COLDPLAY are officially boring, scientists say.
The 100million album-selling band have become less “harmonically daring” over time, suggesting their new songs sound like the old ones, music experts reckon.
It has become a running joke the band are ‘vanilla’, with singer Chris, 48, admitting last year the band are a ‘very easy target’ for critics[/caption]
Chris Martin’s quartet formed in 1997 and with top-selling albums such as 2002’s A Rush of Blood to the Head are still one of the most popular bands in the world, with a sell-out run of ten Wembley shows this summer.
But it has become a running joke they are “vanilla”, with singer Chris, 48, admitting last year the band are a “very easy target” for critics.
Durham University researchers compared the band’s catalogue of songs with REM, Radiohead, Buddy Holly, Kirsty MacColl and Patsy Cline.
They analysed variety and how songs differed over time, including rhythm, tempo, percussion, keys and chords.
Findings suggested REM were the least adventurous but Coldplay became staid as their fame grew.
Radiohead had more variety in their albums.
Researcher Professor Nick Collins wrote in journal Royal Society Open Science: “Coldplay shows a downwards trend in their harmonic daring as they increasingly become part of the pop mainstream.
“Radiohead maintain a high diversity of harmonic language, while their timbral‐rhythmic variety also falls off a little.”
