While not unique in its approach to melancholy, Parachutes offered just enough familiarity to become the non-offensive indie-rock sound of choice on the world’s Muzak systems. Parachutes brought this tradition into the small years of the new millennium by impacting the charts in a big way.
Coldplay would use a similar formula, although it was lost on many casual listeners. The 1972 song ‘Perfect Day’ is a good example of calming melancholy with a touch of lyrical irony. Lou Reed for instance often wrote songs that were happy but wrapped musically in sad melancholy. Some of Parachutes charms goes beyond Radiohead comparisons to rock traditions of the ’70s. Although Coldplay’s version of the sound as featured on Parachutes lacked the depth and lyrical irony, it represented what the market wanted. The Radiohead comparisons followed them around until the experimental Kid A album. The void left some Radiohead fans without the sound they loved on The Bends and Coldplay seemed to fill that void. That popularity was in no small part to their safe and familiar sound that blended trace elements of U2 with Radiohead and touches of the ’70s. The two bands developed a similar sound, while Keane became a favorite of the critics, Coldplay would be a favorite of the charts. Keane and Coldplay even crossed paths very early as one of Coldplay’s founders, Chris Martin tried recruiting a keyboard player from Keane. Coldplay could more likely trace its immediate influences to fellow English bands James and Keen. The comparisons were inevitable given that Radiohead’s (by now 5 year old) The Bends was similar in tone to Parachutes, the first LP from Coldplay. No one likes a copy or do they? Like U2 and The Alarm, the English band Coldplay was often compared to and called a bad copy of Radiohead.
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