From genre-spanning albums to collaborating with Brian Eno and
Beyoncé, the band are far more radical than people give them credit for
An early Coldplay photo did the rounds recently, and will surely do so again, because it is timelessly hilarious. Anorak, hoodie, voluminous brown cords, V-neck knitwear: they are enrobed in the profoundly lame wardrobe of that late-90s musical era when Travis and Starsailor threatened to drown rock’n’roll in their own anxiety sweat.
For so many people, that lameness has never left Coldplay – and this is peculiar because, contrary to the beliefs of almost any self-proclaimed arbiter of good taste, Coldplay are A Good Band. They could have treated their euphoric breakthrough hit Yellow as the aberration that it is on their moody debut Parachutes. Instead it became their mantra, as they cast even their most synthetic
music in warm natural light. That sense of adventure is a quality that bands are usually revered for, but because their adventure is a sort of positivist Haribo-fuelled romp, rather than questing into the minotaur’s labyrinth like Radiohead or the National, they aren’t taken seriously.