Martin.Sax

Coldplay

 

When Coldplay issued their debut, Parachutes in 2000, many assumed they only succeeded because they filled the void left by Radiohead, who had became less radio friendly and more experimental with each new release.

 

No doubt, Coldplay's sound —elegant, melodic, vaguely spacey and very dramatic — bore plenty of similarity to mid-1990s Radiohead.

 

Those profits went way up in 2005, when Coldplay released their third album, X & Y, which went straight to Number One in 22 countries, including the U.S. and U.K. Despite critical pans (including a high-profile drubbing in the New York Times), the album spun off the radio tracks "Speed of Sound" (Number Eight, 2005), "Fix You" (Number 59, 2005), "Talk" (Number 86, 2006), and "The Hardest Part" (Number 37 Adult Contemporary, 2006). Martin became a tabloid fixture thanks to his marriage, but his image, and his band's, remained relatively down to earth.