Coldplay's Quiet Storm

X&Yis the name of Coldplay's third album. The title conjures chromosomes and mathematical unknowns. "We're always looking for answers to our questions," says Buckland. "X and Y represents the answers that we can't find." Bassist Guy Berryman adds, "There's a running theme through the album, a sense of duality -- the idea that you can't have light without dark, or yin without yang." As it relates to Coldplay, it goes deeper than that. It's what's in their control vs. what's out of their control. It's their overwhelming commercial success -- their first two albums, 2000's Parachutes and 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head, have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, and each won a Grammy for Best Alternative album -- vs. the New York Times labeling them the "most insufferable band of the decade." For Chris Martin, it's being regarded as a serious songwriter vs. being referred to in tabloids as Gwyneth Paltrow's husband. According to drummer Will Champion, X&Y refers to Martin as well. "He's stunning and creative and incredible to be around," says Champion. "But the flip side of that is he can sink low and moody. There's not a lot of gray area in between the two."

In October 2003, after sixteen months on the road supporting Rush of Blood, Coldplay hurried back into the studio with a handful of quality songs. Bad idea. "We'd just done too much touring and we needed to see our families, our friends -- just be normal," says Champion. "It's not like we hated each other -- we just weren't talking much, and things started to fall apart a bit." Eight months into the process, they held a band-only meeting and decided to refocus on and rediscover the initial chemistry they felt playing as a foursome in a sweaty rehearsal room. "In some respects it was quite a quick record to make," says Berryman about the year-and-a-half-long process. "It just took us a long time to figure out how to do it."

Many of the songs on X&Y were inspired by the band's heroes. When I spoke with Martin earlier this summer, I was a little surprised when he told me that he considered Coldplay "incredibly good plagiarists." But that's not the whole story. As he did in childhood with his update on "Axel F," Martin has an incredible ability to ingest someone else's song, twirl it around in his brain and spit out a unique homage. (Strangely enough, Coldplay's first single from X&Y, "Speed of Sound," was topped on the British pop chart by a novelty song from Crazy Frog -- a cover of "Axel F.")