My Favorite 25 Songs Of 2003

Barry White died this year.

Ja Rule came out with another CD.

Celia Cruz and Robert Palmer died also.

Justin Timberlake came out with a CD, and had sex with Alyssa Milano and Cameron Diaz, quite possibly at the same time.

Moral of the story? Life's unfair, get a fucking helmet!--Pastor Denis Leary

As it gets harder and harder to stomach what the One Big Label pushes, finding stuff you like gets more and more difficult like mining for gold. You have to figure a thousand songs came out this year if you underestimate, and yet looking over the entire list, I don't believe I even made 70 songs. And most of them are repeats by the same artists. I think I'm not alone in saying: what I don't like dominates the press, so what I do like I hang onto like the cold hand of death. With that preamble out of the way, let me offer condolences.

"React", "Wanksta", "Gossip Folks", the remixed "P.I.M.P.", "Fortune Faded", and "Come Away With Me." Something was missing--let's call it heart (no hustle either, Skip!). In reality, I loved all you guys but just not quite enough to make the big list. If any of the other 25 should fail to fulfill their duties...well, they won't. Sorry.

Let's go!

<25> Audioslave, "Show Me How To Live"
<24> Obie Trice, "Got Some Teeth (My Favorite Song)"
<23> Kelis, "Milkshake"
<22> Pharrell & Jay-Z, "Frontin'"
<21> Big Boi f. Sleepy Brown, "The Way You Move"

<20> Foo Fighters, "All My Life"
<19> Queens of the Stone Age, "Go With The Flow"
<18> Jet, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
<17> R.E.M., "Bad Day"
<16> Killer Mike f. Big Boi, "A.D.I.D.A.S."


15) the White Stripes, "The Hardest Button To Button/Seven Nation Army" (tie)
--> Everything they sang this year was money; so much so that this isn't even their best showing. Meg White's quite underrated.

14) Ludacris, "Stand Up"
--> Gigantic chicken drumstick: $13.50. Iverson throwback: $75. Midgets getting down: PRICELESS.

13) Radiohead, "There There"
--> The second verse alone with the "don't reach out" background cadence gets it here.

12) Coldplay, "Clocks"
--> When I described Parachutes' singles as getting consecutively better and better I never dreamed they'd have enough in the tank to keep THESE singles better than those. Matter of fact, where's the song they released after this?

11) Electric Six f. Jack White, "Danger (High Voltage)"
--> "Fire in the disco/fire in the disco/fire in the Taco Bell!" I still don't know what in the blue hell that means but it's still somehow such a sexy song you have to have Beyonce singing a hook to up this.

10) the Roots f. Cody Chestnutt, "The Seed 2.0"
--> In which ?uestlove and the best hip-hop band alive pilfer the last great forgotten Rolling Stones hook and make cheating sound...well, cool.

09) Foo Fighters, "Times Like These"
--> It's "Everlong 2003" but you can do worse than rehashing the best part of your history.

08) Snoop & Pharrell, "Beautiful"
--> This video taught me a valuable lesson: MOVE TO BRAZIL.

07) Andre 3000, "Hey Ya"
--> You can tell somebody's a fucking bad-ass when they take a video concept of Paul McCartney's, dress up like a jockey, and you're not hearing him 'cause you just wanna dance.

06) Johnny Cash, "Hurt"
--> This is how awesome this song is: it made Trent Reznor cry. We should all be so lucky to go out like this and be 1/10th the motherfucking shit Johnny was. Oh, and it's Video of the Year for the cracked Live In San Quentin platinum record alone but you know that already.

05) 50 Cent, "In Da Club"
--> At first you had The Nine Shot Story came out. Then he dropped this, and things changed just a little bit. Old white women know this song by heart, for crying out flayven.

04) Beyonce f. Jay-Z, "Crazy In Love"
--> Aside from giving Warren Sapp dancing ideas this song is flawless.

03) Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Can't Stop"
--> It's crazy to think a band can be around two decades and seeming just hitting their stride at the end of it, but the Peppers've always defied convention anyways.

02) Fountains of Wayne, "Stacy's Mom"
--> Note to all other bands who write great songs but want the attention they rightfully deserve: you can do a hell of a lot worse than sing catchy choruses about universal subjects with a supermodel in your video.

01) Coldplay, "The Scientist"
--> Is A Rush Of Blood To The Head mandatory owning? Well, as good as "I was just guessing/at numbers and figures/pulling your puzzles apart" and the last celestial minute are, this isn't even the best song on the CD. DAY-amn.