Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto and Why Sometimes Pop is Just Pop
Coldplay: Why fix what isn't broken?
After reading all the negative reviews for Mylo Xyloto, an album which I will admit is saddled by one of the most ridiculous titles ever, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that really what the band chooses to present here is a rational follow-up to Viva La Vida. Mylo Xyloto doesn’t stand up to a great deal of lyrical scrutiny, which is why so many critics have slashed at Martin’s throat by going after his lyrical failings.
But where the album shines is from a pure pop standpoint. “Hurts Like Heaven” is mindlessly catchy in a way few songs have been so far in 2011 – even when you hear yourself singing along to a line as inane as “You use your heart as a weapon but it hurts like heaven,” you’ve got to marvel at the tunefulness of the underlying melody, a melody which segues seamlessly into “Paradise,” the band’s seeming follow-up to “Lost!” which opens with strings and synths piling slowly upon each other until half a minute when the dark crunchy bass end comes into play. “She expected the world but it flew away from her reach,” Martin sings. “She ran away in her sleep into paradise!” The stuttering falsetto chorus – “Para-para-para-paradise!” — coupled with Martin’s “Oooh oooh oooh” harmonizing – turns the song into a barnstormer. If you can’t find something fun in this listening experience, you’re so jaded I don’t know that I want to know you.
The rest of the album is a joy to hear because it builds as a logical progression. The frantic desperation of “Charlie Brown” pumps up the energy just in time to drop off completely into the somber simplicity of “Us Against The World” (as apt a title as any on the album), which allows Martin to play with his more acoustic side, a la X&Y’s “Til Kingdom Come.”
“I just want to be there when the lightning strikes and the saints go marching in,” Martin sings, and it’s his mantra. Coldplay is here to be the world’s pop band even if the world isn’t ready to stand up to the hipsters and admit it wants a pop band.
We all say we want experimentation, raw creativity, explosions of avant-garde pretentiousness. But when push comes to shove, Coldplay will be there when we’re ready for something which strips all that away, leaving nothing but the pure, comforting essence of pop. It’s telling that “Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall,” the band’s choice for lead single, is far from the most exceptional track on the album.
It comes down to expectations. If you see Coldplay as Radiohead-lite, you’ve already decided their music is something less than that of a band you already revere. As for the “it’s so sickly sweet” mantra, Coldplay’s music has always been something of an aural diabetic’s enemy … if you can’t tolerate sugary pop music, you’ve been coming to the wrong band and simply aren’t going to be able to judge the album for what it’s really offering. Mylo Xyloto doesn’t so much take Coldplay in new directions as it works to cement the band in the eyes of its fans as one firmly planted in the world of pop. Any experimentation which is to be done will be performed with the aim of pushing their music more fully into the world of pop.
In the end there’s the “relevance” debate. I, for one, don’t feel a band’s relevance depends on a willingness to completely reinvent its sound album to album. Coldplay succeeds in the same vein as journeymen pop acts like Train – when “Hey Soul Sister” became a smash hit this year, it wasn’t because Train sold its soul for a pop hit. They simply kept making albums the way they’d done since Train hit shelves in 1999, and eventually the pop radio world came back around and found them playable again. Coldplay is never going to be something for everyone. They’ll remain a punching bag album in, album out for critics who refuse to admit that there’s more than one way to experience music.
Sometimes all we want is pop music for pop music’s sake. To quote the band’s latest single: “I turn the music up, I’ve got my records on. I’ll shut the world outside until the lights come on.” Indeed. Coldplay’s latest may not be the brilliance everyone seems to have expected, but it’s a perfectly acceptable fifth album from a band clearly set on continuing to craft addictive pop confections long after their critics have put down their pens. If it’s not your cup of tea, there’s always another remix album of Radiohead’s King of Limbs you can dig into while venting about how bands like Coldplay don’t live up to expectations.
Also read:
Coldplay makes no secret of it Jew-hating Pro-Palinazi sympathies. They should be boycotted and banned from the USA.
I for one appreciate you letting me know that. I am so sickened by Elvis Costello (whose music, I happen to love!) and his blind wanderings into that area. Why can’t these people (that is people *not* primarily related to the issue) simply follow Richard Gere’s lead and rally for the Tibetans — a peaceful people if I’ve ever known one. Instead of wearing Kefiyahs at the Universities, young women could wear Orange robes… (no?) — well it was worth a try. Why are Tibetans less sexy than Palestinians, because they don’t blow people up, shoot them down from afar, cut the throats for children, etc? Of course if they did, the Chinese would quite literally pulverize them, halve their population and not even flinch at the world condemnation… that’s assuming of course that there *would* be any world condemnation.
