I feel like this is revisionist. To elder millennials and gen X, basically that entire generation of radio felt like it was formulated to pour salt in our post-grunge wounds, and Coldplay was a particularly visible example of that sanitized, focus grouped corporate influence.

The public hate definitely got worse in the later 2000's, but it was definitely still popular among middle/high schoolers to tell everyone they hated songs like Yellow and Fix You to show how "sophisticated" their tastes were. It was the same for any band that got too popular, but I remember that when Facebook opened up to people without .edu emails in 2006 I saw the Coldplay hate all over the place. One of the first online arguments I ever had was because someone said that the song The Scientist sucked, and I was really into it at the time. It's part of why I chose my username, along with my love of biology.

Viva LA Vida was the only album of theirs I ever liked.

I'm not saying they're the same band, mate.

"Hard Rock" means corporate Pearl Jam ripoff now.

I feel like people who don't have memories of the 90s miss this. Rock music in the late 80s and into the late 90s was in a Renaissance, and then Clearchannel killed Kurt Kobain, bought out the Chili Peppers and rammed a dozen Nickelback clones down our throats instead.

Its just an album by album thing. Most "Oldplay" fans, myself included, really liked Everyday Life which was their second latest release.

I might regret admitting this, but I like Nickelback and Imagine Dragons. Maybe it helps that I don't listen much to the radio anymore.

I also liked Smash Mouth until they played at that biker event during covid, the one after which cases exploded all over the US. Though in hindsight, it was probably inevitable that it would happen at some point anyways, so I don't feel as strongly about it now as I did back then because I still do like a lot of their songs, including All Star.

And I've come to realize that it's better to define your music tastes by what you like rather than what you hate. Having strong feelings of hatred just means you'll have a bad time if you randomly hear a song. I try to let me music tastes bottom out at mild disdain these days, like "I'd rather hear something else but it's no big deal."

Though some of the songs on Beat Saber are difficult to tolerate. I forget which collection it is, but one of them seems to have a theme of using unpleasant noises to make music. I don't enjoy it but also wonder if that's exactly how previous generations felt about some music I enjoy that they called noise. Out of curiosity, is there anyone who knows the songs I'm talking about that does enjoy listening to them?

I genuinely like Imagine Dragons. I know just one song by Nickelback and I like it a lot.