Oh god, COLDPLAY. Yes, we’re doing this. These days, 19 years ago Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Guy Berryman started their first rehearsals under new name (after calling themselves STARFISH before). And although 1998’s self-released Safety EP is widely known as the first official COLDPLAY release that fact is not entirely correct from a certain point of view because, well, there’s this track called Ode To Deodorant. The infamous first song the band ever recorded under the new alias was released via a promo cassette which their manager Phil Harvey (the group’s unofficial fifth member) used to get them gigs.
Listening to it you just have to wonder how they even got a gig with such profound lyrics as:
Here’s an Ode, ah, to deodorant
It’s my thing, ah it’s my favourite hygiene
It keeps me through the day
Some might say, COLDPLAY haven’t changed that much in terms of lyrical depth ever since but I’m not commenting on this right here. On the B-side was the way better Brothers And Sisters which they later released as their first official single in early 1999 but for reasons we can oooooonly speculate Ode To Deodorant never made it that far. Of course, this was still ages before the big breakthrough of Parachutes in 2000 and feels like a lifetime away from the bubblegum pop madness they’ve become in recent years. The band is currently celebrating its 20th birthday with an extended world tour and a new EP called Kaleidoscope being out this spring. After that … well, this might be it or not. Whatever happens, this odd tune is a gentle reminder that everything big once starts with a small first step.
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