Coldplay, Globalized Music

I've recently come the conclusion that Coldplay might be the best band on the planet. There's something about a band when you can watch their concert at home on DVD and feel the energy of the show in your living room.

There's something about a band when they throw away a hefty bonus and scrap the record label's deadline because they want to make better music. "Deadlines be damned," Chris Martin said in a recent interview with Inside Entertainment. "It was all to do with fiscal years and shareholders anyway. Once we forgot about the money we were free to push ourselves to the very limits and make the best album possible." He's talking about X & Y, due out in June.

There's something about a two album, two time Grammy-winning band who has decided that with power comes responsibility and uses its worldwide fame to promote global trade equity and human rights. "This isn't just about me and the band," Martin says, who at 19 spent a year in Zimbabwe, has been to Haiti to represent Oxfam and recently returned from Ghana, "Success doesn't mean anything if we can't survive on this planet."

Coldplay is music that makes me think predominantly of Europe and European cities but I believe it goes beyond that. Certain bands you can easily put in categories and label them American, Canadian, British; but to me Coldplay is music that belongs to the world, to everybody everywhere. Music is a scene that has seen it's fair share of ups and downs since it became such a driving force and it is an institution that is constantly evolving. For me, Coldplay is globalized music, full of feeling and hope for a future peaceful global community. Maybe I'm putting too much on the shoulders of just another Brit-rock band. Maybe not.

One of the best Canadian bands of this past year here.