When Coldplay’s debut album Parachutes dropped 20 years ago in the U.K. on July 10, 2000, the title was fitting – while Coldplay would go on to soar as a global act, the album’s international impact was up in the air at first, with Parachutes not even landing in America until November 2000.
But British audiences warmed up to Coldplay quickly, with Parachutes climbing to No. 1 on the U.K. album chart and earning a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist. After appearing in various international charts listed in the pages of Billboard, Coldplay netted their first significant shout out in the Aug. 5, 2000 issue of Billboard, appearing in Nigel Williamson’s Global Music Pulse column.
The lead story of his column that week, Williamson noted the band was a bit of an anomaly in the dance music-saturated U.K. music scene at the turn of the millennium. “Just when it seemed that dance music had made skinny white boys playing guitar-led rock an endangered species on the British charts, along comes Coldplay,” he wrote. “All aged between 22 and 23, the group’s four members met at University College in London and have been widely hailed as representing a return to old-fashioned music values.”
The column even includes a quote from pre-celebrity Chris Martin, who told Billboard the following: “We’re surprised how it’s all happened so quickly, but there’s always been a special chemistry between us right from the beginning.”
Eventually, Parachutes would hit No. 51 on the Billboard 200, becoming a particular favorite on the West Coast (as noted in a December 2000 issue of Billboard). The “Yellow” single fared quite well Stateside, hitting the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching No. 2 on the Triple A Songs chart in 2001. Parachutes won a BRIT Award for British album of the year on Feb. 26, 2001. Coldplay won a second BRIT Award that night for British group. A year later, on Feb. 27, 2002, Parachutes won a Grammy for best alternative music album. “Yellow” was also Grammy-nominated for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal.
As for what happened after that, well, you know: They conquered the world.
