The following was prompted most immediately by catching Coldplay at the end of Later Live .... with Jools last night. Behind it lies their appearance at Glastonbury this year, & a close acquaintance with what I hesitate to call their oeuvre, acquired unwillingly while working in retail, in a shop that sold music to be exact. My time in retail coincided closely with Coldplay's rise to prominence. I vividly recall Parachutes gradually becoming a bigger & bigger hit. All their subsequent albums were played *cough* extensively in the shop. So I know whereof I speak.
Of all the bands that have high reputations, Coldplay seem to me to deserve theirs the least. The appeal of Coldplay eludes me, especially given their level of success, which I find almost inexplicable. It's not that I can see they are good in some sense but just not to my taste; I don't admit that they're good at all.
Coldplay seem to me the dullest band in the world. Here's another song exactly like the last, which was rubbish, with no memorable melody & indifferent lyrics. Even their name itself - Coldplay. What does that mean ? A dull label for dull contents. Vacuous, thin, vague, pointless, hollow.
The only reason that I can think of for their success is that many people must want 'music' that is unchallenging, easy, substanceless, that doesn't upset them or invite them to think. Coldplay are the Indy-stadium eqivalent of Mantovani or James Last.
One of the tests of quality in Art is, "Would the world be a poorer place without it ?" Coldplay emphatically fail this test. If they had never existed, nothing would have been lost.
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