My daughter’s a huge fan, so I bought her and her mom tickets to the show. We surprised her at the last minute. This is by far, the most I’ve spent on tickets ($100 plus per ticket when you add the TicketBastard charges, and those were the mid-priced ones).
I got them to the show and went to the bar. After many beers, I thought “what the hell,” walked to the arena, went to a security guard and said “20 bucks if you let me in.”
He did.
I was walking around the arena and my wife walks past me, does a double take, and is like WTF?
Wuss rock isn’t really my style, but they put on a pretty amazing show. They were engaging and really worked the crowd (mostly young teenage girls. My ears are still ringing from their screams). I won’t be driving around blasting Coldplay in my car, but I guess I have a little more respect for them.
Coldplay is–or at least they started out as–basically a Jeff Buckley tribute band. Jeff Buckley is the guy who gave male singers permission to sing again, and not just grunt and growl and bark, like the grunge and hiphop artists that were popular when he showed up in the mid 90s. Radiohead might still be doing “Creep” repeats without Buckley’s influence, and the Flaming Lips would still be doing garage punk in Kansas.
While some of Buckley’s greatest influences were indeed female artists–Nina Simone, Edith Piaf, even Diamanda Galas and Mary Margaret O’Hara. But the singer he was most frequently compared to was Robert Plant.
Anyway, although I don’t have much use for any Coldplay music after their debut album, it cheeses me a bit to see them referred to with the vaguely sexist, maybe even homophobic epithet of “wuss rock” simply because they actually sing. As if any style other than the gut-punch grunts of grunge or the bass-drum thump of hiphop is somehow effeminate.
Hm. I don’t think any of those characterizations suit Coldplay. I mean, there is a little bombast in their style. I like 'em fine. I think it’s an interesting concert reviewer that talks about sneaking in and puts the band down as “wuss rock” on the way to saying he enjoyed the concert. Is it really necessary to establish that you didn’t pay and consider yourself above such fare to live with yourself for liking Coldplay? 'Cause really, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Yes, they are popular with young girls, but so were the Beatles.
Yes, I thought it was a fun little story about getting into a show, and what I thought about it…you people reeeeeally take these things waaaaaay too seriously. Was it necessary to establish that I didn’t pay? Well…no. I suppose even making this post wasn’t necessary.
I think their music sounds a bit wussy. I’m not sure where I acted ashamed, and I’m really at the point where I regret sharing this little anecdote.
It was a cool gift for you daughter, nice one - and a cheeky $20 to see the band yourself is good going. They’re terrible wusses, as mentioned, but I could see them putting on a good show. Chris Martin is an absolute pair of aching-balls of a man, but he’s got a nice voice - sort of adenoidal but always on key.
Yes, of course. “Wuss” implies a lack of masculinity, so “sexist” and “homophic” are accurate descriptions of such an epithet. The adjectives you suggest address the music more directly, without such offensive implications.
I guess I agree. I think the thing about Coldplay that grind people’s gears is that they came on the scene at a time where I think the music industry was very weak and formulaic. If they were around in the mid-80s when U2, Simple Minds, and The Alarm were working the social conscience-arms around the world form of stadium rock, they wouldn’t have made it. Or in the early 90s where you needed crunchy screaming guitar riffs.
There’s also that weight of a lot of UK also-rans that were promised to be the Next Big Thing that lost the plot in America. Travis and Keane comes to mind. Hell, probably Oasis ruined it for these guys.
I think an article about them I read in Q more or less sums up their problem - at least Chris Martin’s. They’re so bloody eager. They want to be the world’s biggest band, and they are doing all they can, like class prefects, to get you to like them. Whereas some more “badass” groups act like they don’t give a shit that they are the world’s biggest band (see Stones, Rolling; Police, The; and many others).
The other issue is that the band is so damned anonymous. I mean, it’s Chris Martin (who is known to most of the free world as Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow) and three blokes from public schools. They seem like nice guys, certainly competent musicians - and if you don’t give them grudging props for songs like “Clocks” and “Speed of Sound,” you have no soul. But when you know the band, there’s no creative tension like Mick vs. Keith, Liam vs. Noel, or whatever.
I will say that the song “Clocks” was a favorite of mine, but the last time I visited the UK (March 2003?) I was driven to distraction because I heard it so bloody much.
There’s just something missing from their music. They’re perfectly proficient at what they do but they just don’t seem to have the X factor, as Simon Cowell would say.
I liked earlier Coldplay music. Their first main album (and b-sides) had some cool bits of guitar including some tunings that even Joni Mitchell had never used. It’s not their popularity that turned me off of them (I’ll freely admit that I love Matchbox 20), it’s that their music hasn’t gripped me. “Viva La Vida” musically was interesting, but the lyrics ruined it when they seemed to espouse a pomposity.
When did sexist equate homophobic? You’re way off the mark.
I’m still lost on the homophobic thing :dubious:. It’s pretty much a Simpson’s reference, and since it’s a slang term, I give you the Urban Dictionary definition.
Lacking masculinity does not equal gay. In once sense, “Wuss Rock” is not even an insult, just a crude description of the music. Hell, I even say the show was awesome and I don’t hate the band, I just feel they target young teenage girls with their love ballads. They’re fine musicians who put on a great show.
“Bombastic” is a good term, and that style plays well in arenas. Plus they gave everyone a free CD.
