Coldplay's 'new' direction...

every time i start "arguing" w/ geir i have to remember that this is the dude who says that africans didn't have music until the white man showed up.

and who thinks a bunch of simpering early-80s power pop that nobody else gives a shit about is the pinnacle of western culture.

this dissection of coldplay's lyrics has been really fruitful and interesting to read and i now have a better understanding of what the band is about

Can't believe Coldplay are raping Gorky's Zygotic Mynci's memory.

this dissection of coldplay's lyrics has been really fruitful and interesting to read and i now have a better understanding of what the band is about

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 21, 2011 5:04 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark

what's actually behind the sarcasm here? you don't think their lyrics are stupid?

yeah, but i don't think matters one bit

Not one bit? Not even a little bit? I think it does, especially when they parse poorly compared to Bono. That's notable.

Certainly if they were good they would matter. So if they're not good, they must matter, too.

I find the obsequious vagueness of their lyrics offensive.

i think it would be equally bizarre to be all OMG COLDPLAY'S LYRICS ARE AWWWWWESOME, as i'm sure some ppl out there believe. it's really, really missing the point either way.

yeah, but i don't think matters one bit

― J0rdan S., Friday, October 21, 2011 5:05 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

isn't this more a question of -- does it matter to YOU? if it doesn't matter to you, and to geir, well then right on. it obviously matters to other folks.

i do think it's kind of odd to think of lyrics as being irrelevant, but i've had this argument w/ ned many times and it usually ends with my banging my head against my desk.

So what IS the point?

well yeah, in the end pretty much anything matters only as much it matters to YOU

It'd be different if they were sung and emphasised differently, if they were just a vehicle for a melody, a texture, but Martin talks up song "meanings", and the lyrics are usually so lacking in specificity and character as to be completely without meaning.

tuomas have you heard the piano on "clocks"? that is the point

i'm glad you have this all figured out.

yeah i mean it's pretty nice to hear a coldplay song and not go home & read chris martin's lyrics to see if there's adequate character development

Bad lyrics, inane, pointless, rhyming-dictionary bollocks lyrics, piss me off. I've no issue with vague poetics but at least try harder.

character development

dude we're not talking about character development. we're talking about hysterically vague lyrics where the object keeps shifting around, where there are inversions and repetitions that build to absolutely nothing. doggerel, in other words. if you can get past that, then -- seriously -- good on you, but it really shouldn't surprise you that it rubs other folks the wrong way. this is particular true since coldplay's "ethos" has a lot to do w/ marketing their records as nebulous "concepts" freighted with "meaning" that never actually seems to mean.

"sorry" "for" "putting" "so" "many" "words" "in" "quotes"

Precisely. Character in the lyricist, not characters in the songs.

It'd be different if they were sung and emphasised differently, if they were just a vehicle for a melody, a texture, but Martin talks up song "meanings", and the lyrics are usually so lacking in specificity and character as to be completely without meaning.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, October 21, 2011 10:10 PM (57 seconds ago) Bookmark

I agree with this completely. The music that Coldplay make isn't like, say, the music of My Bloody Valentine where the lyrics are intentionally cryptic/can't be heard/used as just another 'instrument'. Usually with 'anthemic', 'stadium' music, the sheer weight of the music (as a 'call to arms') usually suggests that there's some kind of rousing, 'we're all in this together' message that goes along with it, or at least something like say, Alice Cooper's "School's Out", which is just a rousing anthem, with a very clear lyric and message. Coldplay's lyrics are mainly just nonsense strung together to give the 'impression' that they're in some way 'universal' or speak to everyone, and they really really don't. Coldplay's lyrical content is completely at odds with the music that they make, IMO. When you couple such empty sentiments with big, 'stadium' music, it just comes across as lacking substance and full of empty calories.

See, I can understand people looking past poor lyrics, but egregiously poor lyrics call attention to themselves. Though I can't argue that one able to overlook something so glaring would find little to criticize about this band (which I generally like!). Like, if the low bar of the lyrics are totally inoffensive, then how could anyone honestly find fault with the perfectly inoffensive shimmering guitars or soaring choruses?

See, I can understand people looking past poor lyrics, but egregiously poor lyrics call attention to themselves.

