Chris Martin: "World War II could have been prevented had Hitler listened to Bob Marley"

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

CHRIS MARTIN believes the World War II could have been prevented if ADOLF HITLER had listened to BOB MARLEY whilst smoking marijuana.

The COLDPLAY frontman rates music's power on the listener so highly - he wonders if key moments in history could have had a different outcome if those influential figures had listened to certain tunes.

Martin, 28, says, "Actually, to be fair, I was wondering whether certain people would change if they heard certain songs.

"Would it be really possible to start Nazi Germany if you'd just been listening to Bob Marley's EXODUS back-to-back for the past three weeks and getting stoned? Would the idea of the Holocaust seem so appealing?

"I know this sounds so trite, but I mean it seriously, because music is something that every human responds to.

"That's a reason why people who've had bad relationships with their parents listen to angry stuff."

He adds, "It would be interesting to see how the world would be different if DICK CHENEY (US Vice President) really listened to RADIOHEAD's OK COMPUTER.

"I think the world would probably improve. That album is f***ing brilliant. It changed my life, so why wouldn't it change his?"

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/martin%20music%20could%20have%20prevented%20world%20war%20ii

....

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

oh dear.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Where's that thread we have around today about consensus music? I think it's relevant here somehow.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

I think listening to Coldplay causes people to kill.

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Indeed, what if Hitler sat down by the river side and remembered Zion?

― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

jesus christ what a tosser

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

listen, chris martin, i frequently defend you! don't make me have to change that!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

i doubt rastas like jews all that much. they already hate teh gays.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

This morning I woke up in a curfew;
O God, I was a prisoner, too - yeah!
Could not recognize the faces standing over me;
They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

The necessity of having to separate out the love of music with any enjoyment of a musician as a person is now dawning for many people. Good thing too!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

This is hilariously mean.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

On the other hand, I can't imagine the Nazi's doing much of anything if they were sitting around getting stoned. If they had of rounded up the Jews then it might just have been to steal their snacks.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

I was convinced this was a joke thread.

I haven't felt that mixture of extreme nausea and extreme laughter for a long time.

It would be interesting to see how the world would be different if DICK CHENEY (US Vice President) really listened to RADIOHEAD's OK COMPUTER.

what, you want to make it all WORSE?!

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

Xpost!:

Actually, since the scenario in the headline couldn't have happened, THIS is the mindfuck:

It would be interesting to see how the world would be different if DICK CHENEY (US Vice President) really listened to RADIOHEAD's OK COMPUTER.

Ya doof.

(I do like the hilarious confirmation of rockism on his part. 'THE LYRICS HAVE TO MEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN SOMETHING, MAN!')

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

"IF Kurt Cobain had played football, he wouldn't have killed himself"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

in fairness to coldplay - and wow, that's a difficult thing to type - all the quotes above are from an enormous interview in the guardian weekend magazine (can't be arsed posting a link, but i'm sure you can work out where to look) and in the context of his mildly infectious enthusiasm, they're not quite so clangingly bell-endish.

not quite.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

Mark Chapman only didn't like the Beatles because he'd never heard them.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

"Some annoying anthemic music could have been prevented if Chris Martin had never been born."

― PB, Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

Yeah if only Mark Chapman had. . . haha wait.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

Franz Ferdinand would've never formed had Franz Ferdinand never been killed.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

I for one welcome this new trend of Chris Martin saying totally batshit things instead of just being incredibly dull.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

n/a OTM. Am I the only person whose heart does a little backflip when celebrities start telling us what they REALLY think?

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

btw, that is not an endorsement of the newsmedia giving a shit about what celebrities REALLY think.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

I like the phrasing -- "..if those influential figures had listened to certain tunes" as if Hitler would have been able to listen to Bob Marley. Chris Martin has a time machine, apparently.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

...and yet somehow Bono's the douche????

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

I think Bono would claim that he in fact GAVE Cheney a copy of OK Computer when he visited Bush.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

dude, he'd give him the U2 Ipod.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

TS: douche vs enema

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

"It's got everything you need, man, it's all here. Give it a listen, you'll find yourself thinking about it."

*gruffly* "Thanks, Bono."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

"That's great, Boner. Smile for the cameras."

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

I wonder how different the Bush administration would be if Bush spent over a decade snorting coke and listening to the Eagles.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha, pop stars rule.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

I wonder how different the Bush administration would be if Bush spent over a decade snorting coke and listening to the Eagles.
-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), May 31st, 2005.

MOST OTM POST EVAH!!!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

He'd turn into Mike Love = no quantitative difference.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

I hereby dub Ned Raggett "Drollmaster 5000".

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

Would the Holocaust have been a rousing success if Hitler had been forced to listen to _To the 5 Boroughs_ over and over again?

― Eppy (Eppy), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

If only Chris Martin had smoked pot and listened to Exodus, maybe his band would sound more like UB40.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

"Surely if Mussolini had listened to Culture Club's 'The War Song' he would not have been so eager to drag the Italian people into Hitler's unstoned embrace."

"Surely if Stalin had listened to the Bay City Rollers' "Give A Little Love", the Gulags would never have happened."

