 By June 2002 , the band had completed A Rush of Blood to the Head , but thought their output sounded " rubbish " and reached an agreement with the label to postpone the release of the album until they were completely satisfied . Subsequently , many songs were discarded because they sounded like they could have been on Parachutes . Martin has claimed that it would have been uninteresting : " It would have shown that we 're happy to sit back on what we 'd done , and we 're not . For us , it was important to progress and try to improve upon our abilities as musicians . " Such ambitions put the band under strain : " sometimes practice sessions ended abruptly with one or more members of Coldplay threatening to quit " . 
