Artist

Coldplay

Formed in London, England, 1996 10 studio albums 5 dives so far

Coldplay began as two students who met during freshers’ week at University College London in 1996. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland started writing together, Guy Berryman joined on bass, Will Champion picked up the drums almost by accident, and after a couple of name changes they settled on Coldplay, a name another band had discarded.

They spent a few years playing small London rooms before Parachutes arrived in 2000 and changed the scale of everything. The follow-ups got bigger and braver: A Rush of Blood to the Head, then X&Y, then the brass-and-color swing of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. By the 2010s they had become one of the largest live acts on earth, the kind of band that fills stadiums on every continent.

The four of them have stayed the same four people the whole way, which is rare. From the quiet earnestness of Parachutes to the maximal pop of the later records, the throughline is a band that never stopped reaching for the back row. Start anywhere in the discography and you can hear them aiming at it.

Worth knowing

The name was a hand-me-down. "Coldplay" first belonged to another student band, who decided they did not want it. Chris Martin's group, then playing under the name Starfish, asked if they could have it instead. The band who filled stadiums for two decades are using a name somebody else threw back.