Rocktrospectiva: The Massive "Parachutes" Turns 25

Released on 10 July 2000, "Parachutes" was the debut studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. Ken Nelson and the band co-produced all songs except "High Speed", which was produced by Chris Allison alone. The album spawned four singles: "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble" and "Don't Panic". 

The album was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews from critics. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200.

The band began production on Parachutes in late 1999, after producing and releasing The Blue Room EP with British record producer Chris Allison. Allison was asked to assist with production, and the band's musical direction, which was desired by both the band & the A&R department. Production started with the track 'High Speed', which was part of the EP and was later re-released as a part of Parachutes. Allison describes 'High Speed' as thus: 'You'll notice it is quite a bit different to the other tracks, because there are other sounds going on in it: we wanted to mix a soundscape in with the classic rock sound on that particular track. I thought 'High Speed' was a really good marriage between the classic rock sound and the new sound that was developing out of it, something that was more atmospheric'.

The band then took a lengthy break to compose more tracks for Parachutes. A few months later, it was arranged that Allison and the band meet at a rehearsal room to finally begin production on the band's debut album. "They started up playing in the rehearsal room and they really weren't together at all. And I was very honest with them, I just sort of said 'Look, this simply isn't good enough'". Allison adds, "The interesting, the most significant thing that did occur out of the fact that we didn't end up starting the album on that day of the rehearsal was that Chris Martin had not written "Yellow" by that time".

The album's cover features a photograph of a yellow globe taken with a disposable Kodak camera. The globe had been purchased from W H Smith for £10; it was featured in the music videos for "Shiver" and "Don't Panic", and also accompanied the band on their tours. 

Champion has explained that Nelson's production style was liberating and allowed the band to feel at ease during the recording of Parachutes (many songs from the album often featured slow tempos). The ensuing album was "a record's worth of moody and atmospheric tunes". As a nod to the moods created by the album, Champion has compared the song lyrics to the 1972 song "Perfect Day" by American rock singer-songwriter Lou Reed, stating that the "lyrics are beautiful and they're really, really happy, but the music is really, really sad. It's that kind of thing, where you can create moods through the music and lyrics".

Parachutes was recognised to have an alternative rock, indie rock, and post-Britpop, with some stylistic comparisons being made to contemporaries such as Radiohead and Travis. In fact, a few critics have suggested that the album's commercial success was due in part to a portion of Radiohead's audience being alienated by the band's experimental and more electronic-influenced Kid A album.

Parachutes was released to generally favorable reviews from music critics, considered it an album of remarkable depth, especially when one considers the youthful ages of the band members", "a masterpiece" and "a defining musical statement of 2000", on the other hand several critics attacked the album because they considered it that it brought nothing new and that its musical reference points are immediately recognizable and difficult to overlook. However, until today, "Parachutes" is still considered as the band's most influential album to date.

 

Parachutes Track List:  

 

1. Don't Panic

2. Shiver

3. Spies

4. Sparks

5. Yellow

6. Trouble

7. Parachutes

8. High Speed

9. We Never Change

10. Everything's Not Lost