Rockers Coldplay have been accused of approaching their music careers like "f***ing middle-class businessmen" who are only motivated by money.

The Yellow hitmakers have fallen victim to the scathing tongue of cult The Fall singer Mark E. Smith who recounts the time an American taxi driver overheard the band discussing business in the back of his cab - leading him to believe they were stockbrokers.


And charismatic Smith insists if singer Chris Martin and his bandmates were his children, he'd dress them in suits and send them off to get a "proper job", instead of releasing music to earn their millions.

He tells Britain's Jack magazine, "I got this taxi in America, and I always say I'm a building engineer if anybody asks, though I told this particular driver I was a sound engineer.

"And he said, 'How's business?' and I said, 'It's alright apart from musicians.' And he goes, 'It's funny you should say that because I picked up three guys the other day, three British guys like you, and they were going on about 25 per cent this and 25 per cent that and five per cent this and they looked pretty scruffy.'

"So he got them to where they were going and said, 'Have a good day, hope you have a good stockbroker meeting,' and they go, 'What's that? We're Coldplay!' And he goes to me, 'Have you heard of Coldplay?' I said, 'Yeah, they're big in Britain.' And he said, 'I thought they were f***ing three f***ing stockbrokers.' And I said, 'You're damn right.'
'Cos that's what they are, f***ing middle-class businessmen. 'Cos their moms and dads are all bank managers, money is all they're bothered about. If they were my children I'd say, 'Get a f***ing proper job. Do something useful. Be a scientist.


teenmusic.com