# Coldplay's "Clocks" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185 "2003-06-11T20:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/1 "2003-06-11T20:04:29Z")
I’ve never been on the “cutting edge” of music. Round these parts MTV was the place for “new” music. That’s where I heard Duran Duran, The Cure, Depeche Mode etc when I was in high school (now, of course, they’re played on the oldies station). Anyway, my point is that I’ve never been up on the new stuff. And now that I’m a grown-up with a family to worry about and other responsibilities, music is not the first thing on my mind. So, I hear this great new (to me, at least) song on the radio. I think it’s Sting. I ask my wife, “You heard Sting’s new song? It’s incredible!” I do some web searching. Can’t figure out what album of Sting’s it could be from. So I finally get the point that IT’S NOT STING, it’s Coldplay. Anyone else think the guy sounds a lot like Sting in most of that song? (I’m feeling long-winded today. Apologize for the long set up for a quick question.) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/2 "2003-06-11T20:35:38Z")
I don’t hear the Sting thing, sorry. I would like to add that I’m getting real sick of Coldplay however. * * * Why do the artists who bitch the loudest about free downloading get so much radio airplay? ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/3 "2003-06-11T21:50:19Z")
I agree that Coldplay is a tad like Sting. It kind of helps that Sting has had varied styles throughout the years (The Police, anyone?). I was thinking today that Cher’s new song was interesting, something a little different. But then I learned that it was Lisa Marie Presley. Does that mean I’m getting old? ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/4 "2003-06-11T22:03:10Z")
In a weird bit of serendipity, I am listening to “Clocks” right now. The lyrics are slightly nonsensical, but they, along with that depressing but driving piano riff, combines into a rather sad little song that gives me chills. I don’t hear the Sting comparison, though. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/5 "2003-06-11T23:35:50Z")
I love that song, no matter how much they play it on the radio (which is about five million times a day). There is no way I hear Sting in it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/6 "2003-06-12T00:10:10Z")
Add me to the “don’t hear Sting” column. Could be that I adore Sting and could probably pick his voice out of an audio line-up. Decided to put in “Clocks”… I guess both Sting and Coldplay Singer Guy (mind drawing a complete blank) sometimes sound like they are straining a bit. Sting’s voice is a bit raspier, though. For lack of a better word. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/7 "2003-06-12T03:45:37Z")
I don’t hear Sting when I hear “Clocks,” but I find it slightly reminiscent of U2. And that wonderful song “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve from a few years back runs together with a lot of the Coldplay I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/8 "2003-06-12T11:38:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Coldplay Singer Guy Chris Martin. don’t see the Sting connection, but I am kinda getting over Coldplay. They were interesting until the put out a second album that sounded exactly like their first, but nowhere near as interesting. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/9 "2003-06-12T11:41:57Z")
I should add that Chris Martin is currently schtuping Gwyneth Paltrow. Not bad for the singer in a band that was almost totally unknown just over two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/10 "2003-06-12T11:51:21Z")
A lot of people think that Coldplay are very “early U2” - never heard of the Sting thing though… ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/11 "2003-06-12T13:02:37Z")
I hear both Sting and Bono. He has an interesting voice - not quite nasal but “nasally resonant.” Sort of like he’s congested. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/12 "2003-06-12T13:08:47Z")
My brother says Chris Martin’s voice “sounds like Alan Partridge singing” (UK dopers will get this). It has slightly spoiled my enjoyment of Coldplay ever since. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/13 "2003-06-12T13:10:17Z")
So, it’s just me, huh? Bravo to Chris Martin. Gwyneth has never been at the top of my list, but she’s certainly quite a catch. You all really can’t hear Sting in that song? It’s the only Coldplay song I know of, but man, I hear it my head and it sounds just like Sting. Geez, it must you all, 'cause it can’t be me. Can it? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/14 "2003-06-12T14:32:35Z")
Re: The OP Does ANYONE besides me remember an 80s British band called Bronski Beat? They had a minor MTV type hit (it was minor in the US anyway) called “Small Town Boy”. This would have been 1984-1985 or so. When I first heard “Clocks” I thought it was a cover of “Small Town Boy”. The singing style and the instrumental are very reminiscient of the other song, to me anyway. I mentioned this in another thread and no one commented on it. I do have an obsessive memory when it comes to obscure 80s New Wave/Alternative music though. Anyone? Anyone? Oh, and I will grant that “Clocks” sounds a little like Sting, too. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/15 "2003-06-12T14:32:39Z")
For the longest time, my wife and I thought that “Clocks” was a new Dave Matthews Band song, but we couldn’t find it on any of his albums. Finally, one of the times we heard it on the radio, the DJ mentioned that it was Coldplay. So, it always sounds like Dave Matthews (somewhat dumbed-down) to me now… but I can hear a Bono-influence in there too. Sting, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/16 "2003-06-12T14:50:14Z")
**Laughing Lagomorph** , I well remember Bronski Beat, who had a number of hits in the UK (being from the UK). I don’t hear the resemblance at all, especially not in Jimmy Somerville’s vocals, which were rather… falsetto. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/17 "2003-06-12T14:59:02Z")
I don’t think Chris Martin sounds like Sting, but the instrumental part with the drums sounds vaguely like Sting’s most recent work. However, I think the instrumental mainly sounds like a more elaborate version (extra notes added, sped up) of the instrumental riff in “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” by the Vaselines. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/18 "2003-06-12T16:01:23Z")
[hijack] That reminded me of the time I spent about a day in HMV looking for the “new” Oasis song… Then it turned out that it was “Death in Vegas” with Liam Gallagher singing… boy was _I_ annoyed… [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/19 "2003-06-12T17:44:17Z")
I see the Coldplay = the next U2 all over the place. I don’t really hear it but OK. I’ll take the Coldplay = Dave Matthews Band because both sort of have the same feel except that I dislike the DMB a whole lot but like Coldplay. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185/20 "2003-06-12T21:38:30Z")
At the end of the movie “Confidence” (which features “Clocks” over the end credits), my boyfriend said to me, “I’m getting really sick of always hearing U2 in movies.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldplays-clocks/181185.md?page=2)