Yeah, Brendan, you're so right. Why is Chris Martin wasting his time trying to make the world a better place? It'd be so much more fun if he stabbed his wife to death in a drug-induced stupor and died from a heroin overdose. Now that's the kind of rock star Britain needs now.
-- Kathleen Sato
God forbid that we listen to music by an artist that doesn't follow Salon's idea of what is politically correct. Must we listen only to artists that share our political views? How about just listening to something because we enjoy it? You could be of real help here and provide us with an appropriate checklist of values upon which to measure an artist's political profile before we listen to a song.
-- Marianne Fox Davies
What silly vitriol. The writer proceeds on the assumption that the reader shares his disdain for all things related to Blair/Bush and anyone not sharing his enlightened cynicism is too dense to be taken seriously. He simply tosses cheap verbal spitballs at a rocker who doesn't march in lockstep with the likes of the Boss, Bono, Alec Baldwin and Susan/Tim Sarandon/Robbins.
I have never heard Coldplay, don't know if I would like their music. But this guy's political attitude takes balls. It's folks like this who take the big risks of ostracism and lost fans for their political incorrectness. Meanwhile, from the safety of the herd, so-called political dissidents cry that they're being "targeted" for "standing up to the racist, fascists" (that would be Bush and his lapdog, Blair) who are running the world into the ground. And exactly how many of these so-called dissidents have been "silenced"?
-- William Moser
Excuse me, but cupping is not some esoteric new-age fad. It's integral to Chinese traditional medicine, which has been around a lot longer than Western allopathic medicine. But am I really having to defend Chinese medicine on Salon? One would expect such offhand racist remarks about other cultures on Rush Limbaugh, but not Salon. The magazine that has an exclusive on the machinations of the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., mercury in vaccinations) can't see the irony of belittling traditional (noncorporate) medicine in the same issue? It's not that subtle.
-- Beaty Reynold
If my president looked and acted like the lead singer of Coldplay, I'd be much happier right now. Indeed, when Blair showed up to address Congress after Sept. 11, the first words out of my mouth were "Oh please, can we trade?" Not that I would wish Bush on the U.K., but still ...
Besides, rock is no stranger to politics. Sonny Bono went from "I Got You Babe" to being an influential member of the House. Krist Novoselik -- one of the two members of Nirvana who didn't shoot himself after having a heroin habit -- is active in politics, and looks likely to be in Congress at some point as well. Plus we all remember Clinton's saxophone playing, and Kerry had a garage band in high school that even cut an album.
Thankfully, the Dixie Chicks, who have the same dialect as Bush, are his polar opposite in both politics and looks. If they were running the country, we wouldn't be in this mess.
-- Kevin Andrew Murphy
It's unsettling to hear about Chris Martin cozying up to Tony Blair, the man who supported Bush and lied about the war in Iraq, but maybe the rocker can help sway Blair's politics. Bono is incredibly politically active and has done a lot of good. Is that bad? I think it's more unsettling that you're saying to be a real rocker you have to do drugs and fuck shit up. Can't music be conscious of the world's larger picture and try to inspire people to change? God love the Sex Pistols but they were only ever looking out for No. 1 and telling everyone else to go "fuck themselves" which is exactly what I see all the suits on Wall Street doing. Maybe they are the only true punks left.
-- Josh Odor
O'Neill's sociological criticism of Coldplay is part of an overdue backlash against that band's gaseous music. But I pity him his meager prescription for good rock music: "experimental" and romantically wasted. What was the British rock press up to when Coldplay first came on the scene? Shitting its pants with hyped-up praise, just like it does every time something new-ish comes down the pike. Years later, the same publications shower the same bands with pure venom. Meanwhile, the U.K.'s best rock bands -- soulful, innovative groups like Sunderland's Leatherface -- go completely ignored because they don't fit the critics' dumb, '60s-obsessed ideas of what rock bands should be. The British music press gets exactly the empty, posturing music it deserves, but the British public pays for it.
-- Andrew Marcus
Coldplay sucks and they may be toadies for Blair to boot, but to toss Radiohead into the same basket is absurd.
So what if Brendan O'Neill is right that Thom Yorke wouldn't have approved of fans throwing beer bottles everywhere at the Stones' Hyde Park concert? If Radiohead can make great music despite not being a bunch of assholes, I'd call it progress.
-- Alan Hartley
Nothing irritates me more than the asinine critical lumping of Coldplay and Radiohead. And now to add flaccid-music-makers Keane to the list? Perhaps you are unaware of this, but Radiohead actually has released albums beyond "Pablo Honey." I know what you're thinking: "Coldplay was more inspired by 'The Bends' anyway." Yes, I know. Way to pass Rock Criticism 101.
To discuss musical blandness and include Radiohead is a shocking example of either laziness or sheer malice. Maybe Thom Yorke's condescending remarks can be grating, but shouldn't intelligence (and musical innovation) be cherished at a time like this?
-- Eric Wheeler
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