Why Coldplay’s Chris Martin walked out of a BBC interview

What happened

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin walked out of a pre-recorded interview for the BBC’s Radio 4 arts show Front Row on Friday. When asked by the show’s host, John Wilson, if the band’s latest album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends reflected their obsession with death, Martin said, “I wouldn’t agree with you there at all, no. I’d say you’re journalistically twisting me into saying something I don’t really mean.” A few minutes later, Martin said he was “not really enjoying this,” before getting up and leaving the interview. (BBC)

What the commentators said

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“If the best way to measure the growth of a band is by the tantrums thrown by its frontman,” said Gina Serpe in E! Online, “then Coldplay just reached the next plateau of their career.” Martin already has a “list of topics that are off-limits to query him on,” including his wife Gwyneth Paltrow and their kids. But now he can’t even be asked about his music? “Viva la moodiness.”

This isn’t the first time Martin has done something like this, said the Mail Online. He “gave The Guardian similar treatment in the run-up to the record’s release.” Martin is “notoriously highly-strung,” but “it’s tough at the top.” And his “reluctance to talk could have something to do with the amount of backlash the band have been receiving. A rock critic recently declared Coldplay as the worst thing” that’s ever happened “to rock music.”

Well, it doesn’t look like Martin’s interview walk-out is going to hurt the band’s record sales, said Rupert Neate in the Telegraph. “Viva La Vida looks certain to be number one in Sunday’s album chart, after it sold 125,000 on Thursday, its first day on sale.” And record store chain “HMV said they expect the title to exceed the 250,000 mark in just three days, making it the fastest selling album of the year.”