10 Bands Who Should Have Stopped After One Album

There’s good money to be made in being mild. By making inoffensive pop rock that fits well over any montage, Coldplay have maintained their status as one of the biggest bands in the world for coming on 15 years now. Had they called it a day after their debut Parachutes, they’d be nowhere near as rich or famous - but a lot better regarded.

Parachutes is, by Coldplay’s standards, a dark, moody, restrained piece. Opening with “Don’t Panic”, Chris Martin’s croon introduces him to the world as a captivating frontman, and the instrumentals are dreamy and rich. The album has little of the bombast that would become Coldplay’s stock in trade.

“Yellow” aims for the anthemic, but there’s no “Fix You”, no obvious festival singalong. Before long they were working with legends like Brian Eno and Beyonce, but Parachutes is a more carefully crafted album. It’s a mile away from the often irritating band we see today.

Would Coldplay trade their success and wealth? Probably not.

When your band is a byword for blandness though, you might look at the choices you’ve made and wonder whether you could've done things differently. No doubt the money goes some way to soothing those wounds.