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

[Chris2K]

YES WESTLIFE. YES MANDY. A wonderful combination. There are so many Westlife haters in the world, probably because they were so successful and personified the "uncool" side of pop music. There's nothing I love more than "all Westlife songs sound the same", firstly they don't, but secondly if they did then why would anyone change a formula that's made them so much money?

I like Leave Right Now as well, and I'd prefer it to Switch It On to make it Young's best song I'm afraid.

[METALMAN]

Fatman Scoop is quite good. A song that samples Chic can't be bad!

Crashed The Wedding is okay.

I never really liked Slow. Bit shit. She had a few good songs during that period. But not that one.

I forgot nobody in Busted could actually sing. But that song is okay I guess. Very meat and potatoes.

Westlife were and always have been shit. Sorry. Though Uptown Girl is okay. We're sp lucky to have One Direction as the boy band de jour right now. At least they jump around and have fun instead of singing fucking boring dirges.

Leave Right Now is okay. And it is Will Young's best song.

[Colly]

Even Westlife members acknowledge all their songs are the same. And boring.

[TroutMaskReplica]

All Time Love is Will Youngs best song in my opinion. But im not a connoisseur of his oeuvre...

[Berober]

Last two. LET'S DO THIS.

Changes - Kelly Osbourne and Ozzy Osbourne

14 December 2003 - 21 December 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6i1ywioIm0

Who remembers Kelly Clarkson trying to be a thing? Cause the charts do. Here we have her covering her dad's song alongside him, making number one for a week.

"Fun" Fact: I think I just covered my "fun" fact above. This was originally a 1972 Black Sabbath song. Not a major one though, as it apparently became here.

Opinion: I like it. It's a little bit too slow for me otherwise I'd like it more, but I'm a sucker for violin in songs, so this one gets a pass from me.

Could You Buy This Song On Cassette Tape?: Nope!

How Would This Song Fare Today?: Hrm. I think there could be a place for this song. It's very slow compared to songs these days so it sets itself apart here. This song came out when that reality show about the Osbournes was on, so it wouldn't have the bump in popularity from that. It'd chart, but I don't think too highly.

Mad World - Michael Andrews and Gary Jules

21 December 2003 - 11 January 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

And we come to the final song, the Christmas (and New Year) number one! Spending three weeks in total is a cover of the Tears for Fears song, Mad World

"Fun" Fact: WELL. Firstly is that this cover is actually from 2001, where it was part of the soundtrack for Donnie Darko. That film became a cult hit, and by the end of 2003 there was enough demand for this song that they released it as a single. I think it did alright. It also topped the download charts in 2006 after the song was used in some video game trailer.

Opinion: What is up with all the slow songs in December 2003? I don't really mind, cause this is a great song, but it's just a bit odd that each new song in this month seems to be getting slower and slower. It doesn't last, and I'm already looking forward to whenever I decide to over 2004.

Could You Buy This Song On Cassette Tape?: Nope!

How Would This Song Fare Today?: This is a tricky one to answer. Firstly, as a soundtrack song, the movie has already been out two years by the time 2003 came around, so although it's been around since then, it's a bit tricky to place this one. I'd say top twenty based on the song itself, but it could go higher if there's some promotion using it.

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So that's it. I hope you enjoyed these, and I'll probably have one more post up at some point with a few awards/bests and then we'll be done. I want to do 2004 at some point, although I may wait until next December if I'm patient enough.

But before I even think about 2004, there will be my next thread(s). Expect to see them soon!

[Matt]

Kelly Clarkson, noted daughter of Ozzy Osbourne.

[Chris2K]

Gah, Matt beat me to the same joke by about twenty seconds .

I'm not a fan of Changes, Ozzy's voice doesn't suit slow songs in the slightest and Kelly's voice doesn't suit music. The song is just so insipid and blah, and I remember them on TOTP singing it (or miming it) whilst trying to be the nice, happy family which was so cringeworthy, especially when Ozzy had his ATV crash and was actually in hospital at the time.

I love the reworking of Mad World and prefer the Gary Jules/Michael Andrews version to the original, the race for Number 1 that year was weird because The Darkness had an actual Christmas song (which is still great), the Pop Idol contesants released a cover of War is Over which was deemed to be offensive, Avid Merrion had his shitty Christmas song and in the end the non-Christmassy depressing song beat all of them.

Great work with this Berober, highly enjoyable

[METALMAN]

Finishing a pretty good year with two shit songs.

[Sousa]

I remember that version of "Mad World" was pretty much required to be in every single MP3 collection when I was in college.

[METALMAN]

I suppose, as dire as it is, it is quite impressive that something which sounds like an R.E.M. b-side managed to get to number one.

[Chris2K]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQhuoY5h2kE

As it's that time of year here's the song Mad World pipped to Christmas #1.

[Berober]

Damn you Chris. I was gonna bring up that song in this post

So yeah, just thought I'd give out some awards to some of the songs we've seen over the month!

Worst Number One of 2003:

Lonliness - Tomcraft

The 'I Can't Believe This Wasn't Christmas Number One' Special Achievement Award:

Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) - The Darkness (Thanks Chris...)

Most Likely to Succeed in 2013:

Crazy in Love - Beyonce

Most Enjoyable:

Crashed The Wedding - Busted

Least Likely to Succeed in 2013:

Lonliness - Tomcraft (just in case you didn't know how much I didn't like this song )

Best Number One of 2003:

Bring Me To Life - Evanescence

Best Song of Ever, that just happened to come out in 2003

Merry Christmas!

[METALMAN]

Hey Ya wasn't a number one? Wow. It was played absolutely everywhere all the time.

[Berober]

Nope. Best it would do is number 3 in February 2004.

[apsham]

I was going to copy this idea for the Canadian list for 2003 then I got depressed.

[Sousa]

"Hey Ya!" is better than virtually everything else on that list. "Roses" is the better song from that album, though.

[Rafael]

I was actually waiting to see Hey Ya on this list.

Edited December 24, 2013 by RafaelFms

[John Stones' Paint Trophy]

'Bring Me To Life' is pretty awful. On the list, Crazy in Love, Ignition and Sound of the Underground obliterate it as far as interesting, catchy and plain good pop singles go. 'Hey Ya' is the best pure pop single of the 2000s though, certainly.