Another post on the front page of Lifestyle deals with the anniversary of U2′s Achtung Baby. It is not impossible for pop music to have depth, and that is why I cannot take Coldplay seriously.
It’s not only the band itself, but it’s their fans, many of whom are the type of person who have a depth of musical appreciation akin to a kiddie pool.
Coldplay? Ugh.
I prefer campy pop music to actually BE campy pop music without pretensions of seriousness. I take the likes of Britney Spears and Kesha more seriously than Coldplay. At least they aren’t putting on airs.
I remain slightly less than luke warm to Coldplay. I won’t apologize for the fact that The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Band, The Who, Little Feat, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones to name a few were sooooo much better than U2 and Coldplay that I just can’t be bothered.
I used to love Coldplay. I still like their music, but any affection for them as artists and performers was lost in 2008, when they used their SNL gig to cheer Barack Obama’s then-candidacy.
A) You’re not here to demagogue, boys; B) Of *course* you cheered for Obama; and C) aren’t you English? Since when is it appropriate for you to push *your* opinion, much less why anyone should listen to it, on selecting an American President?
As the only way I can express my displeasure is to refuse to buy their albums — and principle forbids me to pirate it over the ‘Net — I have basically stopped listening. Sad, because it sounds like I’m missing decent music. But at the rate the world is going musicians won’t be able to make a living solely by music for much longer anyways. I normally don’t think that a good thing, but there are times it seems more just than others.
“As the only way I can express my displeasure is to refuse to buy their albums — and principle forbids me to pirate it over the ‘Net”=quote form Mr.J
I don’t see why not. Any commie artist who despises possessions in song should not feel the songs are THEIR property anyway. Imagine no possessions is their rally cry. They should applaud the redistribution of their art to the poor, like they do the rest of our hard earned labor. They do use the public airways to promote their noise right?
At best Coldplay’s music is useful for HBO’s promo montages of its shows. At worst it shows a band that must be addicted to novocaine. When an arty, elitest moron like Gwyneth Paltrow loves them, really loves them, you know it’s hazmat time.
What a great article! You’ve obviously taken the time to listen to Coldplay and what they’re trying to accomplish. While Mylo Xyloto is my least favorite album by Coldplay (A Rush of Blood to the Head is #1 for me), it has definitely started growing on me after several listens. I understand where the band wants to take their music And I applaud them for it. As long as they keep making records, I’ll always buy. And as long as they keep touring, I’ll attend every concert within 200 miles of my home. Haters can go to hell. There are bands I don’t care for, but I don’t jump to every occasion to comment on how their music is awful.
By the way, wanting justice for Palestinians doesn’t equate hating Jews. In case you haven’t noticed, Chris Martin’s offsprings are part Jewish.
Haters? Ha! Writing a long article on a band that matters as much as a pfffft in a windstorm brings out those of us who actually have some perspective.
For someone who is positively lukewarm to Coldplay, you took the time to read this long article about a pfffft in a windstorm, as well as to leave two comments on said article. That said, I didn’t write the article just to preach to those who already love Coldplay, and I certainly didn’t expect that everyone who dislikes them would instantly become Chris Martin converts. Not everything has to be about matters of grave consequence.
Here is a list of artists that won’t make people angry:
Alcione
Jorge Aragao
The Like’s 1st album
early Chicago
Del Amitri
Derek and the Dominos
Etta James
Jesse Colin Young
Gin Blossoms
The Guess Who
Hector Lavoe
The Ipanemas
Jamelao
Kathleen Edwards
Lush
Mad Dogs and Englishmen
Marvin Gaye
The Wreckers
The Rascals
The Sundays
Veruca Salt
Avoid these as they will make people throw salt in your eyes:
Maroon 5
Justin Timberlake
Christina Aguilera
Kanye West
Manheim Steamroller
Yanni
Michael Bolton
Nickelback
Radiohead
Kenny G
Black-Eyed Peas
Ann Margaret singing on The Flintstones
In your world a scathing review of a Broadway play or photography exhibition can simply be written off as being by a hater. That’s convenient for you: you’re never wrong.
I agree with your premise, that Cold Play doesn’t have to be great music to be enjoyable Pop. I’ll give this one a try, although I also agree with your pointing out the stupidity of the title. Perhaps Chris is taking a cue from George Lucas, who outsourced his character names and personas to his kids, and provided the world with “Count Duku” and the reviled “Jar Jar Blinks.” The new album name, as provided by Chris and Gwyneth’s progeny, Apple, Kumquat and Arugula (as memory serves), is mild by comparison.