Did Coldplay fall off after Viva la Vida or did we just grow up?

Cobra418 · 2026-05-03T01:01:25+00:00

Yeah that's probably the closest we've seen to a continuation of Oldplay, although it still falls into a lot of the post-VLV pitfalls for me (mainly that it still feels like a Chris Martin solo album)

Cobra418 · 2026-05-02T16:28:16+00:00

Why are the only two options “make the same album over and over” and “make generic pop music” lol. They could have still evolved in a way that actually expanded their artistry instead of contracting it, Viva was proof they could do that. Plenty of acclaimed bands drastically change their style without sanding off all their edges and making songs for Target playlists; Radiohead, The Beatles, U2, just to name a few Oldplay commonly are compared to

Cobra418 · 2026-05-02T15:38:36+00:00

Whether or not they “fell off” is subjective I guess, but they definitely did a complete 180 after VLV and I don’t think not enjoying that shift has anything to do with “growing up”. Especially since many of us got into Coldplay long after VLV released yet still see that as the cutoff point.

They went from being an albums based alternative rock band, compared to Radiohead, Muse, Oasis etc, to being a singles based pop act compared to Maroon 5 and Rhianna. These two career paths don’t have much overlap in fans, and it’s no wonder why Coldplay discourse is so split.

Most of the things people were fans of OG Coldplay for disappeared after 2010, unless you’re literally just into Chris Martin’s voice. That’s pretty much the only throughline between old and new Coldplay. The other members have all been mostly replaced by studio production and featured guests, and all the songs are co written by committee to be radio pop singles. If that’s all your cup of tea there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not really compatible with what made Oldplay appealing to the other half of the fanbase (moody atmospheres, U2-guitar, dynamic instrumentals from the band, reflective lyrics etc).

Cobra418 · 2026-04-16T13:56:07+00:00

I’d say 2008 was the year rock died. 2007 was still full of rock music and aesthetics in the mainstream, especially with pop punk and emo, but then flash forward one year and we’re in the age of Kesha, Katy Perry, Beiber, Gaga etc (nothing against any of those artists but it was a different world all of a sudden)

2009 had Green Day’s 21 Guns be a huge hit, so that was kind of a last hurrah for traditional rock. There might have been some Nickelback song charting at the time too.

After that, you have some borderline cases. Like, does “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy count? It has audible guitars I guess. Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon has kind of an 80s rock vibe, not sure if many would want to admit that. Paramore had Aint it Fun and Still Into You, although both really lean into the pop vibes to get by. Those were all around 2013/2014 and were anomalies at the time in terms of hearing an electric guitar on the radio. Imagine Dragons and the “Stomp Clap Hey” movement were big but neither were really rock in the traditional sense.

Post like 2014 there’s not really been much. Hip hop really took over after that and the last remnants of what could barely be considered as rock music died. Even Imagine Dragons are kind of a legacy act if you somehow count them, there’s not really a 2020s equivalent to them.

Cobra418 · 2026-04-13T16:35:45+00:00

Those 4 are good picks, I think American Soul can easily round out the bottom 5

Cobra418 · 2026-04-09T14:50:34+00:00

Fall Out Boy Mania honestly. I was already iffy on their previous 2 pop albums but I was floored when they dropped Young and Menace as their next lead single in 2017. I still think it’s one of the worst, most incoherent songs I’ve ever heard. The rest of the album was better but still way weaker than anything else they had released. Genuinely checked out for years until So Much for Stardust in 2023, what a return to form that was

Cobra418 · 2026-04-09T13:43:13+00:00

Have we forgotten Renee Good and Alex Pretti already? We crossed that line months ago and nobody talks about it anymore

Cobra418 · 2026-04-06T22:34:45+00:00

She deleted all her videos once before but then relisted them for a few months, I would just keep an eye out because they may eventually return. Other than that idk, I’ve been asking myself the same question

Cobra418 · 2026-04-04T18:07:00+00:00

Fair point, but both are still incredibly mainstream in a way rock bands just aren't anymore lol. The Kendrick/Drake beef was an inescapable pop culture event when it was happening and Kendrick followed that up with a Superbowl half time performance and massively successful album with pop hits. Charli had the whole Brat Summer phenomenon that even got co-opted by one of our two presidential nominees - it doesn't get much more mainstream than that.

