Most Hated?
Reading through recent threads, it is clear that the Word readership is a broad church, with examples of praise (and criticism) being given to pretty much all artists, from all genres. There is however one band which seems to unite Word readers in universal disapproval:
Coldplay
I don't think I've seen a single word of defence for Coldplay on this site (they've come in for a bit of a shoeing on some recent threads in fact). Personally I'm neither up nor down about them but I'm not sure why they seem to be disliked so much. Is it largely due to their general popularity/ubiquity? Is anyone willing to come out in their favour?
On the other side of the coin, a few acts seem impervious to criticism on this site - Richard Thompson; Nick Lowe. Anyone want to disagree with this consensus of praise (I don't!)?
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I've got something good to say about Coldplay!
They're not Keane.
And something else
They're not Radiohead. Although I understand to many they are Radiohead-light.
Blasphemy!
Blasphemy!
Just out of interest...
Which band do you feel has been blasphemed, Keane, Coldplay or Radiohead?
Hate is a bit strong...
...I think it just amounts to indifference.
I'll stand them a pint
Yellow was fab, the video was great and the first half of the second album has some great tracks. (Am i damning them with feint praise here?)
The drummer is excellent, tight without being over fancy. There's a great mash-up out there of Talk mashed with the Kraftwerk original.
Third album was rubbish and they're overplayed, but there are diamonds in the dirt.
The drummer
is one reason I don't much like them. He's amongst the dullest musicians I've ever heard.
Good band, waaaaaaaaaaay overplayed.
Yeah, I'll defend them - I still think they have some great songs (although I wasn't a fan of X&Y). I saw them at Glastonbury in 2002 and it was by far the highlight of my weekend.
I hardly listen to them anymore though, due to the fact that at my last office we were forced to listen to Radio 1; hence I heard every one of their singles about 25 times a day and got totally bored of them.
U2 Lite Radiohead Lite Verve Lite
I like my music with its balls attached thanks.
ho ho. Classic
ho ho.
Classic Springer.
god, your such a card.
Yeah,
'The Verve' and 'Balls' do go hand in hand.
I'll defend Mr. Paltrow and his melancholy men. First two albums good, 'X & Y' trying too hard. Green Eyes, The Scientist and Politiks all rather nice. Fix You, clearly the husband's attempt to put the wife's Oscar speech to song.
Despite the lack of
Despite the lack of assurance from the chattering classes (who done the obvious and turned on the band once heralded as ''The Saviours of Music'' by The Guardian) I still believe ''The Scientist'' is a classic song.
Even if it is somewhat tainted by Coldplays most recent output.
The problem with Coldplay is, um, Overplay...
...when they have a new album out you can't avoid it. I don't personally like their music very much but I don't hate it; it wouldn't really bother me much if it wasn't so omnipresent. The current brigade of British indie bands bother me far more- Pigeon Detectives, Twang, Hard Fi, Razorlight etc and the likes of Lily Allen/Kate Nash.
Another band who seem impervious to any sort of criticism are The Clash; not so much on this site but the rock press seem to worship them. I have to be honest and say I've never got what the fuss is about with that band.
Not that familiar with Nick Lowe, do enjoy the albums I have with Richard Thompson on though. He was really excellent on Later With Jools Holland last year.
For such a trivial band, The
For such a trivial band, The Clash have been bombastically hyped to a point of exhaustion.
I rack my brains in an attempt to fathom what all the fuss is about.
I suppose they adhere to the protocol of a successful rock band:
(enigma)
+
(charisma)
X
(good hair)
-
(any indication of a stylists intervention)
+
(spouting some shit about a revolution)
= The Clash
you are so right !!
"The current brigade of British indie bands bother me far more- Pigeon Detectives, Twang, Hard Fi, Razorlight etc and the likes of Lily Allen/Kate Nash"
Over hyped and don't know whats the fuss. And Hard Fi want to be The Clash doing Rock the Casbah. I just don't get it.
The fashionista troupe of
The fashionista troupe of young ducklings that the NME constantly place in an ambassadorial capacity make me want to cry. This era of music is in absolute tatters.
BUT was it ever any better?
todays music
is as good as its ever been, its just your older.
The Clash
The Clash just went the way a lot of bands go, they just lost their way. But when they got it right it was on the money, in grand style. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the vastly overrated Sainted Morrisey, lets be honest the Smiths were a great band, but no more than that, but Lord Stephen is just afforded too much R.E.S.P.E.C.T. maan!!
The Arctic Monkeys...
...another one who are trundled out on BBC's festival coverage as if they were the best that British rock has to offer and it seems that 'everyone' loves them. Personally I have not been impressed- musically quite conservative to my ears and, sorry to say, I hate the vocals....
I remember The Strokes were greeted with something akin to euphoria when they appeared but I was so disappointed when I heard them- more like the death of rock than its saviours (though I believe at least one NME scribe once claimed Paul Weller was responsible for the decline of rock music!).
Someone posted here recently that they liked the idea of The Magic Numbers but they didn't like their music very much. I felt the same; they got lots of 5 star ratings for that debut album but I didn't really like it too much.
Am enjoying some slightly more recent bands though. Porcupine Tree, Battles, Mars Volta, Opeth, Black Mountain, The Decemberists and one I've just discovered called Espers I like considerably.
