No turning back

INTRODUCTION: Coldplay's X & Y has been declared as the biggest selling album of the year 2006. Puja Goyal traces their journey towards success.

Source: Vijay Times, Life - Pg 3.
Copyright © 2006 Puja Goyal.

COLDPLAY's X&Y was announced as the biggest selling album of the year 2006 on March 31, 2006. X&Y is the bandís third album, which debuted at # 1 in 20 countries in June last year, selling over eight million copies worldwide to head the worldís top 10 bestselling albums list, issued by IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industries).

This is the second time that Coldplay have appeared in the top 10 since IFPI began publishing the list in 2001, with their second release A Rush Of Blood To The Head having been the sixth biggest album of 2003.

Not only this, the success of X&Y has also propelled Coldplay's Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head back into the charts around the world. Debut album Parachutes has now sold more than 7.5 million copies worldwide, with A Rush of Blood to the Head reaching almost 11 million.

The band: Jonny Buckland (guitarist), Guy Berryman (bassist), Will Champion (drummer), and (lead vocalist) Chris Martin are four college going friends who turned into poster boys overnight, and for good reason. The band pinched the name Coldplay from their friend Tim before he could use it for his own band and Tim had originally taken it from a book of poetry.

Chris's old schoolmate Phil Harvey became their first manager, and financed Coldplay's first recording and release of the Safety EP on a 500-copies limited CD. Coldplay was later spotted by a talent scout who tipped off Dan Keeling of Parlophone records to keep an eye on them. There was no turning back then.

When the band decided to record their first album Parachutes, they were determined that nothing would go on the album that they all four didn't agree on. In addition to the two Brits they won last year, Coldplay also picked up a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

The story: The first thing that strikes anyone listening to a Coldplay song is that it is compact, written beautifully, is vulnerable, and simple. If you're wondering why Don't Panic is named so, itís because Chris swiped the title from Douglas Adams, as Radiohead did with Paranoid Android. Similarly on an occasion, Chris said that the song Yellow was called so because, he couldnít think of any other name and named it after the yellow pages lying in front of him... and there are many more stories to tell.

The song: "We wanted to make the most passionate, moving, melodic, uplifting and sad record of all time," Chris said, in an interview with MTV. "There's no point in trying to do anything less, and if we get maybe one tenth of the way there, that will be better than no part of the way there." For Coldplay, crafting a great record meant writing from the heart and conveying those sentiments in a fresh and impassioned way. Many songs were scrapped in the process because they sounded like their first album, Parachutes.

The hardest part: and the hardest part/ was letting go not taking part/ was the hardest part / and the strangest thing / was waiting for that bell to ring / It was the strangest start... (Album: X&Y)

Everyone has a perfect song sung for themselves... and while you switch through those channels on your radio and try to find that "perfect" song for you; you come across this one track, and you'd wish the station would play it on repeat. It will probably be Coldplay because everyone has a favourite Coldplay song that reminds us of sweet melancholia, haunting tunes, a well written verse... and a strong yearning that is similar to these cloudy days when it seems as if it is going to rain, but it doesn't. And yes! That's not only the Hardest Part (their latest single) but also the favourite part.

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