2003: The Good Old Days? - February

One thing I can say for sure about February 2003 is that I was listening to 2Pac more than anyone else. Yes another posthumous album of his had come out at the end of 2002 and I bought it straight away to add to all his other albums which I had in my collection. This album gives us the best record for this month "Thugz Mansion". The album had 2 versions on it, the version that had the video at least was an acoustic version featuring Nas. 

The fact I was predominantly listening to a rapper who died in 1996 may suggest than 2003 wasn't the good old days after all. Speaking of 1996, Blackstreet were back with their final Top 40 hit to date with "Wizzy Wow". I bought the single and then the album so it goes without saying it gets full marks.

Back to the subject of 2Pac, we had the record "03 Bonnie And Clyde" by Jay-Z and Beyonce which uses the chorus of "Me and My Girlfriend" by 2Pac. This made me angry at the time because it was well known that 2Pac hated Jay-Z. I do too but this was only the 2nd worst record of the month. 

The worst record goes to Tatu with "All the Things She Said". It was a marketing campaign that clearly worked because it topped the charts. Basically they were a Russian female duo who were supposedly a lesbian couple who were kissing each other in the video. It turned out that as well as not really being a couple they weren't lesbians either. The record buying public didn't let reality get in the way of fantasy though and bought it. This is about the music though and I'm sure a lot of people who bought the single would agree the music is abysmal.

There was plenty of dance records in the charts which spanned a variety of sub genres and the quality varied too. The highlights here are "Dinosaur Adventure 3D" by Underworld and "Fix My Sink" by DJ Sneak, both legendary names.

I also like "Freeloader" by Driftwood which is an instrumental trance record. I'm quickly finding via these posts though how much I didn't like much of the vocal trance and this month is no exception. There's the abysmal "The Opera Song" by Jurgen Vries & Charlotte Church and "Time After Time" by Novaspace. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were in the "By the Way" era which wasn't a great time for their music in my opinion. I do however make an exception for "Can't Stop" which entered the Top 40 this month.

A somewhat odd but good record is "Light and Day" by Polypohonic Spree. They were about the only group who could compete with the So Solid Crew in terms of number of members. The music couldn't be more different, it's singing of joy and happiness, a little cringeworthy but musically great.

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: 28%

Here's a look at the chart:

February tells use the same story as March really. Only January left to complete the story of 2003.