That seemingly miniscule statement might have been taken the wrong way if it was anyone but McCartney speaking. However, Paul once described another band in the same terms, and that band was the Beatles.

The compliment has to come as a huge sigh of relief to Chris Martin, especially after the group appeared on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards in Sgt. Pepper knockoffs this last February. Though, it must be noted that Coldplay’s album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends came away with the Best Rock Album Grammy and just missed winning the Album of the Year award while Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band won the Album of the Year.

In an interview with the San Antonia Express-News’ Hector Saldana Martin expressed gratitude for the comment. Martin and seemingly the entire group have remained mesmerized by their own fame. Martin mentioned in the same interview how he was blown away by a recent Bruce Springsteen concert and noted that Jay-Z’s ability to carry himself as an artist has made him one of Martin’s musical heroes.

It has not occurred to Martin, at least publicly, that he and his “good little band” are a big deal, a big enough deal to get Jay-Z to fly out to England to perform with them during there last few concerts on the Viva la Vida tour.

U2 met as teenagers with limited musical proficiency and grew as a group, learning their instruments as they tried to become rock stars. Coldplay met in college after several of the members had already put in the work to become quite talented rock musicians (apart from Will Champion who learned percussion, but had previous expertise on the piano, violin, and guitar).

U2 came of age (in 1976) when their influences were groups like the Clash, the Ramones, and Joy Division. Coldplay came together in the mid-90s when alternative rock was replacing grunge. These two might seem to be the same, but they are not. Pearl Jam may have been playing in Seattle, but they were not grunge, Nirvana was. Coldplay took their influences from Radiohead (when they still had a little rock to their sound) and folk/indie rockers like Jeff Buckley and Travis.

Those different influences can be heard in their music. Bono’s falsetto fights magnificently with the guitar anthems from The Edge. U2 can best be melodic and expressive with those larger than life vocals. Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin’s voice echoes along the melodic orchestration behind him. Coldplay is perhaps best described as melodic, but with a more meditative touch, perhaps inching toward a blue-eyed soul for the rock world.

These voices sing of personal struggles, though Bono tends to move toward the more global problems that he perhaps encountered in Ireland. Martin sings of those internalized struggles, free from the conflicting society of Ireland. Just as both lead singers sing of struggle, both are avid activists, but even in that respect they are quite close to polar opposites.

Bono has received a steady stream of criticism for his quite outspoken pursuit to the end of poverty, war, and many others of the world’s ailments. Martin is as avid as a supporter, yet seems restrained. Which approach works best is perhaps difficult to decide since they both fight for the same causes, but the reality is that both are attaching their celebrity to ideals and that may be enough in the end, to make a difference.

So, which is the group is the greatest rock group on the British Isles, in the Western Hemisphere, and in the world? Their approaches, their musical styles may be at opposite end of the wide spectrum of alternative rock, and Coldplay may be conquering the world softly while U2 brazenly applies for the title of best rock and roll group in the world every so few years, but perhaps this is one genre where there is room for two kings.

First Martin and Buckland were part of a group called Pectoralz. The early rendition of Coldplay added it third member, bassist Guy Berryman, after the two had met him in a class. The group changed names, from the Pectoralz to the Starfish.

Phil Harvey, a friend of Martin who was studying Classics at Oxford, became the unofficial fifth member when he took over managerial duties. The fourth member of the group, Will Champion, was the last to join. Champion originally had no real experience as a drummer, but his background and proficiency with a number of instruments (piano, violin, guitar, and bass) proved helpful as he learned to play.

Starfish became Coldplay at the suggestion of Tim Crompton. Crompton was a local student that had been using the name for his own group. Coldplay almost added a fifth member to play the keyboard, but Tim Rice-Oxley declined the invitation, remaining a group member of Keane.

The group’s pivotal moment came in 1998. Martin was upset over the level of control practiced by the promoters throughout Camden. Harvey, until then simply associated with the group, suggested that the band throw its own concert. It was at this concert that Harvey truly became the manager of Coldplay and that the band sold its first albums, selling 50 copies of the Safety EP.

Eventually Coldplay ended up on the Fierce Panda label, an independent label. They released the Brothers and Sisters EP, an EP with three songs that were recorded over four days in February 1999.

The members of Coldplay officially graduated from college in Spring 1999, and were pleased to sign a five-album deal with Parlophone, who fell under the EMI label. The new label led to an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, the largest outdoor music and performing arts festival in the world. The group also released a third EP, The Blue Room.

