50 Geeky Facts You Didn’t Know About Coldplay

It’s an exciting day for Coldplay fans. The band are streaming their sixth album ‘Ghost Stories’ on iTunes. But how well do you know your Coldplay? Were you aware ‘Yellow’ is called ‘Yellow’ because Chris Martin spotted a Yellow Pages while trying to name it? Here’s 49 more geeky facts..

For their 2001 Mylo Xyloto tour, the band spent a reported 4.22 million to give out wristbands which changed colour in time with the music.

Chris Martin once travelled to Coldplay’s show at the O2 by tube. He was surrounded by a lot of Coldplay fans, and nobody recognised him.

Coldplay were compared to Nazis on Peep Show. “There was even a joke on Peep Show about how millions of people like Coldplay and millions of people like the Nazis,” said Martin.

Chris Martin performed the worm (dance move) on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

Coldplay bought a bakery in North London. It then became the Coldplay HQ.

Chris Martin claims he can speak ‘Devonian’, which he says is “farm language”.

When asked what his favourite thing about being in Coldplay was in 2008, Guy replied “It’s a real privilege to wake up and not have to put on a suit and tie.” Chris said his favourite thing was waiting for Madame Tussauds to call.

A fresh faced Coldplay played on the NME awards tour in 2000.

The band all met in 1996 during their first week of attending a University College London. Jonny and Chris started the band with the others joining a bit later. They went on to record their first EP two years later.

Brian Eno worked with Coldplay to produce their fourth studio album, ‘Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends’. He then worked on their follow-up ‘Mylo Xyloto’.

Brian Eno suggested a hypnotist come in the studio, which the band then agreed to. They stated that they did a lot of the music on ‘Viva La Vida..’ under the influence.

In a 2008 interview, Chris Martin stated that he wanted to see more Coldplay songs in karaoke books. “Whenever I open a karaoke book, there’s always a million Beatles song, and like two Coldplay ones.”

Chris Martin’s favourite Coldplay song is ‘Glass Of Water’.

At the Q awards in 2005, Coldplay won an award for being the Best Act In The World.

At the Sound Relief show in Australia, Guy was worried that Chris wouldn’t make it back after jumping into the crowd. Chris had decided to try and make his way to the very back of the stadium.

Chris Martin’s wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, does all the cooking in their house as Chris is a disaster in the kitchen. She told Graham Norton “He cooked twice and both times the fire brigade came.”

The band operates in a democratic way. Not one member earns any more than the others. All profits and proceeds are shared equally among the members.

The band always get nervous about making odd number albums. They said that “the fifth is going to be a nightmare.” The success of ‘Mylo Xyloto’ proved that wrong.

Chris Martin put a pause in a Coldplay show in 2011, due to a tambourine-playing fan in the audience. He said “Let me be honest with you, we tried tambourine on the recording and had to scrap it – so we have been playing it for 10 years with no tambourine. It probably sounds great, but I’m just used to it without tambourine. Don’t take it personally.”

The Beehive is the name of Coldplay’s second own North London studio. Apparently they traditionally rehearse on Thursdays.

Coldplay allegedly lost around £5.5 million of profits during their Mylo Xyloto tour, due to treating their fans. They splashed out on special wristbands, catering, accommodation and better stage presentation.

Coldplay’s first full-length album, ‘Parachutes’, won ‘Best Alternative Music Album’ at the 2002 Grammy awards.

Coldplay reject opportunities for their music to be used in endorsements. They have turned down offers from companies such as Diet Coke and Gap.

‘Mylo Xyloto’ broke the record for the most digital copies of an album sold. In 2011 21.3 million digital copies of the album were sold, beating the previous year’s record of 800,000.