I'm a musical pluralist with a keen appreciation of pure pop like the Beachboys, Bacharach, XTC, the Brill Building sound, Dido even Petula Clark.
Coldplay has been around for a while now and I've listened to all their albums and I still can't think of single positive thing to say about them. There are dozens of Brit bands worthy of more attention than Coldplay.
For instance the lyrics to
Clocks
Quote:
Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
You've put me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead
Come out of things unsaid, shoot an apple off my head
Trouble that can't be named, a tiger's waiting to be tamed You are, you are
Confusion never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks
Come back and take you home, I could not stop that you now know
Come out upon my seas, curse missed opportunities
A part of the cure, or am I part of the disease
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Are those not the most vapid and derivative lyrics ever? Let me metion the fact that nearly every Coldplay song is a cornicopia of hackneyed cliches. Or the lyrics to
Trouble in which the trite "spider web" analogy gets beaten to death with a tire iron.
Quote:
Oh no, I see
A spiderweb is tangled up with me
And I lost my head
And thought of all the stupid things I'd said
Oh no, what's this?
A spiderweb and I'm caught in the middle
So I turned to run
And thought of all the stupid things I'd done
And I never meant to cause you trouble
And I never never meant to do you wrong
Ah, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm
Oh no, I see
A spiderweb and it's me in the middle
So I twist and turn
But here am I in my little bubble
Singing and I never meant to cause you trouble
And I never meant to do you wrong
Ah, well if I ever caused you trouble
Oh no, I never meant to do you harm
They spun a web for me
They spun a web for me
They spun a web for me
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If you're a real glutton for punishment you can wallow in Hallmark card sentiments of
Daylight which manages to use nearly every derivative allegory in the firmament to say abosolutely nothing.
Quote:
To my surprise, and my daylight
I saw sun rise, I saw sunlight
I am nothing, in the dark
And the clouds burst to show a daylight
Oooooo and the sun shines, Yeaaahhh on this star of mine
Oooooo and I realise, Oooooo couldn't live without
Oooooo couldn't part without, it
On a hill top, on a sky rise
Like a first born, child
At a full tilt, and at full flight
You see darkness, in the daylight
Oooooo and the sun shines, Yeaaahhh on this star of mine
Oooooo and I realise, Oooooo couldn't be without
Oooooo couldn't part without, daylight
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How can "introspective" music be so completely devoid of any emotional or cognitive content?
To make matters worse the musicians in Coldplay sound like a pastiche of every minimalist downtempo "alternative" band... but for all their efforts they might as well be an uninspired crew of session players. Coldplay's musical vision is on par with the anonymous musicians who play on New Age, relaxation therapy, ambient music albums for stressed-out investment bankers.
Nobody should apologize if they think that Coldplay the vapid incarnation of everything that's wrong with popular music, because they are.