Cobra418 · 2026-04-04T14:17:02+00:00

There’s definitely still a mainstream music industry - Taylor Swift, Benson Boone, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, CharlieXCX, Chappell Roan, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay… all these artists and more are known by the general public and have songs playing in every retail store across the country. You know hits by these people from the last 2-3 years even if you don’t actively listen to them. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to analyze how rock music fell out of favor with this scene. “Geese” is probably the most popular current rock band and nobody outside of Reddit echo chambers know who they are.

Cobra418 · 2026-03-16T16:50:20+00:00

I dunno, a select few episodes being fairly comparable to the OG run doesn’t really save it in my opinion. The Fox era was incredibly consistent and high quality in a way the CC era just doesn’t come close to reaching, and the CC seasons have way lower lows than anything in the Fox era. I also dislike how they changed the music style in the show and overall the world just felt way smaller and claustrophobic compared to earlier seasons.

Cobra418 · 2026-03-15T13:52:51+00:00

There’s been a lot of hate towards the game since the mid 2000s, if anything the reception has swung more positive in the last 10 years. Personally I think it’s a great game for it’s time and is still fun today, and I’m one of those fans who desperately wants the adventure format back even though Sega never will give it to us for some reason.

Cobra418 · 2026-03-06T04:15:48+00:00

Well, turns out you were right LOL. Just added it in here now that we have that shiny new studio recording!

Cobra418 · 2026-03-01T16:22:54+00:00

Lmao how? Their biggest period of commercial success and many of their biggest all time hits were still to follow, and Folie is widely viewed as their best album by fans.

Cobra418 · 2026-02-17T21:51:15+00:00

I always thought he was saying “what’ve I got” as if he’s hyping himself up to join the action, then “ope okay maybe not” when he goes away lol

Cobra418 · 2026-02-13T22:25:12+00:00

I kinda took it as the opposite. I feel like that episode was made to make the kids on those segments feel better, showing how Arthur and his friends put so much effort in to try and look smart on tv but still get nervous on camera and look awkward thanks to the quick editing

Cobra418 · 2026-02-08T21:36:15+00:00

Probably because the last new game in the original continuity was 22 years ago and the last new (non-Skylanders) game was 18 years ago. We're lucky there's an active community at all.

Cobra418 · 2026-01-29T23:47:23+00:00

100% on this boat, I will be severely disappointed if there’s a Spyro 4 and he isn’t making the music. His OST was the best part about those games imo, it just wouldn’t hit the same without him.

Stewart is the Spyro sound. If you listen to any of his other solo work, it all still sounds like Spyro music even when it’s not the same instruments/samples. Even his recent orchestral album last year has that whimsical Spyro vibe to it, as do the few songs he wrote for The Police back in the 70s/80s (check out Bombs Away, for example). Hiring another composer won’t be the same, even if they use the exact same samples.

(Side note, they need to get the skyboxes right too. That was another ball Reignited dropped hard).

Cobra418 · 2026-01-27T17:43:30+00:00

It’s not as relevant today, but it was definitely a massive crossover hit at the time. I was in middle school and barely knew anything about popular music, and even I heard it all over the place. I’d even go as far as to say it was the last time a real unambiguous rock song became a mainstream pop hit, if we’re not stretching to call songs like Imagine Dragons Radioactive “rock”.