The recording sessions for The Blue Room were a trying time for the group. Martin kicked Champion out of the band, but went into a guilt-induced drinking binge. In the end the differences were mended and decided that the group would become a democratic affair, equally splitting the profits and influence over the musical direction. The group also agreed to jettison any band member that used drugs, though not liquor.

The first full-length studio album from Coldplay was Parachutes. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios with Ken Nelson as the producer. Coldplay began working on the album in March 1999 and finally released the album in July 2000. The group had modest success on the UK charts with the first single “Shiver”. The second single, “Yellow” rocketed to number four on the UK charts and, along with a headlining tour, boosted sales from an expected amount of 400,000 to 1.6 million.

Coldplay made the transition from a UK sensation to a worldwide phenomenon later in 2000 when they played their first North American show in Vancouver and made the television rounds, appearing on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman. The album took longer to catch on, but eventually reached double platinum status in the U.S., earning a Best Alternative Music Album Grammy Award in 2002.

The group began work on its second album in October 2001 with Ken Nelson returning as the producer. The album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, did not fare as well with critics, but was a hit with fans. The album, released in August 2002, had hit songs like “In My Place” and “Clocks”. The album went four times platinum in the U.S. and seven times platinum in the UK, peaking at number one in the both countries.

As the group became more successful, Phil Harvey felt increasingly pressured, eventually turning over managerial duties to Dave Holmes, but remaining involved with the group with regards to the creative output, for instance writing the liner notes to A Rush of Blood to the Head.

The group promoted the album A Rush of Blood to the Head until 2004, capping off the experience with a 2004 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The next album had to wait as the group took a break. Notably, Martin and his wife Gwyneth Paltrow, had a daughter, Apple. Coldplay began working on the third full-length studio album in 2005. The album, X&Y, hit the shelves in June 2005. The album went on to become the best selling album worldwide that year.

Singles like “Speed of Sound”, “Fix You”, and “Talk” were mainstays on the radio, but the album was a disappointment to many critics. Still, the album sold well and earned acclaim at the 2006 BRIT Awards.

Coldplay had its first experience with wide spread criticism and returned to the studio in October 2006. The group drew upon its experience touring in South America and enlisted a new producer, the legendary Brian Eno. The result was Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The album received rave reviews and was another commercial smash hit, peaking at number one in 17 countries and going double platinum in the U.S. and triple platinum in the UK.

The group embarked on a massive worldwide tour in 2008 that lasted until the end of 2009, when they will play with Jay Z (who had several recordings where he dubbed over Coldplay hits) on three stages in their home, the UK.

American Music Awards

The BRIT Awards

Grammy Awards

MTV Europe Awards

MTV Music Awards

EPs

Studio Albums

But, what I find so interesting is the styles being combined here. Coldplay’s sound is far from edgy. Its emotional pop rock vocals and instrumentation create much more atmosphere than in your face, look-at-me sounds. Jay-Z is known for being provocative and for attacking an audience with lyrics that standout and force the listener to what he is saying.

The song works, from a point of view completely detached from the popularity of the rock-hip hop movement, because of that difference in style. The song sounds a little layered, admittedly, but the atmospheric presence of Coldplay remains comfortably in either the background or the foreground of the song, allowing Jay-Z to say whatever he wants and without clashing (at least obviously, I have not listened too intently to the competing lyrics).

The part of the song that I find so amusing is that each music entity is popular for different reasons. Coldplay publicly admits that they are not cool guys. Chris Martin, the front man and thus the true representative of the group, looks like an average guy who tries to get through throngs of photographers with his head sheepishly tilted down, peering up to get to wherever he is going. Jay-Z lives life big.

Even though he and Beyonce kept their relationship a private matter, his personal presence in any room looms large. He attracts attention and wants it. That is not to say that Martin hates attention. He is a star and thus almost by definition likes being in the public eye, but his reputation is that of a shy guy struggling with his celebrity. This mash of two public appearances is perhaps more amusing and entertaining than the song itself.

ColdPlay Band

I am an anglophile. I love sitcoms from the BBC, even if the American versions most often expose how bad the show is minus the accent (some say that American producers just do not get what makes them funny, I disagree, obviously). I love girls with British accents 9much like my girlfriend melts when ever Colin Firth speaks). I love British music. I like their take on rock and roll. While the State’s popular musicians say they are influenced by the blues, few have that same desperate, hard edge (with the exception of the Black Keys and the White Stripes).