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

I wonder how different the Bush administration would be if Bush spent over a decade snorting coke and listening to the Eagles.
-- miccio (anthonyisrigh...), May 31st, 2005.

He'd turn into Mike Love = no quantitative difference.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), May 31st, 2005

Well yes, but isn't this circular? I mean, I thought the point was that Bush did, in actual fact, spend a decade snorting coke and listening to the Eagles.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Precisely.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

I'm at a loss for words. Who will win the race to find a Bono quote actually more boneheaded than this one? See, Coldplay *are* the new U2, because 21st century U2 lacks the sheer naivety to say something this daft. They just can't compete!

And indeed, this is the perfect excuse to invoke the English slang "daft."

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

Hitler would only have been further motivated towards anti-semitism:

"Oh the pirate's just a rabbi ..."

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

wait wait wait - you mean this isn't some internet joke? Chris Martin actually said these things?

classic for being an unashamedly ignorant/romantic wanker in public.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

*IF* this is real, this has to be CM just being silly, and he was quoted out of context...

(please, just so my brain can be at ease.. no one this famous can't say anything like this as a serious proclamation without being batshit insane and/or brainless)

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

I do like the idea of Bob Marley existing in the late 30s and 40s though...

Also, I don't see how Hitler being stoned would have changed things. I support legalization of ganja and all that, but ganja doesn't automatically make evil people non-evil people.

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

I seem to remember there were a few serious drug users in the Nazi Party.

I think Gwynedd is putting him up to this shit.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

If only Chris had Crazy Frog to listen to when growing up, the world might be a very different place now...

― Leon Federline (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

*IF* this is real, this has to be CM just being silly, and he was quoted out of context...

sort-of. here's the guardian interview i mentioned upthread. the quote is right at the start. like i said: it's not quite as awful in the context of the piece.

not quite.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

Also, I don't see how Hitler being stoned would have changed things. I support legalization of ganja and all that, but ganja doesn't automatically make evil people non-evil people.

It might make them less effective at being evil though.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

Also, I don't see how Hitler being stoned would have changed things. I support legalization of ganja and all that, but ganja doesn't automatically make evil people non-evil people.
Well...if he was doing ganja (instead of speed) he would still be evil, and he would still be talking a bunch of anti-semetic/power-mad/insane rubbish...he just would be less likely to *DO* anything about it.

Which is more dangerous?
A) Adolph standing behind a podium, juiced to the eyeballs, screaming about death camps and world conquest in front of thousands of devoted minions, ready to follow his every whim.

B) Adolph sitting on his couch, half into a trance state, mumbling about death camps and world conquest in front of two or three bored stoners, waiting for him to quit bogarting the spliff.

xpost

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

Well, here's the real quote, and it does change things...

Then, as he often does, he changes his mind. "Actually, to be fair, I was wondering whether certain people's policies would change if they heard certain songs," he says, in his slightly sinusy, barely West Country-accented voice. "Would it really be possible to start Nazi Germany if you'd just been listening to Bob Marley's Exodus back-to-back for the past three weeks and getting stoned? Would the idea of the Holocaust seem so appealing? I know this sounds really trite, but I mean it seriously, because music is something that every human responds to. There's a reason why people who've had bad relationships with their parents listen to angry stuff."

OK, so at least in this context, Martin knows that it would not have been possible for Hitler to have literally listened to Marley, for fairly obvious reasons. Good. Martin is not batshit insane.

Still. Concept of histories being disjunct... not... present...

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

And I disagree with the notion that a stoned Hitler wouldn't be able to do anything. Different drugs affect different people. I've known many stoners all my life. Most of them actually were more effective when stoned... you know, in that "you should take a test stoned, if you study for it stoned" kinda way. Marijuana doesn't just universally make people not take action.

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

staggering.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

...work of heartbreaking idiocy

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

Either way, it's Chris Martin saying incredibly stupid shit. If a fraction of the frat boys who do actively listen to Bob Marley's Exodus actually practiced what Marley wanted them to practice, people wouldn't have as many problems with frat boys, period. (though I stress "as many")

And given the lyrics to the title track:

Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move!

Jah come to break downpression,
Rule equality,
Wipe away transgression,
Set the captives free.

Exodus, all right, all right!
Movement of Jah people! Oh, yeah!
Exodus: movement of Jah people! Oh, now, now, now, now!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!

Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Move! Uh-uh-uh-uh!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)! Movement of Jah people!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Move(ment of Jah people)!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!
Movement of Jah people!

..I mean, allowing Hitler to define "equality", "Move!", "transgression", and "setting the captives free", this song -- and perhaps this album -- may not have been the best example for Chris Martin to use in his lil' quote, eh?

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

Speedy McSpeedfreaks don't usually listen to Marley anyway

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

i wonder if, when people become really famous, all those dumb thoughts that they were wise to self-censor when they were less famous, they suddenly feel emboldened to say aloud?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

i don't know what bothers me more: martin's stupidity, or the revival of the "bob marley: savior of the third world" meme.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Dude, what if, like, Hitler had listened to, you know, Neutral Milk Hotel for three weeks? His mind would have been too blown to do the shit he did.

