Hey to those who decided to read my blog. I know I'm kinda new to the forums so I hope me creating my own blog won't be a problem.

I've read a lot of reviews recently for Coldplay's 'new' album, X&Y. Most of them stating just how nice Coldplay are, and how lovely their music sounds. Their new single is fairly listenable, in a way, and they're the first British guitar band in ages to get somewhere in America.

So why do I detest them with every fibre of my being?

Well, it's a hard question, but one I can answer. For a start, they have no literally ambition whatsoever. I'm not talking about wanting commercial success, but rather a desire to stretch their abilities, their audience, and the format of music. They've risen from an unspectacular and overly insular indie band (with a couple of distinguishable singles) to an unspectacular and overly rich pop band within a fairly short space of time, so someone must like them, or so you'd think. But that's the thing - no-one really does. Coldplay are the perfect band for those people who don't really take an interest in music, but think they need a couple of pop culture items in their living room to accompany their digitally remastered Shawshank Redemption DVD and paperback copy of The Da Vinci Code. It's this coffee table, background music mentality that is killing innovation and keeping the radio interest-free. Not that it's new, but it's certainly not right.

One thing to note is the wildly varying reviews for the album, which range from 'poor' to 'classic'. This highlights exactly what is wrong with Coldplay, namely the way they meld cliche into cliche so effortlessly that they could do it forever, and no-one would ever know if it was any good. Despite claiming Thom Yorke et al as an influence, they are really the anti-Radiohead, taking all development out of popular British music and replacing it with perfectly boring songs about aboslutely nothing. I really can't be fucked to search for some Coldplay lyrics, but if you have a few minutes, try it.

And yet, three patchy albums into a half-baked career, Coldplay are now possibly the biggest band in the world. Which is undoubtedly a problem for us, as comsumers, because the signal it sends out loud and clear to record companies is 'we love mediocrity'. So what do we get? Endless hours of emotion-by-numbers from bands like Snow Patrol, Keane and Athlete, none of whom will have Coldplay's success, but all of whom could make average records for average people for the rest of their lives.

So here's something; rather than waste the best part of an hour, and an even better part part of fifteen quid buying X&Y, check out British Sea Power's album Open Season, which is pretty much everywhere for a tenner. Same influences, more originality, and it's actually good.