The Coldplay to Radiohead Connection: A Video Investigation

At last night's free Coldplay show in London, frontman Chris Martin joked that his band's song "God Put a Smile on Your Face" sounded an awful lot like Radiohead's "2 + 2 = 5." "Sorry, we shouldn't be talking about plagirism," he joked. "Ignore that!"

In fact, Coldplay have been chased by people accusing them of lifting liberally from Radiohead, something that Martin owns up to in the current issue of Rolling Stone. "Sometimes I feel like they cleared a path with a machete, and we came afterward and put up a strip mall," he says. "I would still give my left ball to write anything as good as OK Computer."

The line can certainly be drawn to a handful of their songs (especially from their first two albums), but can the same thing be said of their videos? Click below for Rock Daily's investigation into Coldplay's complete video library and just how much they've been influence by Radiohead's visual output.

• The Complete Coldplay Video Guide

• Coldplay Showcase Viva La Vida at Free London Show

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Star Trek' Is Crazy Good
• 
  TV 10 Shows to Watch This Summer
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

More Song Stories entries »

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