Chris Martin thinks Coldplay are the Manchester United soccer team of music because they heavily criticised even though they are hugely successful.

Chris - who is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow - insisted he is no longer bothered by the band's critics and chooses to focus on the positive.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: ''You can very easily become infected by the minority negative opinion.

''I was talking to my dad about Manchester United -- the most popular football team in the world -- and when they show up at West Ham they get booed. I was thinking, 'Well, it's the same for us'.''

Chris said crowds singing their tracks such as 'Paradise' put the negative aspects in perspective.

He said: ''When everybody is singing 'Paradise' at the moment it makes me feel so alive and happy. There comes a point where you just accept that whatever you do, someone will like or hate it, so it's extremely liberating.

''We are incredibly blessed that we are -- 12 years in -- allowed to make whatever we want to make. That's extraordinary. Even in the film world you can't do that. Only a few people can do that.''

Chris joked: ''Basically, we set out with two goals: To either make it big In America or sleep with the sisters from The Corrs.''

He added: ''I'm always looking at Kanye West and he's moving so fast, doing such amazing work that I want to keep chasing him for a while. I don't want to give up just yet.''