Coldplay: how is it possible that a group that irritates so much is the one that fills the most on the planet

Mick Jagger doesn't hate Coldplay.

The Rolling Stones singer posted a video a few weeks ago on his Instagram account where he was seen in the upper stands of London's Wembley Stadium waving his arms to the sound of

one of his hymns.

Jagger wore a

the light bracelet that the British quartet had invented for their concerts.

It was also carried by the 80,000 people who attended the recital.

The view of the entire enclosure was formidable.

“Jagger listening to

at Wembley and keeping the tears at bay”, said someone on Twitter with irony referring to the tear effect produced by listening to the piece.

titled an information about the video ,

noting that it's a bit embarrassing to declare passion for the music of the British quartet.

It is enough to put the words “hate (or

) + Coldplay” in Google or YouTube search engines and find dozens of articles on the subject.

The specialized press and the fans who presume to know do not swallow them.

A few years ago,

published an article titled

critic

Jon Pareles left this sentence for history: "The most insufferable band of the decade."

Coldplay has confirmed in recent weeks that it is the biggest pop band of the moment.

No one can come close to his concert numbers.

They have just devastated their country, they have sold four Olympic Lluís Companys stadiums (May 24, 25, 27 and 28, 2023) in Barcelona in a few hours (200,000 tickets) and in Argentina they will camp for 10 days (from next October 25) in the field of River Plate (just over half a million people).

We are talking about tickets that cost 105 euros on the track.

And yet, his music irritates and bothers as much as the passion it stirs.

What are the sins of the British quartet?

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Alexis Petridis, critic for the British newspaper

and one of the most influential pop music specialists in Europe, ends his furious analysis of the band's latest album,

(2021), with this missile: "There must be ways more worthy of staying on top.”

His theory is that the quartet is obsessed with success and that after some commercial slip in the past they wanted to play it safe.

How?

The algorithm.

They selected the artists with the most social media followers and platform listeners and went out of their way to have them on the record.

Hence the presence of Selena Gomez and Korean pop stars BTS.

Interesting theory that in a certain way also points to this report Alfonso Cardenal, host of the musical program of the Cadena Ser

.

Cardenal fixes the basis of this problem at the beginning of the group: “Coldplay is a band that was pointing to an independent side, so to speak, and that the unexpected success of the first album

2000] placed them in a position of stars and they decided to stay there doing commercial pop.

Radiohead had the opportunity to do the same after the huge success of

but preferred experimentation.

The group in a concert in Glasgow of its current tour, on August 23.

In the foreground Chris Martin and, in the background, drummer Will Champion.

RK (Getty Images)

It is worth highlighting the aspects that irritate: excess of positivity, songs composed with the aim of playing in stadiums, melodies that are too sweet, filling good

, nonsense, which are no longer those of the beginning... And hence the jokes: perfect music for a wedding ,

music for people who don't like

… Lanre Bakare is a British journalist who covers cultural information for

To the question of EL PAÍS about what is the problem that certain people have with Coldplay, he answers with certainty: “Its commerciality.

Those looking for challenging music are put off by Coldplay's level of success.

It is for the same reason that many hate U2, which I think is a group with certain similarities to Coldplay.

Also Coldplay's tendency to sentimentality is off-putting to some.

But the truth is that the mass public wants music that can soundtrack the ups and downs of their lives, and their songs are perfect in that regard.

Gustavo Iglesias, from Radio 3, who directs the program

also comes out in defense of the band: “With Coldplay's massive status, it's easy to mess with them and say they've sold out or lost their dignity.

But if you see his career, it doesn't seem like such a brazen move on his latest albums either.

will not be an important work in the future of popular music, but I do not see it as an atrocity, as much of the critics have said.

The English performing in Los Angeles with the Korean group BTS on November 21, 2021. Kevin Winter (Getty Images for MRC)

Another argument made by the haters has to do with how little rocker Chris Martin is, the figure that monopolizes all the spotlights in the quartet: he doesn't brag about vices, he grinds at the gym and always has a smile on his face.

It is precisely this disposition that makes Shuarma positive, the leader of the Spanish group Elefantes, who considers himself a follower of Coldplay.

He explains it to EL PAÍS: “Chris Martin is simple, nothing fancy or eccentric.

The power of him is that naturalness.

I think it's a time when the music culture is closer to the normal person than the rock star.

Music has taken a turn: records are no longer sold and music programs and magazines are no longer so influential.

There are no more rock stars, the ones that survive are the ones from yesteryear”.

Shuarma acknowledges that he is more interested in the early Coldplays than the latest ones: “However, they continue to do wonderfully now as well.

They have a tremendous compositional capacity and energy.

And collaborating with artists of different styles, as they have done with BTS or Selena Gomez, I think it enriches”.

Bakare is of the same opinion: “he is a new kind of pop star, less

but that connects on an emotional level and with which people can identify.

Chris Martin is a

who grew up an evangelical Christian.

And he has paved the way for musicians with similar profiles, like Ed Sheeran or Lewis Capaldi”.

From left to right, Jonny Buckland (guitar), Chris Martin (vocals), Will Champion (drums) and Guy Berryman (bass), in London, in May 2021, at the Brit Awards.

John Marshall (Getty Images for The Brits)

It is true that Coldplay was already a stadium band for years, but now it has exceeded expectations.

Cardenal: “Nobody can doubt his pull, but the figures are tremendous.

The images of the Wembley concerts have raised a lot of expectations.

Some are not fans of Coldplay, but are drawn to the show.

It is also a concert that has the label of 'event to be at'.

a lot of

people taking photos for Instagram.

They are fashions that bring together part of the population that wants to be in the things that are talked about”.

And there are the songs, of course, with flaming choruses that work perfectly for large audiences.

We asked a college student who spent a morning in the virtual queue for Barcelona concert tickets for her motivation to attend.

Blanca Liceras, a 23-year-old from Madrid: “I'm not a big fan of the group and I've barely listened to their latest album, but I decided to buy a ticket after seeing the videos of other recitals on social media: the lights, the different settings, how much fun people seem to have…”.

I post in the front rows of a Coldplay concert in New York in September 2021. ANGELA WEISS (AFP via Getty Images)

The members of Coldplay met at university in the nineties and moved to London with backpacks full of ambition.

"We wanted to meet musicians, the people with whom we were going to conquer the world," they have reported on occasion.

When

(Oasis, Blur, Suede) was beginning its decline, a new generation of British musicians appeared who turned down the volume of the guitars, introduced the piano and spoke of melancholy love.

It was the early two thousand.

Coldplay, Travis, Keane or Snow Patrol appeared on the hit lists.

Of all of them, only Coldplay are capable of reaching large audiences today, partly due to their lack of prejudice when it comes to diving into commerciality.

Gustavo Iglesias finds their evolution “quite honest, they have never tried to be an

or sophisticated group”.

Lanre Bakare underlines: “They are fundamentally a commercial band that sometimes surprise you by winking at Kraftwerk.

I always remember Noel Gallagher [Oasis] saying that Coldplay write songs for 'children who wet the bed'.

The truth is that they make songs that connect with people on an emotional level, that's why they perform in Spain and fill stadiums and Noel doesn't”.