降落伞 (2000)

Parachutes is the debut studio album by the British rock band Coldplay. It was released on 10 July 2000 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and on 7 November 2000 by Nettwerk in the United States. Ken Nelson and the band co-produced all songs except "High Speed", which was produced by Chris Allison alone. Parachutes spawned four singles: "Shiver", "Yellow", "Trouble" and "Don't Panic", the latter being limited to Europe. "Sparks" gained additional notability in the 2020s after going viral on video platform TikTok. In support of the album, Coldplay embarked on the Parachutes Tour (2000–2001).

The album was a commercial success and was met with positive reviews from critics. Upon release, it quickly reached number one in the United Kingdom and has since been certified 9× Platinum. In the United States, the album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200 and eventually was certified double platinum. It won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2002, the British Album of the Year award at the 2001 Brit Awards, and many other accolades. Parachutes is also the 22nd-best-selling album of the 21st century in the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has sold over 13 million copies around the world.

Recording and production

The band began production on Parachutes in late 1999, after producing and releasing The Blue Room EP with British record producer Chris Allison. Allison was asked to assist with production, and the band's musical direction, which was desired by both the band and the A&R department. Production started with the track "High Speed", which was part of the EP and was later re-released as a part of Parachutes. Allison describes "High Speed" as thus: "You'll notice it is quite a bit different to the other tracks, because there are other sounds going on in it: we wanted to mix a soundscape in with the classic rock sound on that particular track. I thought 'High Speed' was a really good marriage between the classic rock sound and the new sound that was developing out of it, something that was more atmospheric". Seven tracks in all were recorded during the sessions at Orinoco studios in London, with three of them ending up on The Blue Room EP.

The band then took a lengthy break to compose more tracks for Parachutes. A few months later, it was arranged that Allison and the band meet at a rehearsal room to finally begin production on the band's debut album. "They started up playing in the rehearsal room and they really weren't together at all. And I was very honest with them, I just sort of said 'Look, this simply isn't good enough'". Allison adds, "The interesting, the most significant thing that did occur out of the fact that we didn't end up starting the album on that day of the rehearsal was that Chris Martin had not written "Yellow" by that time".

A couple of months later, British record producer Ken Nelson was chosen, producing all but one song on Parachutes. He was introduced to Coldplay by his manager Pete Byrne (who gave him a copy of the band's Fierce Panda-distributed debut single in 1999). Nelson has claimed that, as soon as he heard vocalist Chris Martin's voice on the song "Bigger Stronger", he "realised that he was something special". Nelson was offered the job while Coldplay were performing in Liverpool with English indie rock band Gomez (whose debut album, Bring It On, was what he had produced at the time).