COLDPLAY

Coldplay are a British rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed under the name Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a drummer, backing vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, completing the line-up. Manager Phil Harvey is often considered an unofficial fifth member. The band renamed themselves “Coldplay” in 1998, before recording and releasing three EPs; Safety in 1998, Brothers & Sisters as a single in 1999 and The Blue Room in the same year. The latter was their first release on a major label, after signing to Parlophone.

The band has won a number of music awards throughout their career, including eight Brit Awards—winning Best British Group three times, five MTV Video Music Awards, and seven Grammy Awards from twenty five nominations. Coldplay have sold more than 60 million records worldwide. In December 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted the group the fourth-best artist of the 2000s.

Musical style

Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin once proclaimed the band’s music as “limestone rock” in comparison to “hard rock”. The band’s music has been called “meditative” and “blue romantic”; it “[reflects] on their emotions” and Martin “endlessly examine[s] his feelings”. Martin’s lyrical wordplay has been called feminist, similar to Andrew Montgomery of Geneva.

The tone of the band’s first studio album, Parachutes, was described as melodic pop with “distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion” but also being “exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive”. Such alternative rock style has been compared to bands like U2, Oasis, Radiohead and Travis. The band acknowledges the Scottish alternative rock band, Travis, as a major influence on their earlier material.

In their second studio album A Rush of Blood to the Head, the band draws inspiration from artists like Muse.The songs in it were considered to contain “lush melodies and a heartbreak” and that they had a “newfound confidence.” The music on their third release X&Y has been considered to be “ruminations on Martin’s doubts, fears, hopes, and loves.”

In Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, the group’s style was moving towards art rock. The band experimented with different instruments including orchestras, honky-tonk pianos and further so.

TASK: Watch and listen to the video clip (link 1), then do the exercises (link 2) and check your answers by clicking “DONE!”

1. Link to the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB-RcX5DS5A

2. Link to the exercises:

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=7196

HAVE FUN!