At first, I defended Coldplay's new album, Violet Hill. At least they're trying the whole obligatory "experimental" thing. The greats have done it: Smashing Pumpkins had Adore, Radiohead had Kid A and Death Cab for Cutie had, well, their latest album -- if experimenting in laziness is applicable. But Coldplay isn't a great. A Rush of Blood To The Head was good, but the band's pretty much just easy listening.

And they're doing the whole pseudo-political thing. They've sprinkled in some ideologies, which is fine and all, but they don't really make any point. And to compliment their new 'experimental' persona, they've launched a cryptic little website called TalkTheTour.com. Whenever the site gets 33,000 hits, a new tour date is released. What's that shit?

Kinda sucks for them that as soon as their album went #1, allegations got out that they bit off Creaky Boards, who released a pretty trite YouTube video claiming Coldplay's Viva La Vida" sounded a bit too similar to their "The Song I Didn't Write." No, that irony is not a joke. To make matters worse, there are rumors Coldplay ripped off Satriani, too. I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem too possible considering, well - all things considered.

I've heard "Viva La Vida" and "The Song I didn't Write," and they're both pretty annoying. All I can say is, whoever can take credit for the melody isn't taking credit for much.