishment that varies in severity depending on which one you voted for. Parachutes gets you away with a light slap, X&Y gets you a harder slap, VLV gets you a slap and then a bowling ball in the gut, and MX gets you the slap, the bowling ball, and a toilet swirlie.

Actually, a lot of people say "an historic", and it drives me nuts.

This isn't even a song.

:hug: :daisy: :botoxlips:

They still may or may not make the list, but what I've hard of the album thus far seems more promising than a recent effort by a certain other pop-rock act they frequently get compared to. (we can take it to the Snow Patrol thread if you would like to argue this further :P)

In a surprising twist, Pitchfork showered a fair bit of praise on the album. Gave it a 7.0. Personally, that doesn't sway me either way, but DAMN this "feud" I'm having in the MX forum is hilarious right now.

That was awesome. :awesome: Such a shame I can't fit that whole post in my signature. You summed up my role here better than I ever possibly could. :stunned:

So was I, but I at least I can always find a humorous spin in a varying viewpoint. :hug:

At least I have thoughts, and independent ones at that. But it's okay, cheer up. :hug:

For some perspective: Parachutes: 5.3/10 A Rush of Blood to the Head: 5.1/10 X&Y: 4.9/10 Viva la Vida: 6.9/10 Prospekt's March: 6.0/10 Mylo Xyloto: 7.0/10 Further proving my theory that Coldplay has drawn so much hatred over the years that Pitchfork has suddenly realized that hating on Coldplay is way too mainstream, and now has no choice but to LIKE them in order to stay hip and contrary. But seriously, I feel more slobbering from this review than in other sources' 8/10 and 9/10 reviews.

Pitchfork thinks Mylo Xyloto is better than the new Wilco album! :shocked2:

Was about to post this as its own topic, but I'll live with this, as I think I just heard the distant sound of a galaxy imploding. Their highest Coldplay score ever.

It and Showbiz were released after Absolution here. Doesn't excuse NME since they're not an American publication. :lol:

Okay, here we go: 1. Florence and the Machine - "Spectrum" 2. Fleet Foxes - "Grown Ocean" 3. PJ Harvey - "All and Everyone" 4. Wilco - "One Sunday Morning" 5. The Joy Formidable - "Whirring" 6. Bright Eyes - "Jejune Stars" 7. Florence and the Machine - "No Light, No Light" 8. The National - "Think You Can Wait" 9. Elbow - "Open Arms" 10. Radiohead - "Codex" 11. Bon Iver - "Holocene" 12. Beirut - "A Candle's Fire" 13. The Kills - "Future Starts Slow" 14. Friendly Fires - "Pull Me Back to Earth" 15. Lykke Li - "Jerome" 16. M83 - "Midnight City" 17. Florence and the Machine - "Seven Devils" 18. Feist - "The Undiscovered First" 19. The Decemberists - "This Is Why We Fight" 20. Wye Oak - "Civilian" 21. My Morning Jacket - "Circuital" 22. DeVotchKa - "All the Sand in All the Sea" 23. Mates of State - "Palomino" 24. Arctic Monkeys - "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" 25. My Brightest Diamond - "Be Brave" 26. Smith Westerns - "Weekend" 27. Fleet Foxes - "The Shrine/An Argument" 28. PJ Harvey - "The Words That Maketh Murder" 29. St. Vincent - "Surgeon" 30. The Vaccines - "Post Break-Up Sex" 31. Kathryn Calder - "Who Are You?" Modifications could still be made as those Black Keys and Snow Patrol albums are released.

Update time! Nothing remaining on the horizon for me the rest of the year. Quite a few new additions since the last time, and to make things clean, I'm excluding lots of old support acts in this version (most of which I hardly remember at all anyway, and also because I'm too embarrassed to post a list that includes the Plain White T's):

