Sunday at 19:015 days 4 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:I certainly wouldn't call 'Turn Me On' forgotten, I still hear that around regularly and it feels very well-known.Likewise, although maybe it's just the radio stations/shop playlists that I'm exposed to. Heart and Kiss certainly play it all the time.Crazy In Love is brilliant, I had wondered what was going on with Beyoncé's solo career up to that point. For a few months it looked like Kelly Rowland was the unlikely solo star from Destiny's Child. But Crazy In Love has a riff/intro to make a solo career. A star turn from Beyoncé, a brilliant video and a strong rap from Jay-Z. It reminds me so much of my first job, which I was about three months into at this point, as the shop was playing it non-stop.One bone of contention for me is that the parent album Dangerously In Love was marooned at No.1 for weeks ahead of Delta Goodrem's Innocent Eyes, so that never got a turn at the top despite selling 900k, grrr.
Sunday at 20:035 days Author 1t.a.T.uScore: 10/1008/02/2003t.a.T.u.All The Things She Said1Chart run: {1}-1-1-1-3-5-13-19-26-28-33-34-43-56-66->15They began in a Russian children’s group Neposedy, which many Russian stars have been through including Sergey Lazarev who has represented Russia at Eurovision twice. Their 1st album in Russian had been a commercial success in Eastern Europe in 2001.This was from their 1st English album in 2002, which included many tracks that were reworked from their debut, including this one which was originally “Ya Soshla s Uma” or “I’ve Lost My Mind”. One of the writers, Elena Kiper, had based it on a dream about kissing another woman while at a dental surgery.Trevor Horn, one of the most famous producers, particularly of ‘80s music, was brought in to work on the English version of the track. It became a #1 in many countries and was the first American Top 20 hit by a Russian act.This was my favourite song of the year at the time and is still right up there. I’m a huge ABBA fan and for me much of the pop music produced this century doesn’t have the emotional depth from the songwriting, production or vocals that ABBA’s songs have. But I feel like this could easily have been an ABBA song - you can totally imagine Agnetha selling the part about being all mixed up, feeling cornered and rushed for example. The way the repeated rhythm works of a thought being stuck in your head, which Trevor Horn apparently only added to the track after the recording sessions had finished, is masterful. And that’s why it’s my #1 here.
Sunday at 20:135 days Author Thanks very much to all who have commented or followed my journey through 2003. I now pass the baton to @Popchartfreak who will be covering 2004 when he’s back from holiday.My full ranking:1 t.A.T.u - All The Things She Said2 Beyoncé featuring Jay Z - Crazy In Love3 Evanescence - Bring Me To Life4 Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground5 Tomcraft - Loneliness6 Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World7 Will Young - Leave Right Now8 Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul - Breathe9 Christina Aguilera - Beautiful10 Sugababes - Hole In The Head11 Kylie Minogue - Slow12 The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?13 Elton John - Are You Ready For Love14 R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix)15 Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheetham - Make Luv16 Busted - Crashed The Wedding17 Fatman Scoop featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be Faithful18 Gareth Gates and the Kumars - Spirit In The Sky19 Daniel Bedingfield- Never Gonna Leave Your Side20 Busted - You Said No21 Westlife - Mandy22 Ozzy Osbourne & Kelly Osbourne - Changes23 David Sneddon - Stop Living The LieMy Top 5 #2s:1 Dido - White Flag2 Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River3 Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage4 Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love5 Mis-Teeq - ScandalousMy Top 5 #3s:1 Junior Senior - Move Your Feet2 50 Cent - In Da Club3 Jamelia - Superstar4 Christina Aguilera - Fighter5 Richard x Vs Liberty X - Being Nobody
Sunday at 20:175 days Absolutely love it, and the follow-up too perhaps even moreso. I found it quite inspiring at the time as it was not long before I'd first came out to anybody. I found it somewhat less inspiring when I learned the whole thing was fake (and one of them a homophobe), but alas.
