Rock's Final Blockbuster was...Coldplay?

Viva la vida... my favorite album ever. Such great songwriting and experimentation from the boys. I really don't know what happened to Chris Martin.

Everyday Life was their masterpiece album in my opinion and more recently their song Coloratura (hands down their best song), but i loved all their previous albums incl Viva. Every era gives me different feels. Strawberry Swing and Violet Hill are golden.

I will always chuckle when I see your comment on the Violet Hill music video, Jon. Incredible album, and great video!

You think this is their best album? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Happy 15th anniversary Viva La Vida

It's been 15 years already? Wow...
I already knew Coldplay from the song Yellow and Fix You, and I was like, "Okay, yeah... I love this band".
But the moment the single "Viva la Vida" and "Violet Hill" (which to me, the best single and song in that album and one of the best in their discography) came up, I did not hesitate to buy the album once I found it stock on the shelf. And I even remember being mindblown by it.
And this came out like 2 years after The Black Parade and a year after Minutes To Midnight... and oh my God, I almost forgot Fall Out Boy released Infinity on High on the same year.... bloody hell late 2000s music was an amazing time... T^T
So imagine having every radio channel replaying good rock music during that time, and then this hits up. It was a huuuuuuge shift but in an amazing way. Because not only Coldplay shows how versatile they are, but they also show how far can alternative and rock go beyond their comfort zone.
To me at least, it really changed the rock world, or the mainstream perspective of rock. I always thought that OneRepublic wouldn't have made Native and Imagine Dragons wouldn't exist if it weren't for Coldplay's Viva La Vida.

Violet Hill to this day is my favorite Coldplay song. It just has so much going on, the powerful lyrics and imagery, the beautiful instruments and piano outro. Such a good song 🔥

Coldplay are not Rock though

The last time Hard Rock music was in the mainstream getting in the charts, you have to go back to Nickelback, Linkin Park and Evanescence in 2005 to 2007 ish.

Maybe 'AM' from the Arctic Monkeys in 2013 could compete as last rock blockbuster, but I agree with you!

Not a fan of Coldplay but Violet Hill and Viva La Vida are good songs.

Idky, i got so chilled when you started talking about Violet Hill, somg changed my whole music taste, and it was also introduced by you! Thanks JON!

Really really like Coldplay in their "rock" era, not a huge fan of their "pop" era. "The Scientist" is one of my favorite songs by any band and one of my favorite music videos as well. I've seen a handful of people comment that they're "not rock," which maybe not anymore, but from Parachutes-Viva La Vida they are very much an alternative rock band.

Daughtry's first album was huge in 2007/2008 as well

Viva La Vida is awesome. Crazy it's been 15 years since it released. I don't know it's really counts as rock but Native by OneRepublic, released in 2013, could probably compete commercially with Coldplay. Not saying it's better, though I do love it, but it certainly had the commercial success.

“It hasn’t happened”

Nightmare (album and song) by Avenged Sevenfold: loads revolver










(Hail to the king also was #1)

It was for sure the last rock thing for Coldplay

For me it's Arctic Monkeys's AM

i would love to see more videos like this where you analyze album rollouts. amazing video

Cheers to Viva La Vida for 15 years.

I have it on vinyl. Bought it a couple years ago for 65 bucks.

Jon, this is an awesome video. Really enjoyed it as a longtime Coldplay fan..

sweet shirt Jon 😊

Thabk you soo much vor giving me time to come back ti this masterpeace. Not a great coldplayfan and somehow overlook this album to the likes of x y an arobthh

I may check this Coldplay album sometime.

Awesome video Jon

Ghost Stories is still their most underrated album. They never even toured it unfortunately. Total one-and-done breakup album

If you look at rock album sales/streams old albums are often crowding out anything newer.

Coldplay is not a rock band, they are more poppy/alternative in my opinion.

How about nightmare by avenged sevenfold ?

Its sad that the industry forced coldplay out of rock yeah it gabe us viva but after that, they kind of lost their touch because of it.

The Viva La Vida quote was taken from a Frida Kahlo painting, not a French expression. Cool video tho

So glad more people are giving this album its flowers.

as a heavey /garage rock and metal/punk guy i always though chris martins song writting was amazing , " A rush of blood to the head" is amazing and X&Y and viva , absolutly amazing band !!

I know everyone is doing it now but I would love to see more video essay style videos like this!

Sum 41 are disbanding 💔

The last Coldplay album for me, they completely lost me after this. I was also a bit split on it and I could never figure out why people liked the title track - to me it was clearly the worst track on the album. Cemeteries of London, Violet Hill, Yes and Death and All His Friends are phenomenal though.

Viva La Vida is one of my favorite albums from the 2000s. So beautiful.

X&Y is still better.

Not to mention Viva La Vida the song got new attention when the whole Fallen Kingdom thing happened

I don't think I would ever consider myself a fan of Coldplay (I only know a handful of songs from them). But hearing the title track back in the day and reading a couple critics' reviews of that album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends is a great album and I'm glad to given it a try after watching your review here

Huh ? Coldplay ? I thought youre joking

Incredible album!! I still prefer X & Y but this isn’t far behind for me!! Please do more Coldplay videos! 🔥

Why the surprise? Its the best selling rock band of this century

As an 11 year old history buff that album was my cryptonite.

Parachutes (2000) ✔
A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002) ✔
X&Y (2005) ✔
Viva La Vida (2008) ✔
Mylo Xyloto (2011) ✖
Ghost Stories (2014) ✖
A Head Full of Dreams (2015) ✖
Everyday Life (2019) ✔
Music Of The Spheres (2021) ✖
Moon Music (2024) ❓

To this day, Im still hoping for a Coldplay shoegaze album😭

I agree that and the monkeys AM and even muse the resistance in 2009

Everyday Life is so close to being Viva quality. Arabsesque would’ve been a perfect fit on that album. Unfortunately Coldplay has just turned into a parody of itself. It’s like they aren’t even trying anymore. At some point they decided to stop trying to prove their critics wrong, which is admirable but that sort of drive resulted in Viva the album. And unfortunately the success of Viva the taught them the wrong lesson, you can tell by what songs they picked as singles for the over produced Mylo Xyloto. We no longer got songs like Violet Hill as singles. Frankly I always thought they chose some of their weaker songs as singles. And that’s what most people get exposed to. If they release Politik instead of The Scientist?(another piano ballad after Clocks?) or “A Message” instead of “Speed of Sound”.

i think rock will come back i feel like last a indie/ rock i listened that was super popular for me AM Arctic Monkeys but chart topper i could see VLV up there

Celebrating 15 years of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" with a chill dive into what makes it so special, and commercially speaking, the last of a now extinct breed. What do you guys think about this format? Itching to make some more videos in this style...🤔