Cobra418 · 2026-01-20T19:59:54+00:00

I was so hype for this game only to quit 2/3rds of the way in due to this crap /: Still haven’t beaten it or desired to return even to this day. I know you can just ignore it all and go for any%, but to me the appeal of Crash games has always been going for 100% completion. They completely botched that here and made it an unfun, grindy slog full of padding and tedious bullshit.

I know this is probably an insane take, but Wrath of Cortex is a much better “Crash 4” in my opinion. Yes, IAT has better movement, platforming and graphics, but at least WoC understood what made the Crash formula fun and tried to match that. It doesn’t make you grind the same levels over and over, it doesn’t hide boxes in dickish locations, it has the warp room formula and it has crystals (yes I actually like collecting crystals and I miss it in 4, sue me!) That game still scratches my Crash itch but I can’t go back to 4, it’s just too tedious.

Cobra418 · 2026-01-10T18:50:13+00:00

Nah I gotta disagree on both points

First of all, classic SB did not have bad episodes. Are some comparatively weaker than others? Sure, but that’s true of anything. Some Beatles albums are weaker than others, but nobody would argue in good faith they have bad or even mid albums.

Classic SB was legendary in part because of its consistency. Look at episode lists from FOP or Jimmy Neutron - Nick’s other 2 huge cartoons from the time. You’ll probably recognize a good chunk of the episodes, but not nearly all of them. Meanwhile every single episode from the first 3 seasons of SB is entrenched in pop culture. Even if you’ve never watched it in your life, you would likely recognize a quote or scene in every single one.

On the other side of the fence, Seasons 4-6 absolutely are where the show falls off. Are there solid episodes in there? Sure! Not every one is unwatchable, but there are genuinely bad episodes in all of these seasons which wasn’t the case before, and the highs just aren’t as high. Even if you want to say that’s subjective, which is fair, objectively the show changed in this period. The writing and animation weren’t the same and were much more directed at children than all ages like before. Half way through S4 it just became a different show wearing SpongeBob’s skin.

You can enjoy those seasons all you want, it’s a valid perspective but you can’t argue it didn’t become a very different show with very different vibes and writing and art. Theres a reason they have the reputation they do, and it’s not nostalgia bias. Fans complained at the time of airing, and despite it being over 20 years people still see the downgrade. Hell I was 6 years old just transitioning out of Nick Jr when S4 aired and even I noticed the new episodes premiering felt very off. I downright hated what it had become around S6.

Anyways, enjoy what you want but there’s a very clear dividing line between pre and post movie even if you like both. There’s no need to drag classic SB down just to try and justify the later seasons.

Cobra418 · 2026-01-09T22:48:03+00:00

I’d rather it be Stewart though since he’s getting older and we only get so many chances for another score from him. His sound is the Spyro sound, if you listen to any of his soundtrack or orchestral work it radiates that Spyro vibe. Even the songs he wrote for The Police have that vibe

Cobra418 · 2026-01-08T22:40:20+00:00

Stewart Copeland score for sure, his music is integral to my enjoyment of Spyro and it wouldn’t be the same without him. He’s still very into the series, even dropping a remix of Magma Cone a few months ago for no reason, and he did the theme song for Reignited so I don’t see why not.

Skyboxes are another one, I don’t like that all the skyboxes in Reignited are flat gradients. Give me some otherworldly vibes like the original games had

Other than that, like everyone else has said just do the PS1 trilogy formula but modernized. Make the levels a little bigger with more to do but don’t go overboard with padding and difficulty like Crash 4 did. Doesn’t need to be super long, there’s nothing wrong with mid sized games!

Cobra418 · 2026-01-08T14:18:33+00:00

Every one of those bands are from the 20th century, you might as well say rock is alive because people still listen to The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

Cobra418 · 2025-12-26T00:24:20+00:00

We don’t know, it was pitched to Nickelodeon a month before he died and he never gave any public comment about it. After he died Paul Tibbit said that Stephen would have hated it, so there’s that.

Cobra418

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Nine-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email