The best and worst of 2003's singles

[musiclover]

okay. I know this is just one critic's opinion. It's from USA Today. I guess if you come across other such line-ups for the year, just post here. How 'bout that? :-)

 

 

You can't beat 'Hey Ya'; you can't bear 'Señorita'

By Ken Barnes, USA TODAY

As usual, the list is restricted to songs that got significant radio airplay, or the best 10 would mostly be made up of obscure indies and imports. That's OK — USA TODAY's Ken Barnes found plenty to like (and dislike) among the hits.

 

1. Outkast, Hey Ya. What's cooler than cool? This record, so breezily brilliant it restores your faith in contemporary R&B, pop, rock, or all three. The Super Freak of the modern era.

 

2. Coldplay, Clocks. OK, it's Beautiful Day with piano, but it's a sumptuous spellbinder and an easy No. 1 in an Outkast-free world.

 

3. Baby Bash with Frankie J, Suga Suga. No mere Archies update, this "rap/sung collaboration" (as the Grammys put it) answers the musical question "How you get so fly?" The secret weapon is Frankie J's velvety vocal over a gorgeous acoustic-guitar riff. (Frankie's own early-Prince-like ballad I Don't Wanna Try nearly made this list as well.)

 

4. Brad Paisley, Celebrity. The wittiest country song of the year is also the catchiest.

 

5. R.E.M., Bad Day. Resembles It's the End of the World as We Know It, but Stipe and Co. are far from feeling fine, venting some spleen about the current administration.

 

6. Dido, White Flag. Hypnotic textures, and I love that line, "I won't poke my eyes out and surrender." Wait ... it's really "I won't put my hands up." That'll cost it a shot at the top 5.

 

7. AFI, Girl's Not Grey. Credit a skillful hair stylist. Seriously, burrowing up from the California goth underground, AFI rock one of the year's most infectious tunes.

 

8.Beyoncé, Crazy in Love. It's all about the horns (sampled from the 1970 Chi-Lites song Are You My Woman but used more effectively). Riff of the year.

 

9. Black Eyed Peas, Where Is the Love. Where R.E.M.'s message was restricted to marginal radio formats, the Peas earn points for putting their politics on pop stations, hitting No. 1 with a song that disses the CIA in the first verse.

 

10.Justin Timberlake, Rock Your Body. Any song underpinned by irresistible Chic licks will click in my picks, even with the Michael Jackson mannerisms and creepy "I'll have you nekkid by the end of this song" line.

 

And the worst:

 

1. Justin Timberlake, Señorita. Justin earns the rare distinction of a placement on both lists with this aimless, tuneless, seemingly endless plodder, lowlighted by a misbegotten falsetto that brings proceedings to a screeching halt.

 

2. Christina Aguilera, Beautiful. Partway through this sickly self-esteem sobfest, Christina defiantly declares, "I'm beautiful, no matter what they say/Words can't bring me down." Oh well, it was worth a try.

 

3. Darryl Worley, Have You Forgotten. Hard to forget a song that asserts that the Iraq war was a logical reaction to 9/11. Country jingoism at its most dangerously moronic.

 

4. The Darkness, I Believe in a Thing Called Love. The AC/DC riff is fine, but singer Justin Hawkins' falsetto is more fruity than a raspberry frappé, more fey than Tina, more ludicrous than Luda — well, you get the idea. The part where he shrills "Ooh, guitar!" is the year's most cringeworthy moment.

 

5.Britney Spears, Me Against the Music. Final score: Britney 1, the music 0.

 

6. Sean Paul, Get Busy. The kind of monotonous dancehall nursery rhyme cadence that makes my teeth grit and my critical objectivity split.

 

7.Chingy, Holidae In. I like Right Thurr, in which he sounds weirdly like Eminem, but this is the dullest sort of party-mouthed tedium. Checkout time is right now.

 

8. Barenaked Ladies, Another Postcard. I've always liked these wacky Canadians, but they pushed the limits of my tolerance with One Week and obliterated them with this unpleasant retread.

