My dad really likes Coldplay! He couldn't name all their songs and doesn't know a whole lot about the band (One time I was talking to him and I said, "You know how Coldplay is British, right?" to which he replied, "What? No. I didn't know...") but he's told me about how he likes the songs he has heard. I think his favorite is Green Eyes.
My brother used to pick on me when I was little because I liked Coldplay. But when VLV came out, he started stealing my Coldplay CDs until I bought him VLV and X&Y for his birthday.
Almost all my friends don't really listen to anything other than hit songs on the radio and a lot of them didn't even know who Coldplay was or they'd ask, "are they the ones that play that song Clocks?" But Clocks is my least favorite song of theirs so I kind of just cringed a little when I said yes. The ones that did know about music always made fun of me for liking Coldplay - or, you know, not just friends, but people would automatically judge me for saying Coldplay was my favorite band. And if I ever wanted to talk music (and, believe me, I'm kind of bad at conversation unless we're talking about music), I'd have to say things like, "well, Coldplay is my favorite band... BUT I do actually know my stuff I love Minor Threat and totally worship The Cramps. Come on, I know my punk." or, you know, people totally doubt that I own anything by T.I. and that I listen to Beyonce just as much as I do Coldplay sometimes.
But now that VLV came out, a lot of people who "hated" Coldplay before, love them now. Or they don't judge them based on one song anymore; be it Yellow or Clocks... Of course not all of them are as obsessed about them as I am, but they appreciate them a lot more.
But I think that has to do with how much we've all grown up. I mean, I was eleven when I first got into Coldplay. Back then it was cool to listen to bands like HIM and Simple Plan and whatever else was on the radio... And if you listened to anything else, people giggled and looked at you weird. Which is weird in itself but whatever. And now I'm 17, I'm going to be a senior in highschool, and people my age are okay with being themselves and not worrying about what other people think (as much). Of course, not everyone is like that but I like to think we're more mature. Which, if you hang out with the right people, they don't really care about what you listen to.
Besides, I don't like Lady Gaga but almost all my friends love her. We can't all agree on everything.