Alternative Rock Singers

"There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, "I disagree." We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect President."

"I grew up as a TV baby, with my TV babysitter, up until I was about 10. Then my mother just ripped the thing out of the wall and put it in a closet, and we didn't watch it. I have that sort of ability to become addicted to it. And I'm just so fascinated by it once I turn it on, I'm not even that aware what's there. I'm just watching it. So I don't ever turn it on. I get my news from the newspaper. I don't want to watch the Hollywood news product on TV... There's no other piece of furniture in my home I'd stare at for three hours at a time, so I try not to do it to the TV."

"I don’t listen to anything on the radio but NPR and occasional oldies programs. I can’t comment on the content or format of most commercial radio but I have read the statistics about the step-by-step deregulation of FCC rules that has allowed monopolies like Clear Channel to buy up massive shares of the airwaves. This has damaged our business (music) and our culture (American). The internet is offering bold alternatives but a transistor radio is only $25.00 and not everyone is hooked up through a computer and high speed connection."

"I don’t want to overdo discussing my experience of motherhood, its too private and profound to parade around. I will say that carrying a child, giving birth to a child and raising that child up has made me feel more engaged and connected to others. I have a greater understanding of people (living past & present). We all begin so pure, so innocent and so hungry for physical and emotional comfort. It’s so important that every baby be generously cherished, fed and comforted. I can see now how withholding these essentials can do irreparable damage. Now (post-baby) when I encounter a sad or aggressive character, I wonder what the first three years of his or her life were like. Imaging them alone, crying in their cribs has given me much more compassion."

"For the time being I am enjoying my chance to enjoy civilian life off the road. If I combined all the months that I have lived out of a van or tour bus it would amount to twelve solid years. That would be twelve years of driving or flying an average of 100 to 400 miles per day and sleeping in a different city every night. It was a very unique lifestyle that I adapted to and even enjoyed with it’s surreal pace. It’s also a lifestyle that can take a toll on the body and relationships with the people that you are constantly leaving behind."

"Ophelia was a cyclone, tempest a god damned hurricane your common sense your best defense lay wasted and in vain"

"Ophelia's mind went wandering you'd wonder where she'd gone through secret doors down corridors she'd wander them alone"

"And you're not happy but you're funny and I'm tripping over my joy. I just keep on gettin up again."

"And it's bad news, I don't blame you I do the same thing, I get lonely too And you're bad news, my friends tell me to leave you That you're bad news..."

"I read with every broken heart We should become more adventurous"

"There's blood in my mouth Cause I've been biting my tongue all week I keep on talking trash But I never say anything And the talking leads to touching And the touching leads to sex And then there is no mystery left"

"Then you hang up the phone and feel badly for upsetting things And crawl back into bed to dream of a time When your heart was open wide and you love things just because Like the sick and dying"

"And sometimes when you're on You're really fucking on And your friends they sing along And they love you But the lows are so extreme That the good seems fucking cheap And it teases you for weeks in its absence"

"It's all of the good that won't come out of us and how eventually our hands will just turn to dust, if we keep shaking them standing here on this frozen lake."

"I had one friend in high school, recently he hung himself with string, His note said "If livin' is the problem, well that's just baffling." And at the wake I waited around to see my ex-first love, And I barely recognized her but I knew exactly what she was thinkin' of .We sat quietly in the corner, whisperin' close about loss, And I remembered why I loved her and I asked her why I drove her off."

"I've had enough of breakdowns and diagrams— Judging from picture books, apparently Heaven is a partly cloudy place."

"I used to think, if I could realise I'd die Then I would be a lot nicer Used to believe in a lot more Now I just see straight ahead That's not to say I don't have good times But as for my days, I spend them waiting..."

"When you jump up the Earth wants you back."

"I do this thing where I think I'm real sick but I won't go to the doctor to find out about it cause they make you stay real still in a real small space as they chart up your insides and put them on display. They'd see all of it, all of me, all of it; All the good that won't come out of me..."

"Don Johnson: He's a lovely man, I'll tell you that. But it's not my place; they have their own thing. It would be like asking Chris Martin: “How's Don's relationship with his wife?” source"

"Chris is proof of how wonderful humans can be when they really put their minds to it."

"Jacob Collier: Chris is one of the most brilliantly-minded musicians I think I’ve ever encountered, and so, so joyous. To be completely honest with you, I think there are very few musicians nowadays who are making music from the perspective of just being open and joyful. source"

"Wayne Coyne: Chris Martin is such a sweet, thoughtful guy, and he gave me a cool book and all this stuff. But part of it was that we thought, “Well, we’ll meet them, and then we’ll stay for a couple songs, and then we’ll go get something to eat, and it’ll be a great night, who cares?” And we stayed the whole show. The show was phenomenal. And when it ended, we stood there like, “It can’t be over!” It was like two hours of just sheer joy. And then when it stopped, we didn’t want it to stop. How many times are you at a concert where that happens? source"

"Elton John: He is the kindest and most gracious friend, along with being a fantastic musical force of nature. source"

"Guy Berryman: Chris is always working, I think he is the biggest workaholic that I know. His capacity for making music and writing songs is boundless, almost. source"

"Stormzy: And the person was getting closer, and it was Chris Martin. I’m looking around… but he’s walking towards me. We had a wicked, wicked conversation, a very inspirational conversation. That was a moment where it was like, woah, you’re Chris Martin! He watched the whole (show), and he had very kind words for me. source"

