Jules09
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I like Coldplay, and I don't care who knows it.
People tell me I shouldn't, they tell me they're Radiohead-lite for teenage girls, their lyrics are terrible, Chris Martin is a pretentious, prepubescent prick. And I just don't care.
Of course I had heard "Clocks" and "Yellow" on the radio, but it all started with the 2003 World Series. My family's beloved New York Yankees were playing the upstart Florida Marlins, and lost the title in Game 7. We sat in front of the TV in shock, trying to come to terms with our shattered baseball dreams. And slowly, as the Yankees left the field in slow motion, "The Scientist" began. I was transfixed from the beginning. "Let's go back to the start" resonated with me all too well at that moment.
I was about 12 then, just beginning to discover music. "A Rush of Blood to the Head" was the first album I can honestly say I got into. I listened to it non-stop for months, memorized every word, every guitar chord, every drum fill. I found a quite literal bittersweet symphony in every song. Even to this day, it remains one of my favorites.
Then I went back and discovered "Parachutes". A very different Coldplay existed on this album; gone was the confidence and shimmering bravado from "A Rush of Blood...", heartbreak and darkness reigned supreme. This band, I thought, can do no wrong. They had created two nearly perfect albums, classics even, in their entire career.
But as the release date of "X&Y" grew nearer, I finally became aware of the backlash. I didn't even know who Radiohead was at this point in time, so those comparisons fell flat. But when you hear over and over that "This band sucks" without any real reason given, you begin to doubt yourself and your music.
"X&Y" just seemed to add fuel to the fire. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard "Speed of Sound" and remember thinking, This is just like Clocks.... I was disappointed, but I didn't hate it. Some excellent songs are on that record, but it seemed to get buried with all the hate the band received.
Screw the Radiohead comparisons. I'd choose them over Coldplay any day, but I just don't understand why they're grouped together so often, especially in the aftermath of Kid A, etc. The fact that Coldplay just released "Violet Hill" as a free download doesn't help their cause either. Chris Martin's falsetto may get annoying, but can't you say the same thing about Thom Yorke's? Songs about heartbreak and despair in general wear on one's ears eventually, no matter who's singing.
I'm not sure where I stand on "Violet Hill" right now. I've listened to it several times....I like it, but I don't know how much, if that makes any sense. I'm glad they've turned up the volume of Jonny Buckland's guitar, at any rate. It's too early to tell whether Coldplay is going to succeed in their supposed new direction. I hope Brian Eno has done well with them, and I hope that "Viva la Vida..." will surprise everyone and be awesome, despite a terrible title and cover. Draw your own generalizations if you must about me, but before you judge Coldplay, try something different. Listen to "Parachutes" or "A Rush of Blood to the Head" with as open a mind as possible. If you still don't like it, I understand, fair enough. I'll stick with this band.
According to this (hilarious) Morning News article, the ultimate song length is exactly 2:42. His logic?
Just look at what clocks in between two and a half and three minutes: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “We Got the Beat,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Good Times Bad Times,” “I Would Die 4 U,” “Paranoid,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Debaser,” “God Only Knows,” and “Fall on Me.” These are not only stone-cold classics but they also encapsulate all that is great about the band without wasting your goddamn time.
The scientists then dug up this song by a group that pretty much defines one-hit wonder: the La’s. The song is “There She Goes,” and is so flawless that it instantly made everything else the band did pointless. This ditty is two minutes and 42 seconds, and is all about songwriting economy.
I listened to it and said, in my rich and sonorous timbre, in my typically concise and absolutely-nailing-it fashion: “Here is a song that has everything I need and nothing I don’t.”
The main riff acts as the intro. The verses are the chorus. The solo is 100 percent fat-free and leads right into a tidy bridge. And then we’re back where we started. It’s like some ingenious IKEA futon or Japanese love hotel where every component is doing double-duty. When “There She Goes” is over, I guarantee absolutely no one in the room goes: “Jesus, finally.”
So naturally, I dragged up the iTunes to see how many perfect songs I had. The results? A paltry baker's dozen:
1. California Dreaming - The Mamas & The Papas
2. You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
3. AquaCityBoy - k-os
4. Heat Humidity - So Many Dynamos
5. Linkwalk - The Blakes
6. Relax - The Who
7. Here Come the Bombs - Ima Robot
8. Xavier Says - The Magnetic Fields
9. Lovely Rita - The Beatles
10. Never Even Told Me Her Name - Air Traffic
11. Astro - The White Stripes
12. Michelle - The Beatles
Not exactly a stunning list, is it? A good song length for me is somewhere around 4 minutes, to be honest. Do you think The Morning News got it too short, too long, or just right? And just for fun, how many perfect songs do you have?
Comments
Ah yes, that notorious time waster, Harry Chapin, takes too much time to get to the point. (Just what the world needed, a news organization afflicted with a short attention span.)
Myspace is a curious thing. I almost never use it, unless a band requests to be my friend. And frequently, those bands are complete crap.
Imagine my surprise when I clicked on such a request from a London-based band called The Social. A comment on their site described them as "The demon spawn of Morrissey, Ian Curtis, and London's town crier circa 1883." Which isn't that far off.
Their singer has an interesting voice, to say the least. I've been listening to them all day, trying to figure out whether I could stand to hear them for prolonged periods of time. They're not bad at all, but his voice throws me off. What do you guys think?
NOTE : If you think Ian Curtis or Matt Berninger from The National has a deep baritone, you ain't heard nothin' yet.
The Social's myspace.
Comments
Deep baritone indeed. Someday u may find Arctic Monkeys on myspace, next day you may find The Social. ;)
Haha exactly, Pyro. It's because of requests like these that keep me from deleting my account on there all together.
I like it as well, but agree something throws me in the voice too - beyond the obvious low tone, seems sort of empty, hollow, unexpressive? I don't know quite how to explain it, something like that.
Comments
What one likes is what one likes how can anybody make you feel bad for liking something, as long as it falls into certain moral parameters of course. If you like the feel of warm puppy brains between your fingers then that would be bad, very bad. but when it comes to music it's all subjective.
I like Coldplay especially their first two albums.
I don't like warm puppy brains though.
I was still around 14-15 when the huge backlash began. I had pretty much only listened to my dad's classic rock stuff up until that point, and such hate directed towards a band I really liked caught me off guard. I'm much more used to it now, but still, there are much worse bands than Coldplay in existence, and it always bothers me when people treat them like the Antichrist.
Ditto on the puppy brains also.
My 12 y.o. niece loves Hannah Montana so instead of smacking some sense into her I made her a mixed cd of all female singers with some great dancy beats, I even had a bunch of moggers help me decide on the proper songs, it really is a rocking disc of great music. My aunt said they listened to some of it on the car ride home but it's been in the car's cd holder/arm rest ever since. She still loves Hannah but now she also loves the Jonas Brothers. I'll have to try again in a couple of years but I'm afraid she may already be lost.