To me it just seems that even the most pop oriented groups like Coldplay have something that makes an otherwise overly emotional anthem bearable, and even enjoyable. I thought about the big British bands and what each of them means to me. In the end I found that Coldplay, Radiohead, and Oasis (I am a child of the ‘90s) fit together like a CW primetime soap.

Coldplay is the male lead. He is, or they are, the well meaning focus of the story line, pining after love or justice. At times his whining can be annoying, but deep down, it is his struggle that drives the show and, in this case, the music landscape. It is hard to argue that they do not hold that mantle in mainstream music. They are the clean cut group that play huge shows around the world and sell a ridiculous number of albums.

Radiohead is the secondary character everyone knows is cool. He can do what he wants with almost no consequence. The group put out huge albums with OK Computer and Kid A that went platinum, but albums since have struggled to get passed gold in the U.S. and in many countries around the world. Still the albums reached number one on the charts. It is this lack of commercial follow through, often due to their individuality and shunning of all things conventional that make them the second lead. Everyone knows them, but few find relevance with their struggle.

Last, but not least, is Oasis. He is the bad boy, the menacing character that likes to cause problems and attract attention for his antics and not his struggle. This bad boy has a couple of domineering, squabbling brothers (Liam and Noel Gallagher) ruining the moment every chance they get. Still, they make things interesting and that makes them, or him, a must at every party or in every discussion. Oasis’s sound, its simple stripped down guitar sound (I know they stray sometimes, but this is what we all remember) is symbolic here. That simple sound makes them a one-dimensional character on the rock scene, sure to throw a beer bottle into the crowd or throw fists amongst each other in between songs during a set.

Alas, here is the British music scene, a meta-music soap opera that this anglophile cannot stop listening to.

Coldplay’s latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, has a mixed critical response. Some appreciate the change from its traditional melodramatic style and some find fault with the album not going far enough off their road to success.

The positive reviews seem content with a familiar sound with a new twist. Chris Martin’s voice is a little lower and the lyrics are a little more abstract with universal themes that will connect everyone in an arena. The album is as tight as the ensembles costumes on stage. The uniforms of soldiers fighting for freedom (taking more of a French Revolution approach than an American Revolution approach, a choice influenced, without a doubt, by the fact that they are British) finds an amicable place with critics like Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic.

The critical reviews look at Coldplay and wish they took the road of Radiohead. Critics have compared early Coldplay to early Radiohead. Many of these critics would have liked Coldplay to take the same jump as Radiohead did between The Bends and OK Computer. These critics see the slight influence of the sounds of Latino musical traditions as a mere shuffle of the feet instead of a full step forward.

The question is then what do the critics expect from the band. Coldplay is undeniably popular on a world scale. To appease these critics should they should they alienate fans and work for several commercially soft albums to rebuild the audience, sans Radiohead? Or should Coldplay accept their pop stardom uncomfortably and keep making albums that do not veer too far from the tastes of the people and remain relevant as a band that can sellout an arena and move massive numbers of albums?

Thus is the argument of art versus commerce. Only time will tell what the band does. Do they keep playing rope-a-dope with the criticism, even embracing it, or do they try and find some other artistic aspirations and influences? I do not know. I like Radiohead and would not mind another, but I have a feeling that if they went down that road the same critics would call them posers for trying to infringe on Radiohead’s domain.

]]> http://www.cold-play.com/2008/09/30/viva-la-vida-an-album-that-represents-growth-or-an-album-that-is-too-scared-to-experiment/feed/ 0 http://www.cold-play.com/2008/09/16/coldplay-ushers-in-the-tipping-point-of-digital-sales/ http://www.cold-play.com/2008/09/16/coldplay-ushers-in-the-tipping-point-of-digital-sales/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:58:19 +0000 blaha http://www.cold-play.com/?p=71

It seems fitting that iTunes had its largest digital pre-order for Coldplay’s latest album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The group pre-sold 288,000 albums, mostly on iTunes, and was perhaps the first to truly usher in the preeminent era of digital downloads.

iTunes had been a terrific vehicle to get that one good song off an otherwise awful or for continuously giving Arrested Development fans hope while Fox did its best to put obstacles (bad weekly timeslots, running the show against the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics).

