NYTimes: 'The Case Against Coldplay'

[DudeAsInCool]

The Case Against Coldplay

THERE'S nothing wrong with self-pity. As a spur to songwriting, it's right up there with lust, anger and greed, and probably better than the remaining deadly sins. There's nothing wrong, either, with striving for musical grandeur, using every bit of skill and studio illusion to create a sound large enough to get lost in. Male sensitivity, a quality that's under siege in a pop culture full of unrepentant bullying and machismo, shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, no matter how risible it can be in practice. And building a sound on the lessons of past bands is virtually unavoidable.

But put them all together and they add up to Coldplay, the most insufferable band of the decade.

http://nytimes.com/2005/06/05/arts/music/05pare.html

[DudeAsInCool]

Whatever - I like them. With all the crap out there, you'd think this critic would have plenty else to write about.

[DudeAsInCool]

I wish what I said above was true, but noooo...Salon's critic add's a political dimension to his distaste for Coldplay's new album:

The glimmering twins

As Coldplay's Chris Martin cozies up to Tony Blair, a nation's once proud pop music becomes the sound of its bland, middling, centrist government.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

By Brendan O'Neill

June 18, 2005  |  Imagine if the biggest rock band in the United States was fronted by someone who looked and sounded just like George W. Bush. Worse, by someone who was from the same social caste as Bush and who thought that everything Bush does is "BRILLIANT." So BRILLIANT, in fact, that said rock star offered Bush his cell number with an invitation for him to call if he ever felt like chatting about world poverty, or world peace, or fancied being taught how to play a mean F-chord on guitar. You would think that was weird, right? Especially if you associate rock with rebellion -- with the guitar-smashing antics of the Who or the anarchic shenanigans of the Sex Pistols -- and not with schoolgirlish sucking up to the biggest Boss Man of all.

Well, now you know how music fans in Britain must feel: Our biggest stadium-filling rock star is becoming indistinguishable from our Dear Leader. Chris Martin of Coldplay is morphing into Tony Blair of 10 Downing Street. And the rock-politics love-fest imagined above is a reality over here. Martin really did send a hand-written note to Blair, via a journalist, that said: "Dear Mr Blair, My name is Chris; I am the singer in a band called Coldplay ... I think all the stuff you're doing this year in terms of trying to sort the whole place out is BRILLIANT. The Make Poverty History campaign that you're behind is not just a slogan, it's a real possibility, and myself and most of my friends feel like you're one of the only politicians on the world stage who actually wants to achieve it." Martin also offered Blair guitar lessons and wrote down his cell number and, sure enough, he received a call from Blair's people a few days later. Are you barfing yet?

Read more here (after viewing a sort ad):

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/06/1...hris/index.html

[method77]

Whatever - I like them. With all the crap out there, you'd think this critic would have plenty else to write about.

just what I was about to post

[KiwiCoromandel]

good articles none the less and quite an insight into the way people see, hear and interpret things differently to others..on looking at the pics i`d have to say that coldplay`s chris martin does look a lot like blair without a shave....

[Amber]

I also really like them. :bigsmile: :scratchin:

[rainbowdemon]

I was never familiar with Coldplay's music. I just listened to a couple of songs. Not bad, but nothing great either.

[Mister Spong]

What a load of old bilge. I'm not a massive Coldplay fan - that's more the wife's territory, but the new album is a piece of genius - mo exaggeration.

Play it from start to finish and you'll be listening to a great album - and I think to appreciate it properly that's what you need to do.

[Excrement_Cranium]

I haven't given them a chance yet. Kind of lump them in their with Nickelback, Creed, Three Doors Down.

Don't get me wrong, while a lot of people HATE those bands with a passion, I enjoyed quite a bit from each one. The problem occurs when the record sales formula is applied, and they start churning out the same stuff in a different key with modified lyrics.

[rainbowdemon]

The problem occurs when the record sales formula is applied, and they start churning out the same stuff in a different key with modified lyrics.

That's not a new concept.

[method77]

Kind of lump them in their with Nickelback, Creed, Three Doors Down. 

.

no no

these guys actually write and play good music. They use the whole do re mi shit.

Put them in the Keane, Athlete, Suede, The Strokes, Muse... category

[Excrement_Cranium]

Maybe I'll have to get off my *ahem* "ear" and give em a listen. A song or two at a time....

[DudeAsInCool]

I haven't given them a chance yet. Kind of lump them in their with Nickelback, Creed, Three Doors Down.

They definitely have far more going than any of those bands... they are the real deal as far as Im concerned

[CTC Command]

They definitely craft songs well. I can hear more than a hint of U2 influence in their latest outing. I think once you have gotten the kind of recognition Coldplay has gotten, you become a target for the lowlife critic sorts Zappa frequentrly disparaged, asshats that have lots of negative to say without any positive contribution of ther own to make. About the only point I will agree with the NY Times douche is the whole not-one-misplaced-note. I like Coldplay, but have to say that their earlier stuff is perhaps more heartfelt and certainly less overproduced sounding--the starving artist making art for arts sake. "No one suffers like the poor" as Bukowski once said, and the suffering on their earlier material has more of a ring of authenticity then the new album does. But X&Y is still way better than all the the other crap I hear on commercial radio these dsays, when I trouble myself to listen to any of it in short brief bursts...

Interestingly though, I had given my wife a couple of random burned CD's last week, one was X & Y, the other was Catherine Wheel's Chrome. She thought they were almost indistiguishable--and after listening to both back to back there are definite similarities in the dynamic/anthemic pop sensibilities of both bands. Unfortunately, Catherine Wheel never got even a tenth of the time of day that Coldplay has gotten. Which doesn't take away from Coldplay so much as points out the serious flaw with the current commercial system--good bands and even great bands RARELY get heard over the din of crap, and Coldplay is damn lucky for somehow managing to be heard.

[method77]

nice one CTC

[Excrement_Cranium]

Yup. I think you nailed it right on the head with that one. I would like to see the impossible. I would like to see a central site where artists could get their stuff out there. Not contract commercial artists though. I was diggin the cnet music for a minute, but now you have to wade through a boatload of commercial "samplers" to get into the amatuer stuff.

With the direction of the Grokster case, I'd like to see independent stuff get more propogation.

[bmc]

ok i like coldplay, im not the biggest fan because some of their music just seems too "boring" to me.