Coldplay: Yellow

18 April 2011

[V] rewind with Jane Gazzo

Hard to believe a one-shot video of Chris Martin walking along a beach in the pouring rain would become such a memorable and iconic clip for Coldplay, but it turns out the making of the video was a bittersweet accident for all involved. According to director James Frost, the shoot was a disaster. The original storyboard featured the entire band with loads of extras on a sunny beach. But when shooting began in the not-so-sunny seaside town of Dorset, South West England, it was absolutely pissing down with rain. After six hours of waiting around, the extras left the set and panic set in. Frost says he lost it and barked at Chris Martin that they had to do something before they headed home. Cue Chris in raincoat, embodying the appearance of a drowned rat caught in a storm, miming to what would become a major anthem for the band. It was a fluke in the end, but quite a happy fluke, especially when you consider other music videos around at the time from the likes of Ricky Martin, Britney, Kylie and Destiny’s Child all featured some kind of booty shaking, bangin’ or special effects of some sort. I was living in London when Coldplay released this single and I had a feeling they would become, to use Martin’s words, “Bon Jovi massive.” To me, the rain represents the meteroric storm Coldplay’s career would become after this release. This is Martin at his most anonymous and unaffected – a bittersweet accident indeed.