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I really hadn’t thought about Coldplay in years until I showed up to work at one of their concerts a couple years ago. I honestly couldn’t name a single one of their songs except Viva La Vida, which - spoiler - is not one of their songs.
But all the people on tour with them were really friendly and competent and gave clear instructions, unlike the usual raging assholes who go on tour to do staging work. We got the job done quickly, safely, and with minimal angry screaming.
So now I like Coldplay. I still don’t listen to their music, but, like, I just decided I like them.
Wikipedia says it’s written by all four members of the band. And I agree, they’re super mainstream and unremarkable but Viva la Vida is perfect. The lyrics are epic, poetic, wise, sad and true. The instrumental is flawless, simple yet classy with these strings and the choir. The atmosphere is unlike any other song I’ve ever head and it’s breathtaking even after listening for the 100th time. A true masterpiece.
I don’t hate them, but we have a joke, “is that… Coldplay?” when we hear an unfamiliar song, because their music is sort of unremarkable.
I don’t think they are alone in that, it’s just funny they got so famous with it. I’ve heard them in interviews and they sound like delightful people. Funny and self-aware.
I think it is mostly the massive success. Some people have a belief that anything that is very popular is by definition bad.
anything that is very popular is by definition bad
More like, it’s the lowest common denominator type stuff. In other words, average at best.
I’m old. Imagine if old bands got that stigma. Omg did emo culture do it?
I’m old, and we definitely did this in the 1900s.
There were definitely backlashes to big popular artists of prior decades, like Elvis and the Beatles. Partly it was couched in that “They’re corrupting the youth” conservatism, but also anything that’s popular with tween and teen girls tends to catch a lot of flack regardless of whether or not it’s deserved. Think Twilight or One Direction. I don’t care for either, but they both became out-sized hate figures for weird adult men. There was no shortage of enraged nerd hot takes when that sparkly vampire guy was cast as Batman.
I think Coldplay is kind of on the same page. Which is obviously faint praise, but they have a sort of inoffensively palatable sound which is both the reason they’re so successful and the thing people dislike about them. But it’s probably not worth getting angry about.
Old enough to remember the massive backlash against disco? Same thing, different era.
I’m just a little too young for that. Mid 40s lol. Probably the last time it will be seen as radio doesn’t matter much. Speaking of which, maybe it was “iloveradio” bullshit that made it overplayed. I’m not even in a small area and I miss my local radio stations.
In that case you might remember people having similar reactions to Hootie & the Blowfish or Nickelback.
They’re all very popular, with big-selling albums, but very ‘safe’, overproduced, bland perhaps. That combined with overexposure creates a backlash and it becomes cool to hate them.
Gotcha. I was just happy to be able to skip eventually. Never hated.
iHeartRadio is a cancer. They’re just consolidating everything like Ticketmaster did with venues.
I think you’re sort of right. It’s not simply because they’re popular, it’s because the popularity means they get inescapable radio play. Over time you resent it more and more.
I don’t know if he went worldwide or if he’s just a British thing, but Lewis Capaldi is the worst offender for this in my mind. There was about 3 months where Somebody You Loved wasn’t being played by at least 2 stations at a time. 2 or 3 times an hour, every hour, every station, every day.
It was a great song the first 5 times. The next 5000 not so much.
Generally it is a reaction to having the popular stuff forced into their spaces. Pop music like Coldplay makes its way into movies, shows, and store music so it is always there to cause annoyance.
Like I hate Jared fucking Leto because he keeps getting into movies I would otherwise want to enjoy. If he was only in movies I don’t want to watch then I wouldn’t think of him at all, like the other actors and actresses that don’t ever think about.
Chris Martin may not have a cult island like Leto, but he did name his kid Apple.
The great thing about Coldplay is they’ve changed over the years, which of course pisses some off who liked one style and now expect it every time. I don’t like some of their songs, but the songs I do like I enjoy. The era of Clocks and Speed of Sound and Scientist were solid. There have been a few later ones I like too, but the songs either click for you or not. That’s how music should be, eclectic and not formula.
I think the last song of theirs that hit me hard was All I Can Think About is You. May not be everyone’s type of song, but it felt like the Coldplay I like. And there’s the sleeper The Hardest Part.
I had no idea people hated Coldplay.
From my perspective, their music is mediocre.
That’s why I love them.
I guess for you it is a feature.
I just find the music boring. Like listening to ambient elevator music while you’re waiting to get to your floor. It’s just there in the background but no one cares about it. I’d never actually pay money to hear it live.
I don’t feel strongly about Coldplay, but I think their style is “whatever Radiohead was doing two years ago, but watered down for the masses”.
Nothing wrong with that, but it does evoke a hipster vs. normie conflict.
I remember me and my buddy were sitting around one night drinking mad dog and smoking weed and a live company Coldplay concert was on TV so we watched it and thought it was kind of good. Then the next day we each listened to Coldplay sober on our own. I got a text from him half way thru the day that just said “holy shit dude,I don’t know what was going on last night, but I just listened to Coldplay again… It’s like the sound track to a woman complaining about her period… How the fuck did this sound good last night?”
Why do people hate Nickleback?
Their first album The State is pretty damn good. And they have some decent singles after that.
Curb
Oh, I didn’t know that. Good to know.
Stomp?
The amount of radio play they got, for me. I was a fan of How You Remind Me when it came out, and they do have a handful of listenable songs, but the sheer amount of repetition changed things from “they’re ok” to “omg not again, fuck these guys”.
I feel similar, but to a lesser degree, about Coldplay.
coldplay broke up my family after my dad was caught cheating with one of his subordinates.
That didn’t have to be the case. That was your mom’s choice.
lmao
They’re popular because they’re broadly appealing and inoffensive, so for people who are passionate about music they’re likely comparatively boring, whereas people who don’t really care about music aren’t going to go out of their way to support or defend them.
Because they incite married coworkers to cheat with one another.
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It’s a band that has been in the news lately because at one of their concerts there was some dude having an affair that got caught real be on the Jumbotron. But otherwise they saltarted in the late 90s or slightly later and just seem like good dudes to me.
If your serious start with yellow search on YouTube.
No, start with Clocks. That’s best.
Wait, it’s a band. I thought it was some kind of streaming app. Meh.
Do you use many streaming apps? Old person asking
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They’re the mayonnaise of music
