No sooner did Coldplay finish climbing the mountain of success than other songwriters were attempting to pull them down off the summit.
The band’s fourth album ‘Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’ was a global success. Produced by Brian Eno it saw Coldplay finally evolve from indie heroes to the planet shagging monsters were always knew they could be.
Acclaimed by critics, the album eventually wound up topping the charts in more than 35 countries. When awards season finally came rolling around, Coldplay’s mantelpiece was left glittering with a vast array of prestigious trophies.
Not that everyone was impressed, however. American guitar shredder Joe Satriani claimed that the album’s title track was derivative of a song he had produced some years previously. Perhaps understandably aggrieved, Joe Satriani sued and received a brief riposte from the group.
However those plagiarism rumours just wouldn’t go away. Satriani promised to deliver the court papers in person while the band were attending the Grammy Awards. Which, to be honest, is probably the only way Satriani would get near the ceremony.
After that Cat Stevens was the next to point out similarities between ‘Viva La Vida’ and his song ‘Foreigner Suite’, but the now devout Muslim claimed he had no interest in suing the group.
In an interview on Coldplay’s official website Chris Martin stated that “some people are suing us at the moment and although it was initially a bit depressing, now it’s become really inspiring”.
He added: “You think, ‘Right, if everyone’s trying to take away our best song, then we’d better write 25 better ones’. And so just at the point where I was thinking about getting fat and becoming complacent, I’ve been finding more inspiration. Now we’ve got more to prove than ever before.”
The band’s most recent move was to release a live album, ‘LeftRightLeftRightLeft’ as a free download. Recorded on Coldplay’s world tour last year, the album shows the full glory of the group’s live show.
Coldplay have already been writing material for the follow up to their chart smashing colossus. Drummer Will Champion has bought a drum machine and has begun experimenting with obscure time signature.
Get those legal papers ready, Battles…
