Oddly, Hoepfner notes that his song's subject, listening to the radio, would probably be a better fit for an iTunes ad than Coldplay singing about the Crusades. So far he's not seeking any financial restitution, and he's even joking that he stole the progression from Zelda on his band's blog. The similarity is vague enough that I think it's pretty canny of him to use these similarities as a way of getting the Creaky Boards some publicity, instead of going the more expensive lawsuit route. Probably won't get them closer to that Apple deal, though.

Coldplay Deny Stealing Song [Guardian]
coldplay + itunes steals viva la vida from creaky boards! [YouTube]

MARTIN: With Brian [Eno], he's not snobby about any kind of music. He'd say, ''Listen to this Donna Summer track and then this Boyz II Men track.'' Then we'd listen to Rammstein, and I played him a Limp Bizkit song. It could be literally like that, so we were able to plagiarize from the most extraordinary places.

Which Limp Bizkit song?
MARTIN: ''Rollin,'' which is my favorite. I love Limp Bizkit. Just watch, in about 10 years people will start saying, ''You know what? They were great.'' Because you can't question their energy and enthusiasm and that's Brian's big thing — he doesn't care what the music sounds like, as long as it has life in it. It might be unfashionable to say it at the moment, but Limp Bizkit had a lot of life in them when they were at their best. I'm proud to say it right here, live and on the record.

I don't even know how to respond to that...
MARTIN: I also think that their version of ''Behind Blue Eyes'' is better than the Who's. Call me sacrilege.

No, I call you a hero. Keep on rollin', Chris! You know what time it is!

Coldplay Talk Viva La Vida [EW]
Limp Bizkit - Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle) [YouTube]

Oh, if only that deer-in-the-headlights look was being caused by some actual oncoming headlights. Here I go, thinking you've recorded one of the best singles of the year, one that finds a moving middle ground between the music of U2 and the Arcade Fire, and you have to ruin it by indulging in Bono's not-really-so-humble self-mocking messiah shtick and the Arcade Fire's penchant for raiding the wardrobe of a high school thespian club. Thom Yorke still wants to know how many trees had to die so you could do your idiot hop under streams of confetti at the MTV Movie Awards.

One of our big conversations that we always have in this band is, we don't see rock & roll as being about coke-taking, leather-trouser-wearing rebellion, because that to us is not rebellion anymore. The spirit of rock & roll is freedom. It's about following what you believe in and not caring what anyone else says. And if that means writing something on your hand, then you've got to write something on your hand. It doesn't matter if you don't look as cool as the Ramones — you're never going to, anyway. So I know that we'll be ridiculed for this and look stupid for that. But as long as we believe in what we're doing, we can't apologize for it.

You believe in looking like extras from a crappy production of Les Miserables, and stealing Bono's dance moves. Great. Can't I just enjoy your cheesy song about term limits in peace? Can't you stay behind the keyboard?

Coldplay Viva la Vida Live MTV Movie Awards 2008 [YouTube]
The Jesus Of Uncool [Rolling Stone]

"Being on a major label at the moment is like living in your grandparents' house," he says. "Everyone knows they need to move out, and they will eventually, but we kind of like our grandmother.

"It's obviously an antiquated model, because of the Internet, but we really love the people we work with. If we knew what the solution was to everything, then we'd do it. We have absolute respect for the Radioheads and Raconteurs and people who can do what they like. We're in contract though, so we're just going to make the most of it and enjoy the people we get to work with."

Coldplay's free gigs at Brixton Academy and Madison Square Garden this June will be unsponsored, in order to reaffirm that Coldplay is a real band with real feelings, and not merely slaves for granpappy EMI and other multinational relatives.

"We felt last time we f—-ed up so royally in New York when we were setting up 'X&Y.' We did an AOL thing, which was fine to do, but we tried to mix it with a buzz gig and we just came across as a huge and very impersonal corporation.

"So this time we want to do the ultimate buzz gig and have it not attached to anything or anybody. We're all very nervous because no one's done it before and it's a bit risky. When we first got asked to close (the) Glastonbury (festival) in 2002, it was a similar feeling of something a bit bigger than we felt we could do. But we really like that challenge."

Yeah, what if a multi-platinum act who've just sold 100,000 copies of a b-side threw a party at Madison Square Garden and no one showed up! I'd probably be really impressed by the effort (if not the "risk") if they'd put more than one hook on an album.

Coldplay on a mission to connect with fans [Reuters]

Wow, Coldplay has slapped the name of a Frida Kahlo painting over Liberty Leading The People by Eugene Delacroix. Is that a joke or something? Are they Against Me! now? We'll get a deeper look into Coldplay's quest for fine art appreciation/ freedom when their single "Violet Hill" is released tomorrow.

Coldplay's Website

But it's hard to look at the bright side when it includes a dancing silhouette of Chris Martin, a visual disturbingly reminiscent of the shadow dancing in Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning."

Michael Stipe, please never do something like this. Please.

Kanye West - Homecoming Ft. Chris martin (offical video) [Youtube]

Witnesses said her distaste for Coldplay quickly took a violent turn, and she leaped at the would-be crooner, shouting expletives and telling him that his singing "sucked," while expressing the same opinion of the song, according to a Seattle police report.

She pushed the man and punched him, all in an effort to stop his singing.

Other patrons went to the singer's aid and hauled the 21-year-old woman outside.

