Rough Draft

Best of 2003

2003 was a great year for the punk/indie/emo/whateveryouwanttocallit scene. Many bands (Brand New, Thrice, Thursday, Something Corporate) released highly anticipated sophomore albums while we also saw the emergence of many new bands (Straylight Run, Fall Out Boy, The Postal Service).

AbsolutePunk.net listed its annual Best of... list, and I thought I'd do my own personal list just for fun.

So here it is, my Best of 2003 lists.

Best Album
5. Blink-182 by Blink-182
4. Take This To Your Grave by Fall Out Boy
3. War All The Time by Thursday
2. Deja Entendu by Brand New
1. Give Up by The Postal Service

I purchased no less than 15 albums this year, and loved every single one, so narrowing this list down to my 5 favorite albums and then trying to rank them proved incredibly difficult. In the end, I decided that if I could only listen to one album from 2003 it would have to be Give Up by The Postal Service. Ben Gibbard created another lyrical masterpiece with this album, and the unique sound of the album is something you will never get tired of.

A very close second for my favorite album of 2003 was Brand New's Deja Entendu. This is another simply amazing album, both lyrically and instrumentally and it represented a major change from Brand New's first album, Your Favorite Weapon. Deja Entendu is one of those albums that takes a few listens to grow on you, but then you quickly find yourself listening to it more and more frequently and loving it more and more.

War All the Time by Thursday is by far the most emotional album of 2003. Geoff Rickly shares some of the most traumatic and devastating moments in his life with listeners. You can feel his pain in each and every song and in every word he sings. You can't help but be touched by this album.

Fall Out Boy is "pop punk" at its finest and Take This to Your Grave is just their first album. All the songs are fast and catchy. I've listened to this album probably the most of any album this year, because a lot of times you just want to sit back and hear something upbeat and Take This to Your Grave provides exactly that.

Blink-182 was one of the most anticipated albums of the year and it surprised many, many people. Blink is all grown up and their newest album shows that. Fans looking for more toilet-humor filled "pop punk" may be disappointed, but in my opinion this is Blink's best sounding album to date and I am quite happy with the new Blink.

Best EP
3. From Depths to Dreams - Senses Fail
2. Notes and Photographs - JamisonParker
1. Make Yourself at Home EP - The Starting Line

Best New Band
3. JamisonParker
2. Postal Service
1. Straylight Run

Best Song

5. Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't
4. Play Crack The Sky
3. Such Great Heights
2. Division St.
1. Mistakes We Knew We Were Making

Best Lyricists
4. Jesse Lacey - Brand New
3. Jason Gleason - Further Seems Forever
2. Geoff Rickly - Thursday
1. Ben Gibbard - Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service

Best Vocalist
4. Ben Gibbard - Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service
3. Jason Gleason - Further Seems Forever
2. Claudio Sanchez - Coheed and Cambria
1. Geoff Rickly - Thursday

Best Live Show
5. Finch
4. Something Corporate
3. Yellowcard
2. Fall Out Boy
1. Allister

Most Underrated Bands/Albums
Mae - Destination: Beautiful
Further Seems Forever - How to Start a Fire

Best Music Videos
2. Brand New - Sic Transit Gloria
1. Finch - What it is to Burn