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

i don't know what bothers me more: martin's stupidity, or the revival of the "bob marley: savior of the third world" meme

It's the joyous combination of those things that makes his comments so special.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

Looking at the lyrics to "Exodus", I would have thought it was a Laibach song had it not been for the lyrical mantra of "Jah" all over it.

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

(fine fine, music aside)

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

Treading carefully here, but Rastafarianism has its own kooky outlook on racial purity and blood and soil.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:36 (twenty years ago)

The lyrics in "Exodus" don't make that much sense either. After all, Marley's most political albums were "Rastaman Vibration" and "Survival". However, I guess Hitler read his share of Marx without turning into a Marxist, so.....

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

Hitler was a notoriously lazy reader. I doubt if he'd've got through Das Kapital, especially if he was stoned.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

World War II could have been prevented had Hitler (through the magic of time travel of course) listened to any Skrewdriver after the first album.

"Ach! Such awful myoossic! My plan will fail!"

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

In the meantime, Martin wants to buy me some sunglasses, to make up for getting my name wrong earlier. ("Have I offended you? Does the backlash start now?")
This cracks me up.

― Ian Riese-Moraine's exploding hamster zeppelin! (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 23:04 (twenty years ago)

why sunglasses and not, like, a piece of cheesecake?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 23:08 (twenty years ago)

"and dude, toke on this groovy thought. what if, like... what if Bob Marley, right, instead of becoming a rasta, became a neo-nazi..."

― Amon (eman), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 23:10 (twenty years ago)

"i mean, a lot of shitty reggae could've been prevented. and we'd have some righteous jams in their stead like "Übermensch Vibration" and "Get Up Goose-Step" and "I Shot The Subhuman."

― Amon (eman), Tuesday, 31 May 2005 23:16 (twenty years ago)

chris martin is right in line to take bono's place as that guy in rock

― Mickey (modestmickey), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

T/S Chris Martin: Dumb as a box of hammers, or dumb as a bag of wet mice.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

Maybe Martin would write a good song if he sat around getting stoned and listened to Bob Marley for a few weeks.

― Anthony Lombardi (CCPO), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

What would In My Place sound like without Chris Martin ever hearing Dreams Burn Down?

― Cunga (Cunga), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 02:10 (twenty years ago)

interestingly, one could argue that Rasta is, from one point of view, anti-Semetic, since it has a tendency to regard Jews as imposters...

― shookout (shookout), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

http://www.fgwallpaper.com/images/fauxfinishes/ff-06-yellow-800.jpg

You were all yellow.

― rimshot, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

Chris Martin HAD to have been stoned during this interview.

"Dude...what if, like...Charles Manson listened to Abbey Road instead of The White Album?"

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

What would Hitler have thought about Krautrock?

― Cunga (Cunga), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 04:38 (twenty years ago)

"hippie shit"

― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

of course, none of you staggeringly clever cunts ever say something a bit dumb in a pub conversation. and if you did, it wouldn't get printed in a newspaper, because you are not famous rock stars.

i don't think i've ever come across such a catalogue of unjustified self-satisfied smartarsery as i just read in this thread.

much as i hate coldplay's music, in the guardian article i thought he came across as largely ok for one of his ilk

― major major, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

I think it's very brave of you to come out here and say this too. Well done!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 10:55 (twenty years ago)

quick someone pass major major the doobie!

(it's so silly when people get riled up over these threads. stupid comments are going to get ripped apart on messageboards, no matter who says it. welcome to the internet, enjoy your stay)

― Amon (eman), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 11:05 (twenty years ago)

it's ok i've had my lunch now, you are all beautiful

― major major, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

This is stupy stupes. Adolf Hitler lived from 1889-1945. Bob Marley lived from 1945-1981. Therefore, unless Bob Marley is the reincarnation of Hilter, it would have been impossible for Hilter to listen to any Bob Marley, except for waa-waa or something infantile, over the phone in Jamaicaland.

As melodically gifted as Coldplay are, do not you think they should have spent more time at school learning their maths, and less time smelly their armpits, no?

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

if hitler had *watched* 'exodus'... that's too heavy to think about.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

I think we're in danger of missing the real question here, which must surely be: what would Bob Marley have needed to listen to in order to prevent Chris Martin?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Don't be impositive. Exodus was not make until 1960, a full 15 years after Hilter turned to do-it-yourself barbecue.

― Comstock Carabinieri (nostudium), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:12 (twenty years ago)

much as i hate coldplay's music, in the guardian article i thought he came across as largely ok for one of his ilk

hmm. the stuff about flying everywhere by chartered jet just so he can spend more time with his daughter made me want to rip out his fucking throat. he's a twat.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

and his band are shit.

although that first song on the last album was OK.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

He is also the son of a Tory MP.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 12:16 (twenty years ago)

He is also the song of a Tory MP.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 13:57 (twenty years ago)

If Hitler could see the inbred neo-Nazis continuing to stake a claim for being the "master race," he'd have gone back to art school.

― mike a, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.