"It took three or four of us to hold her down," said Robert Willmette, one of the bartenders at Changes.

The woman, Willmette said, "went crazy" when she got outside, punching him twice in the face, and throwing blows at the others gathered around her.

After cops swarmed the scene, the woman (pegged as a "little hippie girl" by the never-condescending Seattle police) proceeded to take on the lot of them like she was Scarface, only to wind up hauled off to the pokey and charged with assault. Apparently no one could figure out what set her off:

Later Thursday morning, bar employees were shaking their heads over the woman's bizarre behavior.

According to the night bartender's notes, she had just one drink — a single shot of Jägermeister.

And that doesn't explain it? Whenever anyone I know drinks Jägermeister they turn into an avenging viking of death, too. If nothing else, let this be a lesson to anyone who dares to invoke the spirit of Chris Martin within Seattle city limits. Please karaoke responsibly.

Karaoke Singer Attacked After Starting Song [Seattle Post-Intelligencer with a tip of the hat to noted Coldplay fan Michaelangelo Matos for pointing it out]

- Courtney Love wants to educate listeners when she DJs on the BBC next month. Here's hoping she won't get inspired to teach her audience grammar. [BBC]
- Chris Martin covers "When You Were Young" at a charity gig, inflating Brandon Flowers' ego to Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man proportions. [Gigwise]
- Sha Na Na enthusiasts of Southern California, beware: A false Bowzer may be in your midst. [SF Gate]

[Photo: Getty Images]

As those of you who read NME already know, Jay-Z, Chris Martin, and Gwyneth Paltrow teamed up last night for Jay's show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. As it turned out, one of Idolator's far-flung correspondents was backstage, and happened to witness the trio's awkward encounter; our first-hand account follows after the click-through.

(Backstage at Royal Albert Hall, there's a knock on Jay-Z's dressing-room door. Seconds later, Chris Martin's head appears, with Gwyneth Paltrow behind him.)

CM: Jay!
Z: Yo?
CM: How's it going, mate?
Z: (Peering at Martin) Shit, you're here, like, three hours early. Where'd you park it?
CM: Sorry?
Z: The wheels, man, where'd you—wait. You my driver, right? Nigel? No—Liam?
CM: Jay! It's me, Chris. Chris from Coldplay! Remember? We met at Prince's Grammy-party after-party party?
Z: Awww, shit...I'm sorry.
CM: No worries, mate!
Z: Nah, it's just that I'm really, really bad with names, you know? It can be kinda socially crippling at times. It's why I roll so deep.
CM: Right—
Z: People always say, "Well, try to associate a name with some other word, something that rhymes"? But I tried that, and now it's like, every time I see Nas, I think "Cos," right?
CM: Right.
Z: Like Nas is on Picture Pages or some shit. Anyway. You here to watch the show?
CM: No, we're singing together, mate! Blimeny gee!
Z: Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. You want Foxy's verse on "Ain't No"?
CM: Actually, we have a song together!
Z: We do?
CM: Chippery hee, we certainly do! It's a plaintive piano ballad about hunger in Germany. We called it "Stitch In Time (Saves Nein)."
Z: Ah. Right. We stickin' with that title?
CM: Bet your buggers we are! And I think I know someone very special who'd like to sing it with us. Have you met my bird, Gwyneth?
GP: Heee!
(Jay-Z peers at Paltrow)
Z: Bird?
CM: It's British slang, for "girl."
Z: Yeah, right, but...
GP: Heee!
(Pause)
CM: But you didn't think that, did you?
Z: Nah...
CM: You thought she was an actual walking, talking bird, right?
Z: Yeah...
CM: Well, don't wanker your bangers over it, chap. It happens. A lot.

It's been a lackluster year for rock feuds: The Kid Rock-Scott Stapp sex-tape battle has pretty much petered out, and even Liam Gallagher's been keeping his mouth shut (though his last blow-up is still the stuff of legend). Since everyone seems to be playing nice these days, Idolator has to step in and do the shit-stirring ourselves; luckily, we found this sorta-diss in today's Guardian piece on Lou Reed:

Nervously, I pick the most topical question I can, and hit him with it.

"Mr Reed, what did you think of Coldplay covering your song Perfect Day at the Isle of Wight Festival?"

If it were humanly possible, Reed's expression darkens even further.

"They did whaaaaaaat?"

I tell him Chris Martin told the media that because Reed hadn't played it during his set, Coldplay did it in theirs.

"You're kidding."

Reed looks so infuriated that I'm still not sure whether his next question "Have you heard that?" is directed at me or members of his entourage.

Them's fightin' words! Vaguely disinterested, easily forgettable fightin' words, but we'll take 'em. Our odds on the Martin-Reed title bout after the jump.

AGE
LOU REED 64
CHRIS MARTIN 29

KNOWN ENEMIES
LOU REED Lester Bangs, John Cale
CHRIS MARTIN Poverty

PREVIOUS ALTERCATIONS
LOU REED Bitten by a fan during a concert in Buffalo
CHRIS MARTIN Arrested for attacking an Australian paparazzo

MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON
LOU REED Metal Machine Music
CHRIS MARTIN X&Y

BIGGEST BLOW TO STREET CRED
LOU REED Being sampled by Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch
CHRIS MARTIN Being named "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA

THE WINNER: LOU REED Sure, he's 35 years older. But we wouldn't mess with anyone who's survived a trip to Buffalo.