 

9. Uncle Kracker, Drift Away. What was tolerable sentimentality in Dobie Gray's 1973 original now becomes an exercise in narcoleptic nostalgia.

 

10.John Mayer, Bigger Than My Body. Something about that breathy, whispery vocal technique he and the even more irritating Jack Johnson have going works my last nerve.

[mycdplayerisbroke]

wow hey ya beat clocks

ridiculous

[BlissfullyMuse]

yer it is............but hey ya is a gud song but clocks is betta lol

 

omg why did they put I belive in a thing called love in the worst lol thats a class song that is...well over in Britain it is :lol:

[dionisio]

nahh hey ya is pure brilliance....its funkay! :cool:

[musiclover]

as i said, this is just one critic's opinion :cool:

 

i'm looking to find another such list. i'd heard it on a radio program just yesterday.

[mycdplayerisbroke]

hey ya is decent for outkast

but darkness is pretty horrible

no

absolutely horrible

so gay

[Rain]

2. Coldplay, Clocks. OK, it's Beautiful Day with piano, but it's a sumptuous spellbinder and an easy No. 1 in an Outkast-free world.

Outkast free world... when can I get plane tickets?

 

5. R.E.M., Bad Day. Resembles It's the End of the World as We Know It, but Stipe and Co. are far from feeling fine, venting some spleen about the current administration.

I love this song and it does sound a lot like ITEOTWAWKI

 

And the worst:

2. Christina Aguilera, Beautiful. Partway through this sickly self-esteem sobfest, Christina defiantly declares, "I'm beautiful, no matter what they say/Words can't bring me down." Oh well, it was worth a try.

*Ahem*

 

AHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

ok.

 

5.Britney Spears, Me Against the Music. Final score: Britney 1, the music 0.

 

6. Sean Paul, Get Busy. The kind of monotonous dancehall nursery rhyme cadence that makes my teeth grit and my critical objectivity split.

 

7.Chingy, Holidae In. I like Right Thurr, in which he sounds weirdly like Eminem, but this is the dullest sort of party-mouthed tedium. Checkout time is right now.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

ahhhh losers.

10.John Mayer, Bigger Than My Body. Something about that breathy, whispery vocal technique he and the even more irritating Jack Johnson have going works my last nerve.

I beg to differ, I like this song.

 

"Yes I'm grounded, got my wings clipped, I'm surrounded by all this pavement. :D

[rf_ucsd]

Interesting list, though it seems like it took that critic all of half of a day to make it. Maybe that was the point? I don't know, but it seems a little thrown together ...

 

... then again, it's USA Today.

[Rain]

then again, it's USA Today.

ooo burn

[rf_ucsd]

Each issue of USA Today act as kind of a survey of New and Money and Lifestyle and Sports (whateer the multi-colored's sections are) ... it's not meant to be indepth.

 

And that list reflects that.

[musiclover]

it surely is not Entertainment Weekly when it comes to reporting on music etc. but still, it's USA Today! :-)

[rf_ucsd]

it surely is not Entertainment Weekly when it comes to reporting on music etc. but still' date=' it's USA Today! :-)[/quote']

 

Not really sure what that means ... Spin magazine, Rolling Stone both have lists in their most recent issues. Those seem better sources.

[Rain]

It all depends on the opinion you want, of course in the end, your own opinion is not only the most trustworthy, but the most agreeable, for you anyways.

[rf_ucsd]

It all depends on the opinion you want' date=' of course in the end, your own opinion is not only the most trustworthy, but the most agreeable, for you anyways.[/quote']

 

I don't know about trustworthy. How many times in your life will you change your opinion? Tons. Opinions seem inherently untrustworthy. From a first-person point of view, the relative trust is highly varying ...

 

... but I know I don't trust my initial impressions very much.

[musiclover]

i agree with Rain :)

 

RF, perhaps you can add those other lists on here for the benefit of coldplayers. :cool:

[Rain]

... but I know I don't trust my initial impressions very much.

But you have to trust your current opinion otherwise you wouldn't have that opinion.