Nothing has improved, sadly, though "U.F.O." and "Up in Flames" soured on me pretty quickly. Upon first listen they were welcome reprieves from the terrible tracks before and a moment of pause before the terrible tracks immediately after, but really, that's all they are. "U.F.O." is a nice acoustic number, but if it were on a much earlier album, it wouldn't have passed as anything more than a B-side. "Up in Flames" is a track that had potential, but some idiotic decisions like the horrid beat and the poor chorus send it - for lack of better pun - up in flames. Two tracks that prove simplicity isn't necessarily wonderful. Just less awful than the other surrounding tracks.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/10/album-review-coldplay-mylo-xyloto/ Coldplay – noun – an English quartet that creates accessible alternative rock, glazed over with just enough sentimentality to strangle your heart. (Related forms: Travis, Radiohead, U2, Oasis, et al.) Some love ‘em, some hate ‘em. Regardless, their success is paramount. In a recent op-ed piece in The New Yorker titled “Why Don’t I Like Coldplay?: An Investigation”, writer Sasha Frere-Jones digresses: “What puts [Coldplay] up into some higher level of accessibility must be an averaging of [Chris] Martin’s guarantee to never shock or offend anyone—which parents value—and the toy soldier brand of pageantry and celebration that underpins so many songs.” Fan or not, it’s hard to disagree with Frere-Jones here. Since their inception in the late ’90s, the UK collective have hardly breached areas that weren’t destined for success. Their debut album, Parachutes, oozed of surrounding acclaimed British talents—specifically Travis and early Radiohead—while its follow-up, 2002′s A Rush of Blood to the Head, shifted this sound forward, albeit more polished and assured. Over the past decade, they’ve ricocheted inside the boundaries they’ve built around themselves (e.g. 2005′s X&Y), only cracking through in moments (2008′s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends). But they’re hardly seeking success anymore; instead, success comes to them. This past summer they proved that when they headlined half a dozen festivals without an LP out to support. Visit YouTube, search for “coldplay, fix you, live”, and you’ll see how solid of a connection they have with their audiences today: People eat this stuff up. And they never get full. Ever. On Coldplay’s latest LP, the eccentrically titled Mylo Xyloto, Chris Martin and the gang continue to shelve out these festival-ready ballads and straight-to-cinema singles. The only difference? They’re louder and more polished. If critics had a difficult time considering the band “alternative” before, they’ll lose sleep over it now. Check out current single “Paradise”. It’s catchy, it’s addicting, and it’s almost a paint-by-numbers Coldplay single, except now it’s weighty in excess, sounding more like a hip-hop anthem than something akin to Brit-pop. That’s understandable, especially given Martin’s allegiance to Kanye West and Jay-Z, but it’s slightly gaudy. That’s a good word to work with here: “gaudy.” So much of Mylo Xyloto is awash in synthetic tones, all designed to flash ‘n’ dazzle, that it feels too cheap by its end. Take past single “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall”, probably the album’s weakest track, but also its true harbinger. Heartbeat drums, miles of synth lines, and scattered guitar parts make for one of the most convoluted tracks in the band’s repertoire. Lyrically, it’s almost insulting. We’ve heard many a lame lyric from Martin, but this one’s filled with solid clunkers (“I turn the music up/I got my record on/from underneath the rubble/sing a rebel song”). It doesn’t help that he repeats the annoying title again and again. As Frere-Jones continues in his investigation, “Seven out of ten times, Coldplay sound almost exactly like U2—the U2 that exists now, not the wiry, feral U2 of 1980 (which would be a decent idea).” It’s an obvious comparison (have you heard “Life in Technicolor”?), though it’s never been this obvious. Tracks like the rollicking “Charlie Brown” or the uber-rollicking “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart” echo any number of tracks off recent U2 efforts—vocally and instrumentally. Martin croons at a pace similar to Bono, The Edge haunts Jonny Buckland’s every riff (for best example, see: “Major Minus”), while Adam Clayton could fill in for Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman, and no one would ever know. This sort of aping used to be slightly charming, but now it’s just distracting. With their last effort, Viva La Vida…, Coldplay carved out a dense, intricate collage, layered to precision that, for the most part, worked through and through. Although its later EP, Prospekt’s March, trimmed much of the fat, the original LP can still be regarded for its true focus. To contrast, Mylo Xyloto is a clustered collection of ideas and themes. It’s almost the antithesis of their previous work. A track like “Major Minus” has all the right trinkets for a perfect atmosphere but lacks a solid verse. “Up in Flames” climbs higher and higher but to nowhere in particular. Rihanna interestingly enough pops up on “Princess of China”, but namely for kicks or, to borrow from Perry Farrell, “just because.” It’s not all troublesome. Early on, “Hurts Like Heaven” runs off this TV on the Radio-like swagger, which works to Martin’s benefit. When he croons, “Yes, you/You use your heart like a weapon/and it hurts like heaven,” it’s no doubt nonsensical, but it really gels. Instrumentally, it’s one of the more adventurous pieces. Buckland goes to town before song’s end, skating about under harmonies and effects that tug the heart like old Cure tracks. A little later, Martin keeps things close to earth on “Us Against the World”, one of the more tender moments in the album’s frantic composure. He softly sings, “Through chaos as it swirls/It’s just us against the world.” Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Judging from the hoopla that surrounds them, it’s hard to believe they’re against anyone but themselves. Because of this, Mylo Xyloto feels like the group’s mid-life crisis. They’re attempting to breach their comfort zone, and they’re definitely drilling away here, but it’s questionable whether or not it’s in the right area. But really, does it matter? There’s no real, clean-cut answer to that, though you can start by asking their millions of fans. Essential Tracks: “Hurts Like Heaven”, “Us Against the World”

I was mixed on Viva at first and liked it way less a couple months after.

I've posted a ton about it in the last couple weeks. You'll have to dig through some older posts. (I can find one if you want) But yes, I'm disgusted with nearly every aspect of the album and what the band has become.

Has "Pumped Up Kicks" ever left the charts in the last year-and-a-half? :dozey: