In the Randomised Record series, I take us both on an adventure to (re)discover my record collection. Fate decides: whether it be that obscure grunge album I bought recently or that emo rap record from 2017. Nothing is safe from the hands of the randomiser! I will listen to the entire album and highlight my favourite song off of it here on the blog. Do I still enjoy my records as much as when I bought ‘em? Let’s find out. Today, episode 25: ‘Parachutes’ (2000) by Coldplay.

Now that we’re slowly reaching the end of this series, I can start drawing some conclusions. One is that I don’t have as many shocking records as I thought I did, another is that I own a fair lot of late 10s records as opposed to classics. Therefore, I’m glad the randomiser chose one from that latter category today. An album that we can collectively agree on has made a significant impact on the music industry, not only for being the debut of a band that we still consider one of the biggest ones out there 25 years later but also for producing some massive classics that many generations have been enjoying throughout the years. ‘Yellow’, which doesn’t require an introduction, and ‘Sparks’, which gained immense popularity amongst younger people through social media platform TikTok, both together having collected about 4,5 billion streams on Spotify alone. Though Coldplay’s current music is nothing compared to what they released on ‘Parachutes’ back in July 2000, I’m sure this band’s albums are present in households all across the globe.

You might remember me mentioning how I throughout the years started purchasing records we owned a copy of when I was a kid. Albums by artists like Ash, Maxïmo Park, Garbage, Joe Jackson, and Placebo would be considered childhood classics for me, and so is ‘Parachutes’ by Coldplay. Given the names of the artists I just dropped here, you wouldn’t think I actually grew up in a punk household. Ha! Well, I sure did. I think I’ve just always had a wider interest in music and instead of sticking with one genre, I’ve always intended to discover bands and songs all across the musical spectrum. With my dad pretty much focusing on punk and punk alone (apart from the occasional outlier) and my mum leaning more towards a generic alternative side, I got the best of both of these worlds early on in my life. The older I got, the more I explored my own music taste and I quickly learned that it wouldn’t be worth it sticking with one genre alone.

Now that I’m nearing my thirties, I can safely say that I’ve done well educating myself about a crazy amount of genres. If anything, having the knowledge I do now is what’s paying the bills each month, so I’m grateful I’ve always followed my passion and tried to explore and collect as many different types of music as I could. ‘Parachutes’ by Coldplay is perhaps the most mainstream example I could possibly give here today, but it tells me how I should never shy away from a proper classic. Whether it be a generic rock album such as this one or perhaps ‘Exodus’ by Bob Marley & The Wailers. There’s nothing I love more than being knowledgeable about music, and collecting these childhood classics certainly confirms that fact.