[rf_ucsd]

... but I know I don't trust my initial impressions very much.

But you have to trust your current opinion otherwise you wouldn't have that opinion.

 

True ... but what basis do you have for trusting your opinion?

[rf_ucsd]

From Rolling Stone:

 

Songs of the Year

1. Crazy in Love (Beyonce featuring Jay-z)

2. Hurt (Johnny Cash)

3. House of Jealous Lovers (The Rapture)

4. In Da Club (50 Cent)

5. All the Things She Said (T.A.T.U.)

6. Never Leave You (Uh-Oooh, Uh-Oooh) (Lumidee)

7. Danger! High Voltage (Electric Six)

8. Jessica (Adam Green)

9. Rock Your Body (Justin Timberlake)

10. Ignition - Remix (R. Kelly)

 

Hip-Hop Singles

1. In Da Club

2. Get Low (Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins)

3. Hey Ya! (OutKast)

4. Beware of the Boys (Jay-X Remix) (Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z)

5. Hey Mami (Fannypack)

 

Let me go get my Spin.

[Rain]

True ... but what basis do you have for trusting your opinion?

What basis do you have for trusting your five senses? Trust doesn't quite work because you have to trust your trust etc etc. But that's getting into philosophy. We really have no proof that any of us exist.

[rf_ucsd]

True ... but what basis do you have for trusting your opinion?

What basis do you have for trusting your five senses? Trust doesn't quite work because you have to trust your trust etc etc. But that's getting into philosophy. We really have no proof that any of us exist.

 

Sure we do. Descartes' arguments are pretty good in that area ... at worst mildly convincing.

[Rain]

Descartes' arguments are pretty good in that area ... at worst mildly convincing.

I wondered about that, I never heard his whole theory, but was he saying that things that cannot prove their own existence (ie. inanimate objects) can be proven existent by us? Then I suppose you would have to define existent as being able to interact with the world, we might not know if it is ultimately existing, we could still all be in our own little dreams, each of us in a different world of our own and not know it, but it would still be existing for us. I'm not good with words I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say. :/

[rf_ucsd]

I understand what you're trying to say.

 

I don't want to go much further because I'm four years removed from school and I will probably only confuse the issue. If you are interested, Descartes help derive existence through two mechanisms. The first is sometimes referred to as the Evil Genius problem. The second is his definition of a soul.

 

Underlying all this is Descartes's limited belief that human sense are just too fallable to trust. I guess that's how we got here.

 

OK ... I need to type up the Spin list. I never was big on metaphysics. Always seemed like a waste of time to me because, even if you assume we don't exist, it's not in your best interest to behave as if we don't exist. As such, the point can be argued to be moot.

[Rain]

even if you assume we don't exist, it's not in your best interest to behave as if we don't exist

Ya thats not quite fair :/ . We tried that in school saying that If we don't exist then we do we need to learn if ultimately what we learn can never be proven. I didn't work, we still had to do homework.

[rf_ucsd]

OK, here is Spin's top 20 of the year

 

1. In Da Club

2. Lose Yourself (Eminem)

3. Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)

4. Hey Ya

5. Ignition - Remix

6. Cry Me a River (Justin Timberlake)

7. Beware of the Boys (Panjabi MC)

8. No One Knows (Queens of the Stone Age)

9. Made You Look (Nas)

10. 12:51 (The Strokes)

11. I Luv U (Dizzee Rascal)

12. Take it Off (The Donnas)

13. No Letting Go (Wayne Wonder)

14. The Leaving Song Pt. II (AFI)

15. Pump It Up (Joe Budden)

16. Growing on Me (The Darkness)

17. Danger! High Voltage

18. Me and Guiliani Down by the Schoolyard (!!!)

19. Monstertruckdriver (T. Raumschmiere)

20. Crazy in Love

Just Because (Jane's Addiction)

[Rain]

The only one I at all like is 7 nation army and I don't even like it all that much :/ . Pretty soon if i wanna hear good music I'm goona have to make it myself.