London, Jan 23 : Music industry is full of ex-bosses who have turned down the biggest of bands during their budding stage, and one such bigwig is Alex James from `Blur', who declined Coldplay thinking it was "ordinary."

James has revealed that he failed to sign Coldplay when he had a record label for a short time in the late Nineties.

"I went to see Coldplay with Damien Hirst and Joe Strummer - my fellow record company executives - and we all thought they were ordinary and passed on them," The Sun quoted him as saying.

He added: "I think everyone did, except Parlophone, just like happened with The Beatles - and Blur.

"Then again, I still think Coldplay are a fairly ordinary band, although the singer is good. It's quite hard to make a succinct three-and-a-half-minute pop song.

"The trick, almost no one in town can do, is to write really good words to simple melodies."

Had he signed Coldplay, Alex would now be basking in the glory of being a member of one of the country's best Britpop bands and finding their replacement. (ANI)