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November 10, 2006

Coldplay Are Star Whores

Well this would have fit perfectly in our earlier discussion about rock in commercials. Even if you hate Coldplay (and especially if you hate Coldplay), you must watch this commercial for the six-part Star Wars marathon on Cinemax. We're sorry if you've already had all the cringe you could handle with BOA's "One"; you're just gonna have to make room for some more.

A FUN GAME: Watch how Chris Martin's poignant adjectives and verbs correspond to your favorite moments in Star Wars lore!

(via BWE)

Posted at 5:16 PM
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54 Comments

I hated that so much.

Posted by: Mark S at 11/10/06 5:33 PM  | Reply
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its like he wrote the song specifically for this purpose

Posted by: KingHarvest at 11/10/06 5:44 PM  | Reply
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Brings a new meaning to "literal translation". God that was horrible and i actually like Coldplay.

Posted by: Fred at 11/10/06 5:54 PM  | Reply
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COMEDY GOLD!!!! heres another keeper!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GX4xavNEMg

What was Superman Returns missing that didn't make it amazing? Perhaps some Johnny Cash!

I love you, Stereomatt,

Jesus Christ

Posted by: Jesus Christ at 11/10/06 6:05 PM  | Reply
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I agree with Fred. I like Coldplay and the video was boring...

or am I just realizing Fix You is a terrible song?

Posted by: Julie at 11/10/06 6:07 PM  | Reply
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hahaha my favorite parts are Obi-Wan's lightsaber death corresponding with "lights will guide you home" and Chewbacca screwing 3PO's head back on during the first "i will try to fix you" refrain

Posted by: Brian at 11/10/06 6:15 PM  | Reply
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Best parts
"lights will guide you home" when obi wan kenobi is killed.
"I will try to fix you" when chewbacca is repairing c3p0
I thought it was great. Hilarious.
I think Fix You is one of those songs that is so bad that it's good.

Posted by: rrrrrry at 11/10/06 6:18 PM  | Reply
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eck, 3 minutes too late

Posted by: rrrrrry at 11/10/06 6:20 PM  | Reply
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I don't exactly hate Coldplay, but now more than ever...that track, at least, is awful.
I'm mostly angry at Cinemax. Can just imagine the meeting where this was decided:

"...And for the music, we can go with the thrilling, iconic, classic score by John Williams. The downside to that is it's what everyone will be expecting.
Or we can go with something poppier, top-40ish, like U2, or Coldplay. We could even incorporate some cheesey interplay between lyrics & visuals. The downside being Star Wars fans will hate us."
"Hmm, it's almost lunchtime. Go with Coldplay."

Asshats.

Posted by: Connor at 11/10/06 7:13 PM  | Reply
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that was hilarious and intentionally awful.

Posted by: chris at 11/10/06 8:22 PM  | Reply
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This ad is incredibly cheesy, but Coldplay is a great band. They say they don't believe in placing their music in commercials, but I'm sure they would endorse this just for the comedic value- Lights will guide you home- "Roll the lightsaber clip!"- wow

Posted by: Albert Hammond, Sr. at 11/10/06 8:28 PM  | Reply
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I like it.

Posted by: Brandon at 11/10/06 9:22 PM  | Reply
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You know how you know you're gay?

Posted by: smashing at 11/10/06 9:22 PM  | Reply
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Why on earth didn't they show Anakin catching on fire during the "and ignite your bones" line. I mean...it's a natural fit right?

Unbelievably bad/awesome.

Posted by: Ringo at 11/10/06 9:24 PM  | Reply
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What's so bad about it for those of you who didn't like it? Even if you do or don't like Coldplay it fit together very well. I realize Coldplay is not the ideal music for something Star Wars, but it's still cool.

Posted by: Brandon at 11/10/06 9:32 PM  | Reply
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This is the greatest thing ever. Even with bits from the prequel trilogy it's the greatest thing ever. Somewhere, there's a girl for whom this is the greatest thing ever, and when we meet, I will not die alone.

Posted by: Todd at 11/11/06 1:46 AM  | Reply
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That was amazing, and by amazing I mean bad, and by bad I mean I think I might watch it again and laugh really, really hard. It's like a badly made fan video.

Posted by: Katy at 11/11/06 2:24 AM  | Reply
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"When you try your best and you don't succeed"

...And the X-wing just sinks as Luke looks on in frustration. Hilarious.

Posted by: John at 11/11/06 3:13 AM  | Reply
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This commercial was great- Lighten up everyone! Its not like their are replacing John Williams score during the films with Coldplay songs. I thought it was really funny.

Posted by: Courtney at 11/11/06 3:15 AM  | Reply
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PLUS it cant be any worse than Greedo shooting first.....

