Hope everybody enjoyed the weekend. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, the continuation of Round One of Montauk Madness. Our next matchup: Coldplay vs. The Shins.
This is an interesting one because Coldplay started off as a hip indie band not unlike The Shins before they blew up into a stadium band and thereafter became terminally uncool.
I don’t hold the band’s success against them, and I think they’ve continued to release interesting material right up to their latest album.
But I’m going with The Shins here largely based on the 2012 album Port of Morrow, which I’ve gone on record calling the best of the 00s so far. James Mercer brings a unique sound and sensibility to his music that I’m not willing to kill off in the first round.
[Verse 1]
At fifteen we had to leave the States again
Dad was stationed at an RAF base they called Mildenhall
Black moss on a busted wall
The cobblestones made it hard to skate
I thought my flattop was so new wave
Until it melted away in the Suffolk rain
Well god damn, you miss the USA
[Refrain]
Then a kid in class passed me a tape
An invitation, not the hand of fate
[Verse 2]
I guess my shoes said I might relate
Somehow she knew I’d like to stay up waiting with her in the cold
For cheap beer and rock ‘n’ roll
Which in time put lots of things in my mind
[Refrain]
A kid in class passed me a tape
We saw some bands down at the Corn Exchange
[Verse 3]
I wonder where my sister was that night
Back at home under the tanning bed lights
I can still see the glow
Strange rays from her window
Each night, as I was skating home
Started messing with my dad’s guitar
Taught me some chords just to start me off
Whittling away on those rainy days
And that’s how we get to where we are now
[Refrain]
A kid in class passed me a tape
A band called The Jesus and the Mary Chain
[Outro]
I started messing with my dad’s guitar
He taught me some chords just to start me off
Whittling away on all of those rainy days
And that’s how we get to where we are now
And that’s how we get to where we are now
Meet Me In Montauk 
Years ago, I felt some kind of conceptual dislike for Coldplay. However, I’ve come to like a number of their songs and appreciate others. Not wild about the new album’s more commercial turn, but, on general familiarity, I’ll give a nod to Coldplay here.
This is one was probably the toughest decision for me yet. Do I opt for the more indie band who doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves or the mainstream pop band who earns the recognition it’s received? Though Port of Morrow is a fantastic album, I think Coldplay’s discography is more impressive over all. Also, something that really turned me on to Coldplay was their amazing performance on Letterman which you should definitely watch if you haven’t yet.
I have yet to lose my conceptual dislike for Coldplay…