The year 2000, new era, a lot of changes with skepticism and good beliefs as well. Interesting times in which music was evolving too and few years before the new millennium, at the University College in London a group of people started the journey to form a band that has become one of the biggest acts in rock music, Coldplay.
Their debut album “Parachutes” turns 20 years and marked the beginning of a successful career which has made them go on sold out tours and have 8 full length records till 2020 but undoubtedly “Parachutes” has that special something of freshness, new sound and first encounters with the fans.
The initial song “Don’t Panic” begins with a guitar chord, drums and the characteristic voice from the lead singer Chris Martin to afterwards include some electric guitar notes to complete it and have the first taste of what you could expect from them. Chris is an avid piano player and this talent was reflected on the song “Trouble” where the introduction is not complex, but the simplicity is what gets your attention, the addition of guitar with the piano gives a melancholy element that fits perfectly with the lyrics full of repentance and forgiveness seek.
A song that wasn’t a single “We Never Change” followed that melancholy and quietness from “Trouble”, but this time with acoustic guitar chords and some electric guitar snippets; a similar song is “High Speed” which incorporates a rhythm a little bit faster and could make us wonder If the entire style of the band was going to be in that direction; however with the song “Shiver” they turned to a faster style, and actually was the first single of the album, but the boom and breakthrough didn’t occurred with that song.
The second single was the song that made them known worldwide, was due to the clean acoustic guitar chords?, the electric guitar riff at the very beginning contrasting with the calm intro? Or the voice that after 30 seconds of music begin to sing a love song with lyrics like “I came along, I wrote a song for you, And all the things you do, And it was called Yellow”? Who knows?…but “Yellow” became their signature and still 20 years later I am pretty sure the entire “Parachutes” album makes the fans shiver because on this story between Coldplay and them, Yeah…they were all yellow.