Posted by: Courtney at 11/11/06 3:17 AM  | Reply
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Death Star exploding upon the lyrics: "...and ignite your bones..."

golden.

Posted by: bean. at 11/11/06 4:48 AM  | Reply
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Death Star exploding upon the lyrics: "...and ignite your bones..."

golden.

Posted by: bean. at 11/11/06 4:48 AM  | Reply
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"Don't like Coldplay" my ass. Certain Indie fans propel a band to mainstream one month and then turn on them the next. You fucks are hurting the rest of us by looking so pretentious and snooty. Fuck off. All any blog has to do is throw on a Coldplay, Death Cab, etc. type post and everybody runs to read it - page hits go up and all the while everyone still pretends to "hate". Coldplay has done more than most of these bands will ever do. Tell me, who should we hate next month? Grow up.

Posted by: N at 11/11/06 6:34 AM  | Reply
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ingrained childhood memories+minor key song = i feel really sad now....

waaaaaah.

thanks for nothing, stereogum.

Posted by: The Goblin King at 11/11/06 6:50 AM  | Reply
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So bad it's good. Genius. Truly. Although I wish they could have found a scene for the line 'Stuck in reverse' -- like R2D2 getting electrocuted etc. Oh well.

Posted by: James at 11/11/06 7:40 AM  | Reply
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the goblin king = jackass.

Posted by: elvin at 11/11/06 11:04 AM  | Reply
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N: Just because you buy into that kind of hype doesn't mean that everyone else does.

Posted by: Mark S at 11/11/06 11:45 AM  | Reply
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seven seconds is all I could stomach

Posted by: comandante agi at 11/11/06 11:51 AM  | Reply
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oh elvin, go to your room and play with your toys and costumes, forget about the baby...

Posted by: The Goblin King at 11/11/06 11:51 AM  | Reply
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Yowza. Two questions: Is every marketing department now overseen by a 34-year-old guy with bedhead hair and a "Star Wars Holiday Special" bootleg archive? And could they have strained any harder to find decent footage from the second trilogy?

And where was Bossk in all of this?

Posted by: BrianRaftery at 11/11/06 12:04 PM  | Reply
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"Don't like Coldplay" my ass. Certain Indie fans propel a band to mainstream one month and then turn on them the next. You fucks are hurting the rest of us by looking so pretentious and snooty. Fuck off. All any blog has to do is throw on a Coldplay, Death Cab, etc. type post and everybody runs to read it - page hits go up and all the while everyone still pretends to "hate". Coldplay has done more than most of these bands will ever do. Tell me, who should we hate next month? Grow up."

You are so wrong. I loved Coldplays's first album, moderately admired the second, thoroughly hated the third. If a band continues to put out good albums then the "indie" community will still appreciate and love them. Did we hate The Pixies after a while? Did we hat Nirvana after a while? Did we hate Radiohead after a while? The answer is NO. The only reason Coldplay is taking 4-5 years off is because they know that they are mediocre and that's the only way they can put together a decent set of tracks for an album that might compare to its predecessors. They are a horrible copy of U2.

Posted by: Ariel at 11/11/06 1:56 PM  | Reply
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Wow. I love Coldplay but that was just...horrendous and yet awesome. As for "stuck in reverse", they did have R2D2 walking the wrong direction. That's kind of reverse...ish.

Posted by: Jamie at 11/11/06 2:43 PM  | Reply
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Man. That was terrible. Coldplay is NOT a great band, no matter what the uneducated say.

Posted by: Memememe at 11/11/06 2:46 PM  | Reply
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I saw about five seconds of it, but I didn't want it murdering my love for Star Wars so I stopped it.

Posted by: Sparky at 11/11/06 6:35 PM  | Reply
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Call me gay. I thought it was pretty good.

Posted by: Matthew at 11/11/06 10:04 PM  | Reply
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You are so gay!

Posted by: Memememe at 11/11/06 10:56 PM  | Reply
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I hate Coldplay, always have, but God, that was hilarious. I like to think this was unintentional, but it was too great not to be.

Posted by: Jaime at 11/11/06 10:59 PM  | Reply
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Are you guys sure this is for the Cinemax marathon? What kind of promo is the entire length of a song? Plus, the dude who put it up is linked with another homemade Star Wars video. Can anyone confirm this thing ran on Cinemax?

Posted by: Shea at 11/12/06 1:03 AM  | Reply
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there are good reasons why someone wouldnt like Coldplay, but overall they are indeed given an unfair rap by indie snobs.

