2003: The Good Old Days? - July

Now we're going back in time to find when the charts were half decent it's unlikely we'll run into a month when there are no decent new entries in the Top 40. There are decent records in July 2003 but none of them would even be contenders for best record if they were released in many other months.

The record I've picked is "Magic Fly" by Minimalistix. The original version from the 70s by Space lends itself to a trance makeover and this does the job. We also have a remix for "Tour De France" by Kraftwerk which doesn't sound all that different to the original really which is no bad thing.

Elsewhere in the dance world we have a solid effort from Paul Van Dyke with "Nothing But You" and fellow Germans Scooter have another typical Scooter record which is always welcome. The rest of the dance music isn't great, mostly cheesy vocal trance which is fast becoming 2003s answer to modern crappy EDM music.

Much better on the rap front, 3 records and 3 points. This includes "21 Questions" by 50 Cent which is possibly the only record of his I like. Eminem's "Business" is one of the better tracks on his "The Eminem Show" album thanks to Dr Dre's production. We also have the Joe Budden debut "Pump It Up" which grew on me at the time.

Just the one decent R&B record this month which comes from Tyrese with "How You Gonna Act Like That". The worst record is an R&B one which is "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce. It was played to death at the time and made people notice the lead singer of Destiny's Child had a name, unfortunately.

No marks from the indie genre which includes Britpop hangover records from Blur and Ocean Colour Scene. 

In fact I've mentioned all the records which get full marks so needless to say it's been quite a disappointing month.

Here's a list of the records with the best on top, worst at the bottom and the good ones in green, OK ones in amber and rubbish ones in red (and in no particular order):

Score: 18%

Here's a look at the chart:

At this halfway stage I'm inclined to say 2003 wasn't the good old days but lets see what the first half of the year brings.