Coldplay:-
Coldplay are a British
alternative rock
band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead
guitarist Jonny
Buckland at University
College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group
as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a
drummer, backing vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, completing the line-up.
Manager Phil Harvey
is often considered an unofficial fifth member. The band renamed themselves
"Coldplay" in 1998.
They achieved worldwide fame with the release of the single "Yellow" in 2000,
followed by their debut album released in the same year, Parachutes, which was
nominated for the Mercury Prize.
The band has won a number
of music awards throughout their career, including seven Brit Awards—winning Best British
Group three times, four MTV Video
Music Awards, and seven Grammy Awards from twenty
nominations. As one of the world's best-selling
music artists, Coldplay have sold over 55 million records worldwide.
In December 2009, Rolling Stone
readers voted the group the fourth best artist of the 2000s.
The tone of
the band's first studio album, Parachutes, was described as melodic pop
with "distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion" but also being
"exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive". Such alternative rock style has
been compared to bands like U2,
Oasis, Radiohead and Travis. The band
acknowledges the Scottish alternative rock band, Travis, as a major
influence on their earlier material.
In their
second studio album A Rush of Blood to the Head, the band draws
inspiration from artists like Echo &
the Bunnymen, Kate Bush,
George Harrison and Muse. The songs in it were
considered to contain "lush melodies and a heartbreak" and that they
had a "newfound confidence." The music on their third release X&Y
has been considered to be "ruminations on Martin's doubts, fears, hopes,
and loves." It was particularly influenced by the artists Johnny Cash and Kraftwerk.
In Viva la Vida
or Death And All His Friends, the group's style was moving
towards art rock, being
influenced by the bands Blur,
Arcade Fire and My Bloody
Valentine. The band experimented with different instruments
including orchestras, honky-tonk pianos and further so.
The Kooks:-
The Kooks are a British Indie rock band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2004. Formed
by Luke Pritchard (vocals/guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar), Paul Garred
(drums), and Max Rafferty (bass guitar),
the lineup of the band remained constant until 2008 and the departure of
Rafferty. Dan Logan
was drafted in as a temporary replacement, until Peter Denton joined the band
on a permanent basis in October 2008. Early in 2010 Pritchard announced the
departure of drummer Paul Garred, due to a nerve problem in his arm. Late in
the year, Garred rejoined for studio sessions, however Chris Prendergast plays
drums when the band play live.
A self-described "pop" band, their
music is primarily influenced by the 1960s British Invasion movement
and post-punk revival of the
new millennium. With songs described as "catchy as
hell", The Kooks have experimented in several genres including rock, Britpop, pop, reggae, and ska, at times being
described as "a less severe Arctic Monkeys".
Self-described
"musical whores", The Kooks have drawn on a number of varied sources
to create their indie pop
sound. Listing The Rolling
Stones, The Beatles,
Bob Dylan and Chris de Burgh among their
influences the band have gradually developed both their song writing style and
musical presentation over the course of their three albums.
The band's
debut album Inside
In/Inside Out was touted as a typical Britpop record, owing
influence to The
Libertines, Thin Lizzy,
The Police and containing
elements of the 60’s Britpop movement. Furthermore Pritchard’s lyrical style
was compared to that of a "younger, less pathetic version of Pete Doherty's mush-mouth
style".The band themselves felt the album was not consistent in its
direction. "The first record was definitely genre-hopping. The first album
was finding its feet, it was gadabout," claimed Harris in an interview
with Nadine Regan for The Sunday
Business Post.
On the follow-up Konk, the band
attempted to find a more mature and polished sound. Drawing on a much wider
choice of material for the album (about 80 to 90 new songs had been accumulated
within the band's repertoire by this stage), the band began to incorporate more
a hard-edged rock
focus into their music. Critics drew comparisons to the work of The Kinks throughout the
album, it being recorded at the studio owned by Ray Davies. Also noted
were the band’s growing similarities in musical direction to The Fratellis’ and the Arctic Monkeys. The band
commented on the album’s style, "I think we've made a dynamic album,"
Pritchard said. "Every song has its own character. 