Posted by: Goon at 11/12/06 2:08 AM  | Reply
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i like how they added the unnecessary "sigh" sound effect to luke looking at the twin sunset at the end. it really makes you think what kind of sick, warped minds the people who worked on this had - to think they can just add sound effects to the greatest film trilogy of all time. BOO.

and the editors are godless heathens as well. luke never used his targeting computer to blow up the death star....but oh - it cuts better that way.

Posted by: mh at 11/12/06 7:50 AM  | Reply
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I've found that the best way to counter the effects of the horrid Star Wars/Coldplay vid is to watch this Star Wars/YMCA one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKDavTXTdVY

It may not please hip Sterogum readers any more than the first one, but hey, at least it has the decency to be funny.

Posted by: Dunc, Star Nerd at 11/12/06 2:34 PM  | Reply
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Shea,

This is indeed from Cinemax. I saw it about a week ago on the channel and couldn't believe how cheesy it was.

Posted by: Ringo at 11/12/06 3:01 PM  | Reply
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"N: Just because you buy into that kind of hype doesn't mean that everyone else does."

Mark S, there's so much irony in that statement. As if all these people don't buy into the hype of every next Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, super cool band that just turns out to be an ok, average band. In fact, the people who hate Coldplay are the very ones who do buy into that type of hype-they follow what other indie snobs say they're supposed to find cool. Coldplay was never hyped from the beginning, they were always considered uncool because they're first single was a huge hit. In other words, you, Mark S, buy into the anti-Coldplay attitude because everyone else does.

Posted by: seinfeld at 11/12/06 3:19 PM  | Reply
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Seinfeld: this is precisely my point. You know nothing of my musical interests, and I can assure you you're dead wrong on the assumptions you make (although I do dislike Coldplay). You have made the exact same mistake as N, assuming that I fit some mold when in fact it does not describe me at all. Furthermore, you assume that anyone that hates Coldplay is a music snob. People have taste, and people have real, well-thought out reasons behind the music they like/dislike. I couldn't give a fuck what other people think about Coldplay or CYHSY, or any other band. You, on the other hand, seem to have something at stake in other peoples' choices about music. Good luck with that. To speak about people in grand, sweeping gestures like you and N are doing is, in my opinion, to play the hype game. It's not me looking at people like they're all the same, it's you, my friend.

Posted by: Mark S at 11/12/06 4:49 PM  | Reply
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So, I think Dolly Parton is overdue for some backlash. Let's tear her down next moth.

Posted by: StephenSeagull at 11/12/06 6:00 PM  | Reply
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Yea, if band becomes popular, there are so hard for them to choose between "work for money" and "work for real".

Posted by: Concert Fan at 11/13/06 10:52 AM  | Reply
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I'll probably get flamed for this, but Coldplay : contemporary rock :: Star Wars : '70s cinema. How many people have actually watched the original Star Wars trilogy since adolescence without blind nostalgia? Lucas is a shrewd businessman but he's no artist (and yes, that's counting THX-1138). The original trilogy is great compared to the horrific prequels, but to say the first three Star Wars movies are the greatest film trilogy of all time seems poorly considered. We've got plenty of other choices, people, can we please stop the Star Wars mania? Star Wars and Coldplay deserve each other.

Posted by: Matt at 11/13/06 4:01 PM  | Reply
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not right

Posted by: mikeSWFL at 11/13/06 7:59 PM  | Reply
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N seems pretty bitter. Is he like, in Keane or something?

Posted by: Bjorn Randolph at 11/14/06 4:38 AM  | Reply
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Fix You is a good song. Everyone seems to be blaming Coldplay for how the music is put to the film trailer. The band didn't have anything to do with how it was chorographed - if you want to blame anyone, blame the movie company for how they used the track!

The people who go on about how coldplay 'sold out' to the mainstream make me laugh - suddenly something becomes popular and everyone who used to love it suddenly start saying it's uncool. Everyone is so desperate to be seen to be super-cool... it's kinda sad!

Posted by: anna at 11/15/06 4:26 PM  | Reply
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I LOVED it!! I thought the music went well with the clips and yes I watched starwars all that weekend. It was a perfect commercial. I also thought it was cool how at the end there was no voice over to say when it was coming out. Great job cinemax!

Posted by: Sarabeth at 11/23/06 7:13 PM  | Reply
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Coldplay are whiny irritating depressing fools, i wish chris martin lost his voice and did the world a favour

Posted by: Katie at 12/07/06 11:41 PM  | Reply
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I hate Coldplay soooooooo much!

Posted by: Enzo at 01/28/08 1:49 PM  | Reply
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Coldplay is music for boys who cry while they jerk off.

Posted by: 2evill at 11/18/08 7:30 PM  | Reply
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