We’re Not Sure If This Cloud Nothings Cover Of Coldplay Is A Pisstake Or Total Genius

There was once a time when Coldplay were a highly-respected band. Early albums like Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head were fawned over by the press and launched mega-singles like ‘The Scientist’, ‘Yellow’ and ‘Fix You’ — which, between them, soundtracked basically every sad movie scene in the early 2000s.

But somewhere along the line (err, probably after Viva La Vida came out), the tide turned against Coldplay and the band soon reached near-Nickelback levels of mockery. They’ve become such a punchline that if you type the word ‘Why’ into Google, this happens:

Which means we weren’t exactly expecting American rock outfit and full-time cool dudes Cloud Nothings to come out with their own version of one of Coldplay’s biggest hits.

The Cleveland outfit recently covered the band’s 2002 single ‘Clocks’ for A.V Club’s Undercover series. Though describing their effort as a “cover” is a little generous — Cloud Nothings mostly just drown out the song with animal noises, out-of-tune synths, some wildly jarring rhythms and a Scatman John Eurodance sample.

You can barely even hear Chris Martin’s vocals beneath the chaos, and the YouTube comments range from bemusement to declarations that it’s “way better than the original”.

Is it a pisstake? Is it a stroke of genius? Decide for yourself: