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How four university friends came to conquer the world's stadiums

If late-90s acts like Travis and Badly Drawn Boy manifested Britpop's hangover then Coldplay's 2000 emergence paved the way for guitar music's more hopeful, communal future. Each of their records—from the tender rock of Parachutes to the dance-influenced uplift of A Head Full of Dreams—sees them expand and deepen these themes, raising the stakes with ever-more monumental choruses. There's conceptual experimentation (and the occasional Kraftwerk sample) here. But, mostly, these former university friends cleave to that winning early formula: joyful pop served with a hefty dose of melancholy.

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