Coldplay
Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin and Guy Berryman met in the 90s as students at University College London. Jonny was studying Maths and Astronomy, Will was an Anthropologist, Chris was doing a course in Ancient History, and Guy was training to be an Engineer. Soon after meeting they formed Coldplay, an extremely successful British Alternative Rock band.
Although Chris was the main songwriter, they all shared the same passion for music and would try and practice whenever and wherever possible, Chris says ‘we used to play in bathrooms, the basement, even in the park,'.
Coldplay set out to do something different from the start, Martin says 'That you can try to be catchy without being slick, poppy without being pop, and you can be uplifting without being pompous.’
Musically, Coldplay have been compared to the likes of Jeff Buckley, Travis, Radiohead and most commonly U2. Martin says, ‘U2 are the only band whose entire catalog I know by heart.’ Quite regularly, In Chris Martin’s melody you can hear bits of similarity to that of U2’s Bono.
To me, the massive influence U2 have musically on Coldplay becomes more apparent when listening to the 2005 album ‘X & Y’. The guitar riffs and sounds that Jonny Buckland creates throughout the entire album are very much alike to that of U2’s ‘The Edge’. Not that this is a bad thing, instead the guitar sounds Buckland uses seem to give the songs a huge, epic sound.
Radiohead have been a major influence on Coldplay too. However, The New York Times have said, ‘Coldplay could easily be summed up as Radiohead minus Radiohead's beat, dissonance or arty subterfuge.’ The New York Times also goes on to mention how Chris Martin has clearly heard the way Radiohead’s Thom Yorke Stretches his voice to creaking point and mimics this often.
Outside of music Martin also does a lot of work towards Charity too, doing a great amount towards Oxfam’s ‘Make Trade Fair’ campaign. Chris has travelled across the world to meet farmers and see the direct effects of Unfair Trade. This keenness towards Charity seems a direct influence from Bono, seen as though he was Chris’s idol whilst he was growing up.
Bono has been involved in many charitable events and organisations over his 20 year + career; he was even a nominee for Nobel Peace prize in 2003, 2005 & 2006 for philanthropy.
Chris seems to have also been influenced politically by Bono. The U2 front man has met with many politicians, such as former US President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Chris Martin was a vocal critic of President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Martin has also given a ‘shout out’ to Barack Obama whilst live on air on American Television. Over in Britain however, Martin supports the conservative party, he even wrote a new theme song for the party called ‘Talk to David’, although this was later unmasked as an April fool’s joke.
By taking influence from many bands and artist over the years, of different genres and styles, Coldplay have developed a unique and lushes sound that has proved to be successful throughout their entire career.
