Twenty-four years ago today, Coldplay released A Rush of Blood to the Head. It still sucks.
This was Peak Coldplay, which is like being the tallest building in Winnipeg — you can see it from far away but nobody flew there on purpose. The album gave us “The Scientist” and “Clocks,” two songs that have been emotionally weaponized by every university orientation video and Grey’s Anatomy death montage since 2002. Chris Martin played piano like he was apologizing for something he hadn’t done yet, and twenty-four years later I still don’t know what it was. The whole record sounds like a rainy window wrote a diary entry and a label executive put strings on it.
Here’s what you should listen to instead — five tracks that also came out in 2002 and actually moved music forward:
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The Chemical Brothers — Star Guitar (watch) — Michel Gondry matched every synth hit to passing scenery and accidentally made a better music video than Coldplay has managed in two decades. Built from a David Bowie guitar sample. Imagine borrowing from Bowie and making something good. Couldn’t be Chris.
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Underworld — Two Months Off (watch) — Karl Hyde shouting “you bring light in” over that build is worth more than Coldplay’s entire back catalogue. Pure euphoria from people who know what they’re doing.
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Röyksopp — Remind Me (watch) — Two Norwegians made dreamy electronic pop that was actually interesting to listen to. Erlend Øye’s vocal sits in the mix perfectly. Nobody cried during the recording. Probably.
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Benny Benassi — Satisfaction (watch) — One synth line and one word. That’s the whole track. More personality than anything Chris Martin has done with an orchestra and a stadium full of light-up wristbands.
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Boards of Canada — Geogaddi (listen) — Two Scots made the most emotionally devastating electronic record of 2002 without a single piano chord begging you to feel sad. Start with “Music Is Math.”