Newsflash: Coldplay Sued!

You know, there was a time, back in my youth, when I was an ardent Coldplay fan. I thought their debut album Parachutes was probably the greatest thing sliced bread, and was in love with Chris Martin's beautiful, sensitive guy lyrics and flashes of falsetto in his vocals. While my devotion waned with the release of their second album, I continued to enjoy them musically up until album number three, and then I quit Coldplay cold turkey. It wasn't just that my musical tastes were changing, but it was the band themselves that turned me off faster than you can say Yellow. Had Martin always been so whiny and annoying? Had the band always sounded so MOR and boring? Or had I only started to notice? In any event, hearing "Violet Hill" on the car stereo in LA earlier this year was the final nail in the coffin, and since then I've been decidely anti-Coldplay. Sure, there are certain moments, when "Shiver" or "Don't Panic" show up in my shuffle, and I'll listen to them and remember fondly those first innocent flushes of my brief love affair with the band. And then, the next song will play, and that'll be that.

With all of that in mind, I won't deny this news being slightly pleasurable to post. Coldplay is evidently being sued by Joe Satriani. Satriani thinks Coldplay, erm, borrowed without crediting him shall we say, from his 2004 song "If I Could Fly" in their new song "Viva La Vida". Evidently, Martin and Co. learned nothing from the late 1990s, when Team Rolling Stones (Andrew Loog Oldham, especially) went medieval on my beloved Verve's ass for "borrowing" (and "forgetting" to ask for permission for) that jangly orchestral intro bit of Urban Hymns' most famous track "Bittersweet Symphony." From what I remember, the Verve didn't see a red cent from that song.

Naturally, Satriani wants a piece of Coldplay's pie. And given the handy YouTube clip below, I'd say he's probably gonna get what he wants. And to be clear, it's not just that I don't like Coldplay. I am not a fan of stealing. When you write a song using someone else's music, it's not just your song. It's as simple as that. Give credit where it's due, folks. So put any band in Coldplay's place, and I would feel the same way.

Here's the comparison. You be the judge.