Alternative: Coldplay

Most people that know me as a person know that the genre of Alternative Music is one of my top favorite types of music to listen to. Out of the several and vast amounts of Alternative Music artists and bands, Coldplay is one of the most known and most listened to.

Coldplay is a British rock band that was formed by the lead vocalist and front man Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland while they were both studying at University College London. First, their name was Pectoralz, then changed to Starfish after Guy Berryman joined as the bassist. Then changed once more to Coldplay right after their fourth and final member of the group, Will Champion as lead drummer joined.


The event that would create worldwide fame and eventually change Coldplay's life forever was the release of their hit single, "Yellow" in 2000, followed by their debut album "Parachutes" which was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Coldplay has created several vastly known/very popular songs such as, A Sky Full of Stars, Magic, Viva La Vida, and The Scientist. One of their songs has even been featured in the widely known movie/book series, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire". Their song A Sky Full of Stars is rated number twenty-five worldwide on the iTunes top songs chart. So far, Coldplay has had a total of five concert tours around the world. They had the "Parachutes Tour" from 2001 to 2002, the "A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour" from 2002 to 2003, the "Twisted Logic Tour" from 2005 to 2007, the "Viva la Vida Tour" from 2008 to 2010, and finally the "Mylo Xyloto Tour" from 2011 to 2012.

What sets Coldplay apart from other musical bands or groups is their musical style. According the Coldplay page on Wikipedia, their front man Chris Martin once said that the band's music could be considered "limestone rock" in comparison to "hard rock". It's also been called "meditative" and "blue romantic". But the one thing that's been said that I myself most agree with, is their music "reflects on their emotions" and that Chris Martin "endlessly examines/expresses his feelings" in his music.

The lyrics in their hit song "A sky Full of Stars" just shows how genius and talented this group is. "...I want to die in your arms, arms, 'Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark, I'm going to give you my heart..." This part in particular shows that not only does the group express their feelings in their music, but they also have an amazing grasp on word flow and diction. This is just a start to the several reasons why I love Coldplay and why you should check them out.