In One Year 2003 Music Commentary
by Cornelius Minor
This time of year, us music folks are always coming out with these "Year-in-Review" or "Best of 200X" type articles. We take great pride in looking to the past year and commenting on who was hot, and glancing expectedly into the next — predicting the coming of the next messiah-like trendsetter.
Each year, I get swept up in the curious excitement of reflection and expectation. I swarm the Web sites, magazines and newspapers looking to see what industry insiders, knowit-alls and speculators will mark as the greatest of all that and as the most talented among the emerging vanguard of musicians.
This year, when I combed through the shining moments of 2003, I had fond memories of stellar albums from artists like OutKast, Prefuse 73, the White Stripes, The Rapture, The Strokes and Basement Jaxx. I also stopped to consider the commercial successes of folks like Beyoncé Knowles, Britney Spears, 50 Cent and Dave Matthews — all of whom released albums that, despite my frequent anti-pop posturing, I could not stop listening to.
I realized that, as my mind wandered from musician to musician, it became increasingly hard for me to think about just music, because 2003, as we lived it, was quite a collective experience.
2003 saw unprecedented creativity, expression and experimentation but the themes that dominated our musical consciousness were still very much the same.
Though we came up with better ways to express our fascinations, vices, desires and triumphs,we are still largely concerned with drugs, misguided love, endless partying, and the acquisition of cash.
If these folks captured the best that we had to say, then what, exactly were we saying?
If the music we choose is a reflection of our collective condition, then we have several conditions to address. In this land of assumed wealth and opportunity for all, we started this year by choosing a spokesperson whose vow was to Get Rich or Die Trying.