21 years ago today, Coldplay released “Speed of Sound.” It still sucks.
It’s Clocks. Same piano arpeggio, same key, same Chris Martin emoting at you with his whole face like he’s about to say something important and then doesn’t. They had one formula, got scared to leave it, and repackaged it. The marketing team worked harder than the songwriters on this one.
Here’s what you should have been listening to in 2005:
- Chemical Brothers – Galvanize — Q-Tip rapping over a drum machine in a song that actually has forward motion
- Pendulum – Tarantula — DnB that makes your chest hurt in the right way
- LCD Soundsystem – Daft Punk Is Playing at My House — James Murphy understood the assignment on the first try
- Röyksopp – What Else Is There? — the kind of emotional sweep Coldplay was reaching for, actually achieved
- Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. — De La Soul, a windmill, an actual vision