"Lily Allen: I’m not super-close to Chris Martin, but I’ll always be grateful that what he did was say to me, “No Lily, I don’t see you like that. I don’t want to f*ck you. I care about you. I want to be friends with you. I want to help you.” He and Gwyneth had just broken up, but they were together in LA doing their conscious uncoupling thing. They asked me over for Sunday lunch. I wasn’t very chatty with Chris, but he and Gwyneth did put me in touch with their marriage counsellor. I didn’t go, but it was the wake-up call I needed. I realised I was ill. source source"

"It’s no accident that so many fabled rock ensembles have had two contrasting leaders (Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Plant and Page, Bono and The Edge) to play off each other and cross-pollinate and, at times, butt heads. But Chris Martin completely dominates Coldplay; there’s no yin to his smiley enraptured yang. He’s the rock-king superstar the other band members all worship, humbly, as the genius who made their fates possible, and almost every moment of the band’s creative energy is organized around what Chris is going to do next: the piano chords he’s playing around with, the lyrics he’s writing, his endless studio perfectionism. source"

"Jay Z: We are good friends, but what I got to say has nothing to do with our friendship. I have been in the industry long enough to know when I’m in the presence of a genius… and Chris Martin is just that. In years to come, Britain will look back at him as a modern day Shakespeare, he is an incredible recording artist, an incredible songwriter, but where he really comes alive is performing live. If you get the chance to see Coldplay live, do it, you ain’t gonna regret it. source"

"I can't remember a time when he (Chris) wasn't making music, he'd write songs about anything. Spaghetti. My gerbils. It didn't matter. Everybody believed in his talent and drive, but we were from a village in Devon and that sort of thing doesn't happen from places like that."

"Going through something difficult in your life, music for me is always a friend and something that helps you to figure things out. source"

"I've never hit anyone. I've tripped someone up, I got in trouble about that. He was chasing after somebody and I didn't like it, so we were running along together and he fell over. I wasn't put in a police cell, but I got fingerprinted. Police stations are terrifying. I'm petrified about losing any of the things I care about: family, band, hair, freedom. All I'll say is that they're fucking bastards - not the police, the paparazzi. source"

"Queen Latifah: So we start trying to get the room to bid on this thing. And we get it up to like €133,960.27 ($150,000) for this piano. So we pay this, and then I find out that the guy who I'm bidding with was Chris Martin from Coldplay. (...) He pays €89245.89 ($100,000) on the piano, I pay €44,653.42 ($50). He gives me the piano. He is the salt of the earth as far I'm concerned. source"

"Britain thought he could now go back to being just some English bloke and eating chips. It turns out this notion is utterly wrong, because when Martin walks into a room, I am rather startled to find that a stellar quality enters with him. His energy hits you from across the room: the intense stare, the piercing blue eyes, the feet that are usually barefoot nowadays."

"The thing I really believe deep down is that everybody has a gift for something. Our job as adults is to make sure all children have the opportunity to find their gift."

"It’s more egalitarian on the Internet, anyone can put anything up. But in terms of the money it takes to allow a band to get good, there’s less of it to invest. Music is split up now into little pockets. source"

"Bono: We were playing with (Every Breaking Wave) for the last album and Chris talked us out of it. He said, ‘That one deserves to be finished.’ The half-baked version would have denied us this, so we owe him for that… He's a genius and a very self-effacing guy. He's one of our bodyguards. source"

"Even though some of the things I do can come across nerdy or unprofessional, it's at least true to me. Now more than ever, pretending not to be myself would end even worse. source"

"Q: Do you think that the key in the new rock is going back to the electronic sound?"

"Q: Hey, isn't that how McCartney describes the Beatles?"

"Life is beautiful in all its colors, even the darker ones, they’re here for a reason."

"A great songwriter."

"We are very much a band and we always have been, and we are more than ever. In our personal lives and our professional lives, there’s this thing that links us where we would do anything for the others and its a very powerful feeling, to go have gone through everything we’ve been through with the same group of people. We knew each other when we had nothing. source"

"He (Jonny) just has a way of writing melodies that is perfect… I just love his playing so much. And in that song, we are always saying go and do a solo one day and he’s like, "I don’t do solo’s" and we sort of got him to do… And that’s his standing-on-a-mountain moment. That’s why being in a band is the best job in the world because your best friends bring in bits of music that you wouldn’t thought of and you piece it all together and you get Optimus Prime! source"

"Men should always change diapers, it’s a very rewarding experience. It’s mentally cleansing. It’s like washing dishes, but imagine if the dishes were your kids, so you really love the dishes. source"

"The reason why I wouldn’t commit suicide… well, the main reason now is ’cos I have a baby and I would never commit suicide because of her. But to me, committing suicide from a nihilistic point of view is pointless, because we’re all gonna die anyway, so why not just hang around and see what happens? D’you know what I mean? If something is inevitable, why board the plane early? source"

"Harry Styles: He's the nicest guy. And he doesn't make me feel nervous, but when you have so much respect for someone... it's difficult not to. source"

"I do an hour's yoga and go running every day. Then I see a picture of myself and I still look like a skinny, potbellied idiot - and I thought I had turned into this superhunk! source"

"One day in Haiti I was talking to a farmer. I said, 'I don't have any solution to these problems.' He said, 'Of course you don't! You're a singer.' He was right. Music is what I live for - and as Coldplay, our main job is to make the best music we can. But I hope that in our small way we can do something to raise awareness."

"There's too much information (on social media). Everything you do is available all the time, so the only thing you can rely on is not being false. source"