“Coldplay haters are a dime a dozen” LR and much of why the band is criticized rings true: “they’re boring, Chris Martin writes lyrics that are meaningless at best and embarrassing at worst, they’ve inspired a generation…that tries to soar and mostly just whines.” DS
However, on songs like “Clocks” “there’s something to the construction of the song that can be admired.” DS It is “built around one of the most compelling piano riffs of the entire decade.” AB’00 It “doesn’t progress like a standard Romantic melody, it interlocks and shifts with the tides.” DS “From those first piano plinkings, it is a soaring trip through the thinnest air.” LR“It’s almost unnerving, how Martin’s voice gets more delicate while the music gets more strident.” LR
The song wasn’t initially intended for A Rush of Blood to the Head, the band’s second album. Martin “had a crisis of confidence about the proposed release” NME’09 “en route to filing the tracklisting to label Parlophone” NME’09 and requested a two-month delay on the album’s release. At the suggestion of the band’s manager Phil Harvey, recorded “Clocks.” NME’09
The title alludes to “the world’s obsession with time” AMG while the lyrics pose the big question regarding our purpose for being here. Martin has said British rock band Muse served as the song’s inspiration, AB’00 but U2 is really the other band at play here since “Clocks” marks the moment when Coldplay thought “they could challenge U2 as The World’s Biggest Band.” PD
Awards:
- one of the top 1000 songs of all time
- one of the top 100 song of the 21st century
- top 100 alternative rock songs
- Grammy Award for Record of the Year
Resources and Related Links:
- the DMDB page for “Clocks”
- Coldplay’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
- AB’00 About.com (2009) “Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s”
- AMG All Music Guide
- DS Don’t Stay Up Too Late (2011). Top 100 Lists
- LR LowResolution.blogspot.com “Retrospecticus: 100 Favorite Songs of the Decade” (1/4/2010).
- NME’09 New Musical Express (NME) 100 Tracks of the Decade (date unknown: 2009?)
- PD PopDose.com (11/24/09) The Best Songs of the Decade
