A very serious message

Coldplay are deadly serious. Not only are they all very talented musicians, but they also care terribly about the state of our planet. Add to this smorgasbord of seriousness a full blown desire to educate the illiterate masses through song and through imagery. In order to do this most effectively they've asked EMI if they can make two videos for their new single, the Tears For Fears-esque 'Violet Hill'. The single is taken from their forthcoming album 'Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends'. No, that isn't me being indecisive, that really is the full title of the album, and what a pretentious mouthful it is. But remember, we're here to be educated so please pay attention.

This is the alternate video. It's very political.



It's actually quite funny. Relatively speaking.

This official one however, is really very serious and they'd appreciate it if you stopped giggling at their silly costumes, they're very lucky to have been given access to the ITV wardrobe, and no Sharpe doesn't want his clothes back. I'm sure it's all meant to mean something, but really all I get from it is lots of facial hair, some hill climbing and Chris Martin finding it hard to walk through the snow. I've never been able to get metaphor and allegory, so perhaps the bigger themes are lost on me. But, I suspect that some where out there Bono is cursing the fact that he didn't think of it sooner.