Not to mention they call attention to themselves when coupled with music that suggest that the songs have a 'message' to begin with?

martin is also very very careful to e.nun.ci.ate so that you don't miss a thing he's saying, which makes them even harder to ignore.

this is particular true since coldplay's "ethos" has a lot to do w/ marketing their records as nebulous "concepts" freighted with "meaning" that never actually seems to mean.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, October 21, 2011 6:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

i'm not sure if this is right. i think their lyrics simply articulate general feelings that p much all humans have, and they're blank enough to appeal to ppl, at least when they're attached to coldplay's music. this is in no way an actual defense of chris martin's incredibly facile writing based on artistic merit, but i think you're reading their intentions -- and that of their marketing ppl, i supposed -- incorrectly

Ultimately though, the main problem that I have with Coldplay is that I just find them so fucking unconvincing. Like when 'In My Place' was released, I just remember hearing Chris Martin singing "I was lost, I was lost, crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed, and I was lost, oh yeah", and I just thought to myself "you know what, Chris, I don't believe you". That was the precise moment I realised that Coldplay were such a calculated band, deliberately 'crafting' music that was designed to push 'universal' buttons, but ultimately ended up signifying nothing other than to swell their bank balances. 'X&Y' subsequently set this opinion in stone.

i take it that you don't listen to rap

i'm not reading intentions so much as inferring typical "reading" strategies for coldplay lyrics based on the way the band is presented in the media. but you may be right. in any event, i can't get past their lyrics.

i don't think "facile" is the right word. lenny kravitz's lyrics are facile. chris martin's are doggerel.

Ha, I pretty much don't listen to rap, no. Totally agree about not believing Martin. 100%.

But even so, if you're going to lie, make the lie interesting. Be Munchhausen.

I get no sense that Chris Martin is a real person who has had real thoughts or feelings which feed into his songs.

Also get no sense that he has any degree if imagination at all.

I get no sense that Chris Martin is a real person who has had real thoughts or feelings which feed into his songs.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, October 21, 2011 10:37 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Exactly. A lot of it comes across as deliberate, and that alone makes it difficult to invest emotionally in their music. If all of their songs were instrumental, it may be a completely different story.

i don't really give a shit if the lyrics are "real" or if chris martin is "real" or whatever... he's a total blank to me. the lyrics are prima facie terrible.

I think the dude is really insecure, tbh, which explains all the maniacal overcompensation. But he sure is poor as fuck as expressing it.

he should be insecure! he's a terrible lyricst!

j/k

I think the dude is really insecure, tbh, which explains all the maniacal overcompensation. But he sure is poor as fuck as expressing it.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, October 21, 2011 11:21 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

It's very noticeable!

Geir, have you heard much Billy Joel? He's kind of like Coldplay without all the falsetto delay-drenched guitar. You'd like him! Very melodic.

Coldplay write much better songs than Billy Joel.

Exactly. A lot of it comes across as deliberate, and that alone makes it difficult to invest emotionally in their music. If all of their songs were instrumental, it may be a completely different story.

I like my music without too many emotions. Skills over emotions is always an advantage.

can we ban this dude after eight years of posting in circles?

ah, our first "can we PLEASE fucking ban geir hongro??" of the post-server meltdown era

I'm actually kinda with Geir on this one. I don't pay any attention to Coldplay's lyrics. Couldn't recite a single line from one of their songs with a gun to my head. I like the melodies and their general instrumental palette. That said, this new album is a letdown because the band has borrowed a whole bunch of bad sonic ideas from Martin's collaborations with Jay-Z and Kanye West - not just the roping in of Rihanna for a totally pointless duet, but the shitty synths-and-strings arrangements and huge overbearing beats on multiple tracks. The best lyrics in the world couldn't salvage these tracks.

I think Martin's a very unsophisticated songwriter and melodicist.

I dunno, he is the first leader of an arena pop-rock band to watch The Wire and be inspired to write a song about taking crack in the inner-city ("Charlie Brown").

Anyways, I like this album a lot, but I'm treating it as anthemic, silly pop-rock. Better than the last Radiohead record I reckon.

That said, there's a couple of duds, and it's not as strong as Viva La Vida.

http://www.nme.com/news/coldplay/59938

The thing with Coldplay is, they have developed stylistically. Actually they have broken new musical and stylistic ground with each album.

However, while they are changing their style, there is one element they are not willing to get rid of and that is the anthemic choruses. Which of course means people who are against the entire idea of anthemic choruses to begin with will always blame them of being conservative. Because they don't want to get rid of that one element that those critics hate and Coldplay's fans love.