http://www.stuffchristianculturelikes.com/2008/08/3-coldplay.html
Ah, Coldplay. Despite their winning a crazy amount of awards, they're the band it's fun to hate on. According to Facebook, 48 of my Facebook friends are fans of Coldplay, and a decent number of them can be considered Christian Culture types.
Now, I know a lot of people do like Coldplay. I'll even admit to listening to them every once in a while. But why do so many evangelicals/CC-ers like them?
Quite frankly, they're safe. Chris Martin himself once called them "limestone rock": they're rock but they're not offensive. There's nothing there that would normally piss off a CC-er unless they have some opposition to rock music. The only controversy I can recall about them are allegations of plagiarism from Joe Satriani, who I doubt most Christian Culture types have even heard of (which is a shame for them). My cousins who are textbook examples of Christian Culture guys LOVE Coldplay, for instance, and it's something I could play on family get-togethers with the CC side of the family and my immediate family's more liberal wing.
Plus, the music is pretty catchy and, unless you're a serious hater, not horrible. Which is way more than I can say about Christian contemporary music. If you're not aware of Christian contemporary music, take a pop song that didn't quite make a major singer's album, scrub it clean of sexual references, liberally insert references to Jesus, God, and various religious imagery, and have it performed by a singer who is decent but not quite the caliber of many mainstream performers. Comparatively, Coldplay is fracking genius.
I have a strong feeling that if my class ever does have a 5 year reunion, there's going to be some Coldplay playing.
Then again, I like Coldplay. It's nice and mellow compared to, say, Dir en Grey. I would totally like to join in on your hate-on for Contemporary Christian music, though. It is that awful, and that's coming from someone who grew up with the stuff.
ReplyDeleteI may just have to put a post up on just CCM itself. I consider myself lucky that my parents found it just as crappy as I do, but it was still very popular among people I went to high school with...and undergrad with...and people in the Christian group I attended in undergrad. It's great to see that I'm not the lone dissenter here. ^_^
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was poking at your profile and I noticed your from around Toledo, Ohio? I'm getting my J.D. at a school not too far from there.
And I can totally understand the whole "stuck in Ohio." This state sometimes makes me wanna smack my head against the wall until I have a concussion. :/