The list goes on,
Magic Numbers, went to see them on their first big tour and bought the album, disappointments all round.
Artic Monkeys, liked them in a sort of Franz Ferdinand sort of way, ( liked them, bought the album, raved about it and never played it again...apart from "Dancefloor" which is still a top tune I think)
The Strokes, bought the album went to see them and Is this It hasn't been pulled from the rack since 2001.
I've began to think of them as the David Walliams version of rock, fasionable for a week and move on.
I remember David Hep. doing a piece in Word a couple of years ago which summed it up.
If anything is killing music it's that people feel cheated every time the next new thing gets blown out because it obviously didn't stack up in the first place.
Which is why I'm now almost always buying my music on recommendations.
By the way did anyone see Gabriella Cilmi on Jools Holland.
She's my new next thing.
And here she is !!!!!!!!!
Phew.
Not at all bad
I may have to investigate further. Happy to see that Sideshow Bob has found gainful employment since his release from the Springfield Pen.
HA! Spot on.
Brilliant.
Bless.
This is the one my eyes were on...oh, and Morrisey of course.
Jools Holland (09/02/2008 edition)
(not the actual clip...that should be on YouTube within a couple of day)
Ida Maria
Sorry Liam
but I still hold a torch for Gabriella Cilmi. But Wikipedia says she is only 16. Surely not !
Overplay
Is it the fault of [insert name of group here] that their records get overplayed? Is that not the fault of the radio stations?
The girl singers
I've tried so hard to like the current crop of girly singists, but I just can't find any that I actually really like.
The Winehouse - whilst I feel desperately sorry for her personal circs, whatever the reality is rather than the tabloid version, I just can't listen to many of the songs - one or two is enough for me. I can tell that she's got a powerful voice but I don't actually like it in my ears.
The Allen/Nash brigade - oh just stop it please. I hate that slightly hiccup-y vocal style.
KT Tunstall - just don't like the songs or the delivery.
Adele/Duffy/mad Joss Stone - soul lite. And how do you chase a pavement?
All apparently highly rated, all beyond my ken.
Ooooh wahhhhh
I can't abide the bloody Beach Boys meself - all that ooooh waaaah crap. I am genuinely mystified at this Brian Wilson is a genius genius stuff.
Suede and a Rambling post
What the hell was that all about ? Just didn't understand all the fuss.Sounded like Bowie Outtakes
Chris Martin on Extras : that song he sang was just awful.
Me i always hated a Whole genre-Jazz Funk What a load of ****.
Folk rock does seem a sacred cow on here.
talking of Overplayed records i had the misfortune of listening to D.L.T when he Played-The Lotus Eaters,"First Picture of you" for something like the 50th time that week which broke the previous Radio 1 record of plays in a week.
I have a defence of Coldplay!
Shiver is an absolutely fantastic song. From their first album, first ever single (before Yellow), completely bombed, pretty much different to anything else they've ever recorded, and one of my favourite songs of the last ten years.
...everything else is pretty substandard though
Absolutely
I completely agree. Shiver's a great track - great build up, great tension, sustained across 4-odd minutes. Never replicated, unfortunately.
Coldplay
Still rate Coldplay's first album, some lovely songs on it and their second album was okay too. As other people have remarked, they are just overplayed. I put on "X&Y" last night whilst rigging up a new record player. It was worse than I remembered, over produced and lacking any soul and depth.
Coldplay's lyrics...
I listened to Parachutes the other day, and was surprised how much I liked it - and I'd add that I never liked Yellow. Trouble, Spies and Shiver are terrific songs. Fast Forward to X&Y and the big problem for me is the lyrics: they're just plain bloody awful. Speed of Sound is sonically pretty stirring, as long as you blot out the banality of the words. As Charles Shaar Murray once said of Dylan's Oh Mercy, it sounds good if you're in the room next door.
I think some of the undeserved opprobrium heaped on Coldplay is rooted in cynicism about Chris Martin's "do-gooding" and his seemingly blameless marriage to Gwyneth Paltrow, right down to the sneering at their firstborn's name. Honestly, compared to many celebrity nomenclatural atrocities, "Apple" seems tame and rather sweet (no pun intended).
Everything Sounds Like Coldplay Now
Full Stop.
Coldplay
I absolutely adore X&Y. The second album was pretty good too. I have about 2,500 other albums on various formats, but other than Sigur Ros and Explosions In The Sky, no other band's album has hit the spot for me like it did and continues to do... At least they are not Queen or The Clash.
In defence of...
....Chris Martin, he is witty & articulate when interviewed, just a shame he can't sing for toffee.
perhaps Bon-bons would be
perhaps Bon-bons would be suffice?
I blame The Word
What do they do every month? Give us great tunes on a free CD that sparks our interest, but allows us barely enough time to explore further before the next one hits the mat; thus retaining the freshness.
It is rare for any group or track to disprove the law of diminishing returns, but just occasionally it happens. An example for me is 'False Alarm' by KT Tunstall. This is the first track I heard by her and can listen to it with enjoyment at any time and for any number of times. The rest of her catalogue leaves me unmoved. Strange, innit?