Coldplay sold an entire album before it was released. That means that people were paying for 12 tracks with little more than a preview or a liking for the singles that swamped the radio waves. Coldplay’s wide commercial success is most likely the first step in the emerging dominance in the commercial dominance of the Internet over the record store.

Some would argue that Radiohead was the first huge digital success. Radiohead used a donation system, which is essentially giving away the album for free or almost free. The market created buzz for the English group, but it was Coldplay that truly turned a viable profit and not just a marketing strategy with the use of iTunes.

History may look back and lament that a band that is admittedly melodramatic rock pop was the first to break through, but the true test was if a band that was a huge draw could turn its listeners into digital customers.

The next big question is will compact discs find a place in the anti-establishment cool movement like records or will they simply disappear like tapes?

That early edition of Coldplay was called the Pectoralz. It consisted of Martin as the lead singer, a backup guitarist, and a pianist and Buckland as the lead guitarist. The two brought in their classmate Guy Berryman, who become the bassist and by 1997 the group, now known as Starfish, was playing little clubs in the Camden section of London. The group kept on picking up friends, with Phil Harvey becoming the manager and Will Champion becoming the drummer, learning to play on the job.

Starfish needed a name, that name came from friend Tim Crompton. Starfish became Coldplay. Crompton had been using the name for his own band, but found the name too depressing. The name would become a staple on radio stations around the world as the new Coldplay quickly found a fan base.

The group found a sound that lands somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Oasis. That melodic alternative, sometimes piano, rock was featured the Safety EP. Distributed mainly to friends and music labels, the EP landed them a deal with the independent label Fierce Panda. In 1999, the first truly commercial release was the Brothers and Sisters EP, a three-track album made over four days in February of 1999. The group stayed cool and completed school before signing with Parlophone Records.

The five-album deal kicked off with the release of The Blue Room EP. Coldplay almost went through its first lineup change during the tense recording sessions. Martin kicked Champion out of the group. Martin took back his words and begged him to come back, new rules creating a democracy that evenly split the profits and banned hard drug use were put in place and the EP yielded a single, “Bigger Stronger,” that earned some air time on Radio 1.

Three EPs and no hits put the group and the label in a difficult position. The group began to make some headway when “Shiver” breached the Top 40 in the UK and finally broke out with the release and popularity of “Yellow”. The song’s heavy music video rotation on MTV took the group from a lucky spot with other struggling new bands on the Carling Tour to the release of their first full-length album, Parachutes, in July of 2000 and their first headlining tour.

Despite criticism for a resemblance of the album to Radiohead’s sound around the time of The Bends, the album won the Mercury Music Prize, a British award for the best album of the year, and debuted as the number one album on the UK charts. The American release of the melodic pop album complete with distorted guitar came months later in November and heavy touring off U.S. clubs in 2001 as well as appearances on popular programs like SNL, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and the Late Show with David Letterman helped the album win over fans and critics alike, winning the Best Alternative Music Album award at the 2002 Grammy Awards.

Coldplay returned to the studios with producer Ken Nelson and quickly recorded A Rush of Blood to the Head. The singles “In My Place,” “Clocks,” and “The Scientist” took over the radio and their music videos were featured on MTV as the group toured five continents following the release of the album in August 2002.

The new album brought a whole new slew of accolades. Rolling Stone’s readers voted the group the best artist and band of the year in 2003. The new album again won Coldplay the Best Alternative Music Album award at the Grammys, but also went one step further and won the Record of the Year for the single “Clocks”.

Two huge hit albums and years of heavy touring left the members of Coldplay exhausted. They went into recluse in 2004, focusing on recording their third album. With a new set of influences from a wide array of sources, including David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd, and Kate Bush, the result was the album X&Y.

The album’s release was delay until June 2005 in the UK and Europe, but the change in schedule did nothing to stop the incredible success of the album. Coldplay’s new album was the best selling album that year and single “Speed of Sound” edbuted number one in 22 different countries. Coldplay was now officially a global phenomenon. Now in the forefront of the music world, the group found its new album to be met with harsh critical backlash from some and praise for others, they were called the next U2.

The release was accompanied with the Twisted Logic Tour, a headling tour that embraced festivals like Coachella, Glastonbury, and the Austin City Limits Musical Festival. The group also continued its history of political activism with a performance at