Sunday at 21:015 days Great No.1, I can't add anything about why it's so good beyond how you've summed it up already. All I'll say is that it was one of those songs that the second I heard it I thought 'this is a surefire No.1...'. And then when I saw the video/controversy around that I thought '...with huge sales to boot'.Not Gonna Get Us is up there with this, I agree, that deserved a far higher peak.I still can't believe that they only finished third in Eurovision that year off the back of two big hits and got zero from the UK (even 4 points from us and they'd have won). I've never been so sure of a country winning than I was of Russia winning that year, and then...they didn't. I'm sure that if All The Things She Said had been the entry they would have done though.Great thread, interesting facts, and a very fair looking rank @Julian_ , thanks for running this down and I look forward to 2004 soon.Here is my 2003 rank:All-time faves1 Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground2 Christina Aguilera - Beautiful3 t.A.T.u - All The Things She Said4 Evanescence - Bring Me To Life5 Tomcraft - Loneliness6 Kylie Minogue - Slow7 Will Young - Leave Right Now8 Beyoncé featuring Jay Z - Crazy In LoveGood9 Sugababes - Hole In The Head10 Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul - Breathe11 The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love?12 Busted - Crashed The Wedding13 Busted - You Said NoOk but don't care if I never hear them again14 Gareth Gates and the Kumars - Spirit In The Sky15 Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World16 R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix)17 Elton John - Are You Ready For Love18 Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheetham - Make Luv19 Fatman Scoop featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be FaithfulCrap20 Ozzy Osbourne & Kelly Osbourne - Changes21 Daniel Bedingfield- Never Gonna Leave Your Side22 David Sneddon - Stop Living The Lie23 Westlife - Mandy
Sunday at 21:025 days Great choice for number 1, it's another beautiful, dramatic moment in a year where there were a lot of them at the top! The video/marketing around it is very much a gimmick so maybe it came inadvertantly, but the song itself has aged very well. Crazy in Love is a classic too, quite insane that that was over twenty years ago and yet she's still arguably producing her most interesting work, not many artists can boast that xMy own top 10 for the year (I did a draft of this as I was considering ranking this year myself, I'm not personally counting runovers from previous years so no GA x)1. Evanescence – Bring Me to Life2. Michael Andrews feat. Gary Jules – Mad World3. Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love?4. t.A.T.u – All the Things She Said5. Beyonce feat. Jay-Z – Crazy in Love6. Sugababes – Hole in the Head7. Tomcraft - Loneliness8. Christina Aguilera – Beautiful9. Elton John – Are You Ready for Love10. Busted – Crashed the WeddingThanks for running, look forward to the next one x
Sunday at 21:125 days I completely forgot t.A.T.u did Eurovision that year as well! That felt like such an odd moment. A bit of a whimper considering for that brief time they felt like a pretty big act.
Sunday at 21:175 days It wasn't a bad song (clearly not as good as their big two singles - it appeared as the b-side here to Not Gonna Get Us) but the performance wasn't great, very breathless vocals and chaotic. Even so, I'd have expected the hype, recognition and fame to carry them to an easy win, and I expect Russia were banking on that too. I recall that in rehearsals they kept turning up late, insulting the other contestants etc, they weren't popular at all there.
Sunday at 23:165 days Fabulous 1 to top off. My rank 1 Bring Me To Life2 All The Things She Said3 Hole In The Head4 Where Is The Love?5 Beautiful 6 Leave Right Now7 Mad World8 You Said No9 Slow10 Sound Of The Undergound 11 Crazy In Love (though didn't care for this until 2008)12 Crashed The Wedding13 Are You Ready For Love 14 Loneliness 15 Breathe16 Spirit In The Sky17 Make Luv18 Changes19 Never Gonna Leave Your Side20 Ignition 21 Be Faithful 22 Stop Living The Lie23 Mandy
Monday at 01:035 days We have the same #1! I'm forever in awe of 'All The Things She Said', especially considering English isn't even the original language of the song, and yet this version is still a masterpiece. So many gems on the t.A.T.u. album, one of my favorites of the decade.
