21 Comments
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Astro Joe Garcia's avatar

I think people like to talk (good or bad) about Coldplay, Winger, Nickelback, Creed, etc. BUT still listen (and see them live) to them as evidenced by the statistics. U2 is definitely in the same boat as Coldplay. I personally love all these bands. THANK YOU for the statistical analysis to back it up. Its a refreshing change from how people on the internet just like to state something as fact without facts!

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G. Alex Janevski, PhD's avatar

I think the animosity towards U2 is more driven by perceived self-righteousness of Bono.

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Lex World Music's avatar

I never understood this phenomenon. I don’t listen to their new stuff but the old stuff is great. But hey, what do I know? … Now do U2

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Ellen from Endwell's avatar

Oops, Daniel, you identified the issue right at the start. The critics dissing Coldplay are the NYTimes, the New Yorker, and the Guardian -- all remarkably unfashionable and out-of-date as arbiters of anything. They're read and revered by the blue hair set, who are stuck in a time loop at the year 1995!

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Decarceration's avatar

I really, really, really loved "Parachutes" when it came out, played it for all my girlfriends, sang along, the whole nine yards. For a while, I was into both Coldplay and Travis, thought they were basically the same band, same vibes, same great feelings. And then "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" came out and I thought, and still think, that it's a genuinely great rock album -- I still fondly remember the first four tracks as one juggernaut after another.

Then "X&Y" was quite lovely, but a bit repetitive, a bit too much like repeating the same song structures, choruses, musicality. It wasn't until "Viva la Vida" where I listened to it and thought, "Oh, God, I HATE this." It was like they found there was a Coldplay Button, and they kept pressing it repeatedly. Every time after that, the only way they experimented with their sound was to make it more basic, more rudimentary, maybe easier to play. It did not help that they seemed to have no sense of humor about anything.

I hate it when people say, "I liked their earlier work better", it's usually just a pose. But after "X&Y", I really do feel most of their other stuff unlistenable.

Travis still slaps, though.

Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com

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Neil P Carver's avatar

Pretty much. Parachutes honestly didn't sound like anything else at the time... and Rush was epic... and then I just... stopped paying much attention. I owned X&Y and Viva, but never listened to them.

I don't understand the need to "hate" them. Hipster version of cancel culture... but they did grow boring (to me) after Rush.

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Miles's avatar

This is where I am.

In 2023 Coldplay was my #1 streamed artist on Spotify Wrapped (don't ask), for ~some~ reason Parachutes & A Rush of Blood to the Head had a real resurgence in my life. But listening to those albums today, is very different than listening to who they've become today. Im not sure if they've changed or the world changed, but being an Indie Megaband is quite paradoxical.

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G. Alex Janevski, PhD's avatar

There are a lot of people who confuse hating a popular thing for having a personality.

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G. Alex Janevski, PhD's avatar

As for crying to Coldplay, I dare someone to watch this and not do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-e8LGMPTtE

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Jennie's avatar

People who put Coldplay in the same breath with Nickleback and Creed truly irks me. Cause we have some SOLID reasons to hate Nickleback & Creed - Scott Stapp is a drunkard, domestic abuser asshole while Nickleback have some songs that were misogynistic- None of coldplay members are abusers nor they ever write songs about fucking a woman.

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Poogles's avatar

I've always liked Coldplay and wrote an essay for a freshman high creative writing prompt about the song The Scientist. It's not been one of my go to artists since college though really. All this to say I found your point about new potential fans not getting a chance to form an opinion without their current status disheartening. One bright spot I always remember when the band is mentioned is this website https://coldplaycrybaby.com/

Which I learned about in an episode of the podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me

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Sarah's avatar

Dude, how did you get danceabality faetures? They nuked the Spotify API in November. Which completely destroyed my little side project :'(

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NUK's avatar

I don’t even think about Coldplay.

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LC's avatar

I hated Coldplay before it was cool to hate Coldplay.

Can I have a medal?

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Larry's avatar

Trump, Brexit and Coldplay—proof that we shouldn't ever trust the masses.

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Tony's avatar

Maybe people are too indifferent to bother to give them 1 star ratings. I know I am. This is the first time I have ever considered anything about Coldplay. They are just relentlessly dull to me. I almost liked one of their songs once, but then I didn't.

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Akshar Katariya's avatar

Loved the idea of using 1* ratings for the analysis. Perfectly simple

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Ambient Soul Music Club's avatar

I’ve always struggled with this. I do think they have an air of positivity around them which is very looked down upon nowadays. Sure, some of the later stuff is a bit non, but seeing them live is like a full body dopamine transfusion. Yeah. Coldplay are cool.

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Teàrlach's avatar

I’ve wondered about this for an age. I’ve seldom listened to them. Some do the same with u2. Anyway recently I decided to listen and found nothing amiss. Some with voices mistake their opinion, their likes and dislikes a facts. It seems that music is an easy target. I’m not a fan of either band but both produce good music liked by many.

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