Let's Look At All Of The UK Number Ones From 2003!

[Berober]

I have no idea why I'm doing this.

2003 was a funny time for music as a format. Official chart sales were dropping rapidly, cassette tapes were on their last legs and digital downloads were starting to become "a thing". In addition, pop music was starting to see a new trend invade it's stronghold on the charts as R&B and Hip-Hop became much more mainstream than before. And since it's almost the end of 2013, let's look back 10 years ago and remind ourselves why we're glad we moved on from things like this:

I'm going to go through every UK Number One of 2003, of which there are 22 of them, at about 2 at a time giving my opinions on them and wondering how they would fare if this song was released today. If there is anything interesting about the song, or of a song it beat to the top, I'll let you know.

Girls Aloud - Sound of the Underground
22 December 2002 - 19 January 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Wv4SCBiTE

Here we have the first of two talent show songs. Girls Aloud won Season 2 of Popstars: The Rivals (the gimmick being that there would be a girl and boyband created by the end of it and the two bands battled over who would take the Christmas Number One for 2002), which would serve to be it's last season before Pop Idol, and eventually X Factor took over as the première singing talent show show.

"Fun" Fact: Throughout the video, the production team could never quite decide if Girls Aloud would be fighting their boyband counterparts in a pentagon or a hexagon.

Opinion: It's fun, and upbeatish. It sounds a lot less airy than future talent show winner singles, although that my be because they were trying to have the video be 'undergroundy' to match the title. I have no major issues with this.

Could You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Yes!

How Would It Fare Today?: Pretty well I think. The song is a step below outright pop, and there's some form of twangy bass, so it'd sit somewhere near Daft Punk, Robin Thicke and Avicii in the twang department. Without the lead-in from Popstars, I doubt this would make #1, but it wouldn't do badly.

David Sneddon - Stop Living The Lie
19 January 2003 - 2 February 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKmLTAL5GAw

The other talent show winner! Before The Voice and X Factor (and American Idol if we want to take the American counterparts here) we had the, admittedly lopsided, rivalry between ITV's Popstars and BBC's Fame Academy. David Sneddon was the winner of the first season, and his (self-written, a rarity for talent show contestants) single made it to number one for two weeks.

"Fun" Fact: Fame Academy was also partly a reality show, and if you had freeview, you could watch all the contestants bonding in the Big BrotherFame Academy house.

Opinion: Meh. I appreciate that he wrote the song himself, and is still the only talent show contestant to make #1 with a self-written song, but it's slow and there are so many better songs that use acoustic guitar and piano to sound sombre and meaningful. It's not bad, but it's not noteworthy.

Could You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Yes!

How Would It Fare Today?: If Girls Aloud needed Popstars to make a number one song from a decently charting song, this song uses Fame Academy to make a number one song out a non-runner. For a slow song to make it into the charts in 2013, it needs to be folky like Ho Hey. This wouldn't cut it.

Next Time!

Songs for the Christinas and Christians!

[Chris2K]

This is right around the time I was listening to the radio at every free moment I had, so this should be a blast and I'm sure iTunes might be getting some purchases after I see some of them. Already love the first two.

[METALMAN]

Those were two quite good songs. Girls Aloud would obviously go on to do a lot better, but that was a decent start. I never thought it was anywhere near as good as a lot of people say it is. It seems to have become regarded as the unsurpassable benchmark for talent show singles, when in reality that should belong to Swagger Jagger.

David Sneddon is one of Kilmarnock's greatest ever managers, so good for him. The song was okay. A little bit dull.

[Colly]

I think the positive thing is that at least you've picked a sensible time period. Late 90's pop was frankly hateful, at least theres some vague effort made in the 21st century.

[Walker]

One True Voice 4 Life

[Berober]

Christina Aguilera - Beautiful

2 March 2003 - 16 March 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAfyFTzZDMM

Ah yes, Christina Aguilera. Having been around since 1999 in the UK, Christina reached number one for the fourth time with Beautiful. If being on The Mickey Mouse Club makes you a TV star, this is the third artist in a row to originate on a TV show. Huh.

'Fun' Fact: The original songwriter for this, Linda Perry, wanted to give the song to Pink. However, Aguilera sang it better at a house party, and Perry gave it to her, resulting in Pink stating that she was annoyed Perry gave the song to someone she didn't like.

Opinion: It's a good song. It's one of the benchmarks for empowerment songs, and probably quite deserved in my opinion. Otherwise, it's sang well and I can see why it'd be better on her than on Pink. Pink would probably tried too hard and it's come off a bit shouty.