Monday at 03:395 days Great do put down @Julian_, loved following along.Will Young - Leave Right Now was the best discovery of this countdown for me. Hadn’t heard it before this thread and really enjoyed it.
Monday at 03:425 days Long forward to @Popchartfreak doing 2004. That year had some great #1’s but some absolute garbage ones as well.
Monday at 10:215 days Breathe was a great track, but my main memory (potentially faulty) is of it is not getting playlisted by Radio One except on chart shows and the like, truly bizarre, but commercial radio was a fan. I'm still not sure why it was ignored, maybe it was a snit over it getting to be big anyway without their help, and then hanging around taunting them.Leave Right Now did mark the moment Will became a serious artist and not a reality show spin-off striking lucky, it's classy. Mad World is a great dark version of an even better original classic which I was big on. It really hit home when I saw Donnie Darko, which had been and gone without anyone noticing but grew into a cult classic stuffed with 80's classics. Needs to be seen to really make this spinetingling.Tomcraft, this was during the priod when Music Week were giving away summer anthem compilation CD's before they had been released, so I got a freebie much-appreciated as Loneliness topped my charts as it took off. Banger. Bring Me To Life had a Goth Rock anthem vibe that appealed to me as a one-off, later Evanesvence tracks didnt have nearly the same impact on me.Crazy In Love was a huge seller for me, if not the actual charts! That Chi-Lites sample kicks off a masterclass in how to take something good and make it even better, a classic riff underpinning an exciting dance track, and the first time beyonce impressed as more than just a Destiny's Child spin-off. It's still perfect. Top 5 for me for sure of 2003.And that leaves tatu, one of my big tracks, a chart-topper and sounding hugely different from anything else around, exciting with that Trevor Horn production-magic. I dont love it quite as much as I did at the time, though to be honest I dont get to hear it on oldies play anywhere like near as often as Crazy In Love, but it's still up there. Pretty classy list here and 2004 will follow soon as I re-listen to the last 12 number ones of 2004. There have already been some suprises to me reviewing as I go....😮😎
Monday at 10:475 days 'Crazy In Love' is a strong choice of runner-up! It's packed with hooks and she really sells those infatuated lyrics with a confident, energetic performance. That brass sample is a genius back-drop too. The accompanying video is an early memory of the music channels for me and she looks like such a star in it. Beyoncé had properly arrived with this release.I think I was too young to appreciate the impact of 'All The Things She Said' at the time. Obviously the intentions of the video are questionable to look back on now for multiple reasons but the song stands up; I've grown to appreciate it more over the past few years. Trevor Horn nailed the production which truly gets to shine during that excellent instrumental break. The tension of the verses leading into that huge chorus is a rush. I like 'Not Gonna Get Us' even more, as a sucker for breakbeat, but overall a killer back-to-back from them.Thank you for putting this countdown together, Julian! Thoroughly enjoyed following it. <3
Monday at 16:465 days All The Things She Said is simply the best pop song of the 00s. I could listen to that instrumental breakdown for hours. 2003 was a great year for number 1s.
Monday at 16:515 days Wasn't able to enjoy All The Things She Said much as a song at the time because of all the controversy in the media about the video.It's a strong song production-wise. My favourite bit of the song is the keyboard riff bit - gives symphonic metal vibes like Nightwish or something. Edited Monday at 16:525 days by TheSnake
Monday at 17:464 days Do we have anybody else here who prefer "I Can't Break Down" over "All The Things She Said"? Edited Monday at 17:474 days by Last Dreamer
Monday at 18:384 days 26 minutes ago, Last Dreamer said:Do we have anybody else here who prefer "I Can't Break Down" over "All The Things She Said"?I actually really like 'I Can't Break Down' but no. Definitely over quite a few other number ones of the year though!(and still would've been nice to see her sneak one week at the top)
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