Ratings History

Album

X&Y

Information

"Speed of Sound" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their 2005 third studio album X&Y. Constructed around a piano and guitar riff, the song builds into a huge, synthesiser-heavy chorus. It was released by Parlophone Records as the lead single from the album. "Speed of Sound" made its radio premiere on BBC Radio 1 with Lamacq on 19 April, then was serviced to US radio on 18 April 2005. The song was released physically in Japan on 11 May with two B-sides: "Things I Don't Understand" and "Proof". In the United Kingdom, the single was issued on 23 May 2005.

Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin admitted that the song was developed after the band had listened to English art rock singer Kate Bush. Upon the song's release, it charted in the UK Singles Chart in the number two position. In the United States, it debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, their first top ten hit in the country, and their most successful song until "Viva la Vida" reached number one in 2008.

"Speed of Sound" was recognised Song of the Year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and it was nominated twice at the 48th Grammy Awards. The song won a Brit Award in the category for Best British Single in 2006. The track's music video was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards. "Speed of Sound" was also notable as the billionth download from the iTunes Store.

In an interview, Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin revealed that the song was written in mid-2004 and was inspired by Martin's daughter, Apple, and English alternative rock singer Kate Bush: "That's a song where we were listening to a lot of Kate Bush last summer, and we wanted a song which had a lot of tom-toms in it. I just had my daughter up also, and was kind of feeling in a sense of awe and wonderment, so the song is kind of a Kate Bush song about miracles." The drumbeat of the song was inspired by Bush's 1985 song "Running Up that Hill". In a separate interview, bassist Guy Berryman said: "We were really trying to recreate the drums on that song for this song, and the chords. Some bands are reluctant to admit that they take things from other artists and bands that they listen to and we're shameless in that respect, we don't mind telling."

The band's opinion towards the song, however, has soured. Martin has said that he dislikes "Speed of Sound", saying in a 2011 interview, "We never got it right." During an interview with Howard Stern, Martin said that his dislike of "Speed of Sound" stems from the fact that he "forgot the banana lyric for the song. A banana lyric is a staple in every song we've made and somehow I forgot to write one for Speed of Sound." Due to this, Martin is reluctant to perform the song live, citing his feelings towards the song, noting that "an audience can pick up real fast if something is clearly missing."

The video promo for "Speed of Sound" was shot on a Los Angeles sound stage on 22 and 23 April 2005. Shooting took place on large sets backed by large light-emitting diode (LED) displays developed by Element Labs. The performance-based video was directed by Mark Romanek. The video features the band performing in front of a curved ellipse wall that consists of 640 Element Labs' VersaTubes placed on 6-inch (150 mm) centres. The on-set animations were programmed and performed live during the shoot. Romanek wanted the song's stem "split out" and to have the drums, bass, guitar, and vocals on separate tracks, which were then animated, and the lights were synthesized to each of the tracks. In the end, Romanek and Michael Keeling, the lighting designer, opted to use Chris Martin's vocal track to animate "because it had such dynamics. Roughly 75% of the video is driven by voice-activated animation", said Keeling.

The video opens in pitch-black, followed by a light framing Martin as he reaches skyward out of the shadows. The scene then shifts to the band, as they play the song. When Martin spread his hands, the two-storey-high LED lights erupt in a colour of rainbow hues. The LED background changes colours as the band continues. The video concludes its ending with the band lined up, one-by-one, and the LED set displaying a white light background. The video debuted on 23 May 2005 and proved successful on video-chart programs. It debuted on 11 June 2005 on Fuse's No. 1 Countdown Rock, at number six, and retired on 5 August at number seven of the countdown. It also reached number sixteen in MuchMusic's Countdown a month after its debut. At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the video garnered nominations in the categories of Video of the Year, Best Special Effects, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. The video was the ranked at number 10 on VH1's Top 40 of 2005.

The song was met with a polarised response from critics. PopMatters felt that the song "comes close to sounding too safe, almost like the band is on autopilot." Several critics felt that the song resembled Coldplay's earlier single "Clocks". MusicOMH commented that "Speed Of Sound, the lead single, has 'Clocks'-like drumming contrasts with synth sequences that remind more of Enya than rock music" and criticised it for sounding "familiar and far older than it is." Pitchfork Media likewise criticised the song's "uncanny resemblance to 'Clocks'" and continued "Certainly, it rarely hurts to stick with what works, but this is not just a near-exact replica of its successful predecessor; it's also a less memorable song riding a piano hook that has so deeply infiltrated the pop-culture landscape that I've become numb to it." The reviewer did, however, comment that "the track's vocal melody outperforms the one from 'Clocks' by a hair."

The Village Voice felt that the song was "unusually accomplished, fresh, and emotional." Paste Magazine praised the song, saying that it "reveals the hand [Coldplay are] playing: a piano riff as memorable as the one in 'Clocks,' ringing guitars, martial drums, orchestral pomp and, in the center, Chris Martin's keening vocal, so vulnerable and yet forceful enough to stand out from the mass of sonic detail." The New York Times, contrariwise, dinged X&Y for "trying to carry beauty of 'Clocks' across an entire album – not least in its first single, 'Speed of Sound,' which isn't the only song on the album to borrow the 'Clocks' drumbeat." Rolling Stone magazine gave a mixed review, calling it "an appealing but not thrilling song" and noted "...it sounds a bit like...'Clocks' but without the swagger." Blender had the track at number 16 on their "100 Greatest Songs of 2005" editorial. In 2007, NPO Radio 2 ranked the song at number 334 on their annual Top 2000. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.