 Coldplay started out as one of many earnest post-Britpop bands.In the late 1990s, the EPs released by the band had characteristics of dream pop, setting them apart from later studio albums.The tone of the band's first studio album "Parachutes", which saw them emerge as one of the most prominent modern bands in popular music, was described as melodic pop with "distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion" but also being "exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive".