Coldplay’s name has nostalgic origins.
Videos by American Songwriter
The Grammy-winning band of Chris Martin, Will Champion, Jonny Buckland and Guy Berryman formed while they were in college. They would go on to become one of the best-selling music acts in the world, with more than 100 million albums sold to date. It all started in 1997 when the foursome met as students at University College London. Martin and Buckland met during freshmen orientation in 1997 and started writing songs. They were soon joined by Berryman and started recording songs under the temporary name, Big Fat Noises. A year later, Champion signed on as the drummer, solidifying the famous lineup we know today. But how did they get the name Coldplay?
Meaning Behind the Band Name
Once they became a quartet, the band changed its name to Starfish. But it was fellow classmate, Tim Crompton, who proved to be a pivotal piece in the band’s formation. In a 2014 Facebook post, the band credits former classmate and fellow musician Crompton for introducing Martin and Buckland and for giving them the name Coldplay. In Debs Wild and Malcolm Croft’s book, Life in Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay, Crompton was in the process of forming his own band in college, with Cold Play being one of the name options that he got from the title of a 1997 book of poetry.
“While killing time waiting for a delayed removal van, he had considered the name after he found a copy of Philip Horky’s book, Child’s Reflections, Cold Play,” Wild and Croft write. “Tim had a list of potential band names but Cold Play was quickly rejected; the future bandmates didn’t like it, so they discarded it. Starfish were happy to pick it up.”
For Martin, the word “Coldplay” also represents a sense of community among the band. “It just meant ‘us,'” Martin expresses to Rolling Stone about the meaning of the name. “If you ever think about a word too long, you’re like,’ Why is that called a television?’ and it starts to trip you out a bit. Sometimes I think, ‘My whole life is defined by this Coldplay.’ I don’t think about it anymore. I think it resonates because I like the fact that it only means ‘us.'”
While their 2000 debut album, Parachutes, set the tone for their success, it was their sophomore endeavor, A Rush of Blood to the Head, in 2002 that made them superstars, particularly with the release of breakthrough hit “Yellow.” The song gave Coldplay their first hit in both their native United Kingdom and the United States, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart and No. 6 on the Alternative Airplay chart in the U.S., and No. 4 on the UK Singles chart. “Viva la Vida,” “Something Just Like This,” “A Sky Full of Stars,” “Clocks” and “Speed of Sound” are among their other well-known tracks.
Coldplay currently released nine studio albums, the most recent being Music of the Spheres in 2021 which topped charts around the world, including reaching No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. and No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts. Coldplay is the recipient of seven Grammy Awards and “Yellow” is part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s exhibit of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”
Photo Credit: James Marcus Haney / Courtesy of Atlantic Records
