Coldplay made Parachutes mostly at Rockfield Studios in rural Wales in 1999 and 2000, with producer Ken Nelson and a handful of other rooms in London and Liverpool filling in around it. It was their first album, recorded by a band of university friends who had been together only a couple of years, and nobody involved was bracing for what it became.

Parlophone put it out in July 2000. It went to number one in the UK, sold by the millions, and turned a small London four-piece into one of the biggest bands on the planet inside a single record. The acclaim, the awards, and the stadiums that followed all grew out of ten quiet, unguarded songs about being young and uncertain.

The album was made under a shadow it never names on the sleeve except in a single line. Will Champion’s mother, Sara, died while the band were finishing it, and Parachutes is dedicated to her. That dedication threads quietly through the record’s most famous moment.

It is the album that holds “Yellow”, the song that broke the band open. Press play and listen to the part most people never quite hear.