Coldplay

Coldplay emerged from University College London in 1996, where Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion coalesced around a sound that would define millennial melancholy. Their 2000 debut Parachute introduced a template of reverb-drenched guitars and Martin's falsetto ache, but 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head cemented their stadium credentials with "Clocks" and its cascading piano motif. The band absorbed U2's anthemic architecture and Radiohead's textural ambition, yet stripped both of alienation in favour of accessible emotionalism.

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008) marked their Brian Eno collaboration, injecting art-pop experimentation into their earnest core. They've since sold over 100 million records globally, navigating criticism for perceived blandness whilst dominating festival circuits and championing environmental causes. Their colour-coded era albums from 2019 onwards reflect pop's streaming fragmentation, though their cultural ubiquity renders them simultaneously beloved and derided. Coldplay remain architects of contemporary sincerity in an ironic age.