Can You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Nope.

How Would It Fare Today?: Good. Empowerment songs never go out of style (see: Firework, Same Love), and this is a top notch one. I think this is probably the first song on the list that could make a run at being number one today.

Gareth Gates & The Kumars - Spirit In The Sky

16 March 2003 - 30 March 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDgs7ERjC7A

Does this make it 4 TV stars in a row? Does having two different TV shows represented here count as five? Gareth Gates was the runner up in the first series of Pop Idol, having arguably as good of a music career as most talent show winners in the UK, with four number ones and three more songs in the top five. The Kumars, on the other hand, are from a British TV show called (unsurprisigly) 'The Kumars at No. 42' and together they teamed up for the traditional Comic Relief single, a cover of Spirit In The Sky.

"Fun" Fact: Gareth Gates became the third person to reach number one with this song, but was the only one to not be a one-hit-wonder (see above).

Opinion: I felt like this was a weird choice of song, no matter how much you try to joke about it, The Kumars are involved with a christian song. But the song is light, and I always liked Gareth and thought he should have won Pop Idol so I'm fine with it.

Could You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Nope. And I seriously wonder why, considering it was a Comic Relief single.

How Would It Fare Today?: I'm not sure. The song got a massive bump from being part of Comic Relief, but without it, it might not do as well. Of course, considering The Kumars are coming back in January, you never know if the song could get a promotional bump from them today.

Next Time!

Before you have a Supergroup, you need a Group.

[=BK=]

Oh my god, I hate you. That damn Fast Food song is in my head now and won't fucking stop.

[Berober]

Oh my god, I hate you. That damn Fast Food song is in my head now and won't fucking stop.

Then my work here is complete.

[=BK=]

Currently trying to drown it out with "Stacy's Mom" this may or may not work.

[Chris2K]

Beautiful is such a fantastic song, it certainly would have been interesting if Pink had sung it instead, personally I think Aguilera would probably still be the better choice.

I always liked the Kumars at No. 42 as a show, but Spirit In The Sky isn't a song I like that much. Nothing against Gates, just found the original song a bit bland as well.

[METALMAN]

I hate Beautiful. It's bland. I don't particularly like either of Christina Aguilera or Pink, but I guess they gave it to the better person.

That Gareth Gates one was okay for what it was. He seemed like a nice lad. So quite naturally, 12 year-old me hated him.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

Currently trying to drown it out with "Stacy's Mom" this may or may not work.

I remember seeing somewhere that "Champagne Supernova" always gets rid of earworms. It's usually worked for me, but sometimes a bit too well.

[Berober]

Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheatham - Make Luv

30 March 2003 - 27 April 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcHs2f2TSxI

Junior Jack, aka. Wamblee, aka. Nu Rican Kidz, aka. Room 5 went to number one for 4 weeks with Make Luv, which was produced with Oliver Cheatham, who sang the original song that Make Luv remixed.

"Fun" Fact: The original Oliver Cheatham song was remixed also by Daft Punk for their song Voyager and Michael Gray song "The Weekend".

Opinion: I really like this song. It's simple and upbeat, and not much else than that. But whatever, I can like nothingy songs, I'm not a music critic.

Can You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Nope.

How Would This Song Fare Today?: I brought up Daft Punk before, to explain their link to the song directly, but also so I could bridge into this point. If Make Luv had been released instead of Get Lucky, how much would have changed. I don't think much, I think this could still have been number one today.

Busted - You Said No

27 April 2003 - 4 May 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jQBYCZSjbk

It's Busted! Those puckish rogues made it to number one for the first (and not the last) time with You Said No. A song about a girl who didn't want to go to the disco. But they're so puckish! And roguelike! But not in the way that means notoriously difficult video games!

"Fun" Fact: By getting a number one here, Busted became the only artist on the charts to have their first three songs chart in the top three positions, in ascending order (#3: What I Go To School For, #2: Year 3000, #1: You Said No)

Opinion: It's fine as a song goes, but something about the way they claim "ask your sister what you're missing" just rubs my the wrong way. Take out that line, and I probably like it a lot more. Although nothing will top Year 3000. Give my one listen-though of the song and I'll know all the words to it by memory once again. Oh well, we'll be seeing these guys again later.

Can You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: You Can!

How Would This Song Fare Today?: Not great. There isn't a market today like there was for the 'loser' guys in school. Instead, everyone is being told how great they are with a strong empowerment song, rather than singing about how High School sucked. It's a different landscape for teenage artists compared to 10 years ago, probably because the Jason Biggs/American Pie/School Loser trend was starting to fade.

