The two biggest groups coming out of the British Isles, without question, are Coldplay (United Kingdom) and U2 (Ireland). Although the groups are known for chart toppers in the alternative rock genre, for being Grammy Award winners, and as celebrity activists, the groups are really quite different.

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.