http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=624478 Sex, Prozac and rock 'n' roll: satirists turn on the 'Glum Rock' takeover of British pop music
By Ciar Byrne, Media Correspondent
29 March 2005
They are calling it "glum rock" - a glut of melancholic young pop stars whose music is providing the soundtrack to a downhearted generation.
At the centre of this sombre gathering can be found Coldplay - the inspiration, it is being claimed - for a new wave of bands determined to reverse Bing Crosby's homespun wisdom by accentuating the negative and eliminating the positive from pop music.
The thesis is being expounded in a vicious new parody by the comedian Mitch Benn in his series Crimes Against Music, which is being broadcast on Radio 4 this week.
In it he identifies four bands: Keane, Snow Patrol, Embrace and the Thirteen Senses, which he says are guilty of sounding uncannily similar to Coldplay, whose dour hits have included "Yellow" and "Clocks". A third Coldplay album, following on from Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head, is due to be released this summer - one of the most keenly awaited releases of the year. Others have added a fifth band to the list, Athlete, whose current hit "Wires" is about the singer's baby on a life-support system.
In the new series, Benn laments: "Everything sounds like Coldplay now. No other sounds can be allowed ... Very restrained, not too much row ... This could be Embrace, Keane or Snow Patrol, Thirteen Senses sound like this as well I'm told..."
Benn's conjecture has prompted a flurry of debate in the pop music world where the miserablist tradition can be faithfully traced from Leonard Cohen to Morrissey and the Smiths, to such giants of modern-day gloom as Radiohead.
But according to the NME editor Conor McNicholas, imitation is the inevitable result of Coldplay's runaway commercial success.
"This always happens when you get a very successful band. A&R men will jump on the bandwagon - forgive the pun. The same thing happened post-Oasis," he said. But Coldplay, he believes, will still stay one step ahead of their sound-alike rivals. And while some of the bands - such as Snow Patrol and Athlete - have earned their place at pop's top table, others may be less deserving.
"The Thirteen Senses have never really broken through. They seemed like one Coldplay band too far," he said.
Coldplay's frontman, Chris Martin, is almost as famous for being married to the actress Gwyneth Paltrow as for his music. The band met at University College London in 1996, signing to EMI's Parlophone label in July 2000. Their debut album Parachutes reached number one in the UK, and by the end of the year it had gone platinum four times.
Heart 106.2 FM DJ Harriet Scott said Coldplay have helped return guitar music to the charts and that their new album is among "their finest work".
"The success of the recent South By South West music showcase in Texas only proves that the demand is bigger than ever for guitar-based music," she said. "It was in the wilderness for so long while dance was exploding in the Nineties that it's only natural to see a return."
For the record companies, she argues, it all boils down to the bottom line. "You only have to look at the huge fall in EMI's share price when they announced they wouldn't be able to finish their album this quarter to see how important a band like Coldplay are. It's natural to see a number of bands with the same sound being popular and successful as well. I'm all for it."
The music journalist and broadcaster Paul Sexton believes there is life after Coldplay.
"There was a point after Coldplay happened where it looked as if the New Solemnity would dominate A&R, but mercifully we seem to be over that. The current British wave sounds much more 'anything goes', especially in groups like The Go! Team and Do Me Bad Things," he said.
The Record of the Day publisher, Paul Scaife, believes the greater danger lies elsewhere. "I'm more worried about the endless crooners and pop-opera bands," he said.
THE SOUNDALIKES
SNOW PATROL
Born and raised in Belfast, the members of Snow Patrol met during Freshers' Week at Dundee University in 1994, but it was a decade before they had a hit with their third album, Final Straw, which became one of the biggest CDs of 2004, propelled by the hit single "Run".
From "Run"
To think I might not see those eyes Makes it so hard not to cry And as we say our long goodbyes I nearly do
KEANE
The band, fronted by the baby-faced Tom Chaplin, met at school in 1997 and were originally signed to Simon Williams's Fierce Panda label, also home to some early Coldplay releases. Now signed to Island Records, Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was nominated for the Mercury music prize and has gone gold in the US.
From "Everybody's Changing"
You're aching, you're breaking And I can see the pain in your eyes
ATHLETE
The south London band's debut album, Vehicles and Animals, sold more than 250,000.Their second, Tourist, reached number one in the album chart. The Independent on Sunday described it as "slowing down in the middle of the road to park between Coldplay and Snow Patrol." Signed, like Coldplay, to Parlophone.
From "Wires"
You got wires, coming out of your skin There's dry blood, on your wrist
EMBRACE
The Huddersfield band Embrace sold half a million copies of their first album, The Good Will Out, in 1997, but then disappeared from view and were dropped by their record label. Then a good friend Chris Martin, whom the members met when Coldplay supported Embrace in 2000, brought the band back in from the cold when he wrote "Gravity", which was a huge hit last year.
From "Gravity"
Can you hear my heart beating Can you hear that sound Coz I can't help crying
THE THIRTEEN SENSES
The Cornish quartet have supported the Charlatans and Embrace, but are yet to break into the mainstream, although there are positive signs for their debut album. The Invitation went into the Top 20 when it was released in January and has gone gold. The band have also had a Top 20 single with "Thru the Glass".
From "Saving"
My skin is cold, it's turned to ice And everything I do, I want leaving me.