Next Time!

One's about to have some fun, one isn't (except they are)

[Chris2K]

I like Busted but You Said No isn't one of my favourites, as you say Year 3000 is hard to beat (although 3am is right up there). Never been a fan of repetitive club music so Make Luv doesn't float my boat.

[Berober]

GA pointed out to me that I missed a song which should have been posted before Christina Aguilera, so I'll remedy that here:

t.A.T.u - All The Things She Said

2 February 2003 - 2 March 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGBaXPlri8

So yeah, t.A.T.u were left out of this unfortunately, spending 4 weeks as number one with All The Things She Said. The song features two women wiping their lips across one another because that is a thing lesbians do in front of a crowd.

"Fun" Fact: After this song, they announced a UK tour, because that is what you do when you have a number one, but had to cancel due to low sales. Parents had been put off taking their children to see them because of the music video.

Opinion: It's not great. I kept getting distracted by the women perplexingly just smudging their faces together. Also, Google Chrome doesn't have the word perplexingly in it's dictionary. Perplexing. Still more interesting than this song, so here's GA's thoughts: "Pretending to be lesbians got you 4 weeks on top of the charts ten years ago. Life was so simple back then." Thanks GA!

Could You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: You Could! Also Downloadable!

How Would This Song Fare Today?: By intent of the video, this song would chart. That's how it can be with some songs, that the video is the more talked about thing. But I don't think the song is going to top the charts, it has a firmly 2003 beat and isn't that great.

[METALMAN]

That Busted song is better than I remember/ It has quite a poppy production. It's almost like One Direction.

Make Luv is alright.

I actually thought All The Things She Said was really good at the time. Listening to it now, I actually think it holds up. Best song so far.

[Rafael]

'All The Things She Said' was the first music video I remember watching. It looked so weird to 6-year-old Rafa seeing two girls kissing.

At 1:13, isn't that the girl from The Walking Dead?

Edited December 8, 2013 by RafaelFms

[Chris2K]

I always liked All The Things She Said, in fact I think it's still on my iPod now. I never really understood why Victoria used it for her theme in the WWE but it added to my reasons to like it. I don't think I even watched the video until about two years after it was released,

[Berober]

Tomcraft - Loneliness

4 May 2003 - 11 May 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QV8cOmsTdI

German DJ Tomcraft made it to number one for a week with Loneliness. A song which is a remake of a 1999 song "Share The Love" by Andrea Martin.

"Fun" Fact: This song was released on 12" Vinyl! Wikipedia doesn't have much else fun to say about this one.

Opinion: I had never heard this song before in my life, and I think I know why, it's awfully boring. This is probably my least favourite song so far, just because of how slow it was and how much it bored me. 2003 was a weird time for letting songs like this do well.

Could You Buy This On Cassette Tape?: Nope!

How Would The Song Fare Today?: Not as well, and if it were up to me, I'd rather it didn't chart. I'd say it wouldn't break the top 20 because that sort of euro-electronic stuff doesn't really have a mass UK audience. It needs to be more sped up or grander, like your Swedish House Mafias and your Aviciis.

R Kelly - Ignition (Remix)

11 May 2003 - 8 June 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6y_4_b6RS8

This, along with the next two songs, account for 11 weeks of 2003. It's the songs of the summer people! First up is R Kelly's biggest hit of the 2000s with Ignition (Remix), a remix to a song that was the track before it on the album. No real surprise, R Kelly can be on another level than us people sometimes.

"Fun" Fact: R Kelly stated that he never felt like he had made it until he saw this clip of Michael Jackson dancing to this song.

Opinion: Good song. If you're on a night out, or planning to go out, it's a good choice to play. It's catchy and there's enough cues for you to at least hum along to. Definitely better than the song before.

Could You Buy This Song On Cassette Tape?: Not that I could find.

How Would The Song Fare Today?: I'd like to think this song would do pretty well. I can't see it not making the top ten, as the beat is fairly timeless and as I said, there are enough cues for people to sing along and memorise it. Top ten sounds about right.

Next Time!

More songs from the summer of 2003!

[METALMAN]

Ignition is an incredible song. It really is. One of the best songs of the last decade and quite possibly the best number one. It's flawless pop, seriously well written.

I agree with all of these - http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=18110

Loneliness is okay. It is far more minimalist than I remember. That throbbing bass is good.