Your Favourite Song Of 2003

[taryuu]

any thoughts??  i guess mine would have to be the white stripe's "Seven nation army"  and runner up would be bonecrusher's "never scared "

[Dmitri]

bah, my favourite song is and always WILL be Tchaikovsky's piano concerto no. 1 in b flat minor Opus 23

Anything that was made past Dvorak and Rachmaninov stinks IMO...

[Trapezoid]

Oh no, Classical geeks!!
My favorite song of 2003? I don't know... Genius In France, by Weird Al Yankovic.

[Las Naranjas]

Wait Up - Rubix Cuba :p

[Dmitri]

Trap: I rebuke that statement by farting in your general direction

I like classical music more as a personal taste, but here are some objective reasons as to why I think classical is better

-More instruments and musicians, I like music that's HUGE! one of the reasons I love that particular concerto... the piano sounds HUGE! Also the reason my runner up song is Requiem by Mozart

-Complexity, classical music has a lot of musicians, and a lot of flexibility. There's only so much you can do with 5 voices and synthesised music ala boy band, but you get a good orchestra (which has more than 5 people) and you can do anything (within the limits of the instruments and voices)

Even rock groups that can actually play instruments, the music just isn't complex enough.

-emotion, now I'll grant, I've heard good modern music (not including rap)that provokes good emotion. But when you hear "Night on Bare mountain" and "Oh Fortuna" you just think "Evil". When you hear "Requiem" or the choral in Beethoven's ninth symphony you think "powerful". When you hear the moonlight sonata you think, "Sad"

I'll agree that a lot of classical music doesn't express emotion, it's just more of a preference that I feel the emotions this way instead of hearing some voice telling about how much his/her life sucks.

-It doesn't say anything, now I'm addressing a lot of rap here. We all hear the rap music, "Some white cop beating up my homies" and such (yes that is a very horrible and general statement which can easily be disproven) but my point is that a lot of rap and music says something. Something political. I just think bleh. Music is for enjoyment, if I want to hear about how society and the world is going to the shithole then I'll listen to a green activist.

[Ghormak]

I think Trapezoid's comment was a little joke following the recent discussions in the "Tune Compo" thread. Lighten up, Dmitri.

[Trapezoid]

Sort of. I like classical music, but I prefer contemporary music and personally think it has has more unexplored potential than classical. Obviously what you hear on the radio is mostly homogenized crap, but with contemporary music, creative ingenuity is much more blatent. It may have less instruments than classical, but those few instruments can be ecclectic as the artist wants. It's hard to find any utterly bizarre classical music. Utterly bizarre can be good. Very good.
Interestingly, some of the best contemporary songs have a certain orchestral vibe to them. Classical music is a good influence, but I guess I just prefer the modern bastard lovechild of classical music that we call rock and roll.

[DGMacphee]

Classical music is fine from an artistic stand point, but rock music addresses a lot of social conventions -- something that classical music doesn't do very well.

I find Bob Dylan's music more rewarding from a lyrical sense than say Beethoven's Ode to Joy (But that's subjective).

Even though Ode to Joy may be more beautiful, Dylan's work feels more lyrically honest.

Both are brilliant songs though.

Also, even a lot of prog rock challenges classical music through incorporation of classical pieces and structure into the songs.

For an example of what I'm talking about listen to Jethro Tull's 'Thick As A Brick' (clocking over 40mins!) or Genesis' 'Suppers Ready' (over 20 mins!) to understand.

In this sense, rock music is more superior than classical because it advances it that extra step.

As for my favourite song of 2003, I'd say either Radiohead's "Where I End and You Begin" or "A Wolf At The Door".

Then again I haven't listened to that much music this year (and it's hard to in this pop-crazed world of Ja Rule, J.Lo and 50 Cent), but I did like taryuu's selection of White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, and the Mars Volta's "Inertiatic Esp" (Thanks to Sylpher for telling me about this one!)

[Las Naranjas]

I tend to think Wagner has alot in common with much of pop music.

[GarageGothic]

I'm not even sure I remember a song from 2003. My musical tastes always seem to be 10 or 15 years behind the rest of the world's. I'd say something from Lou Reed's "The Raven" - it's crap compared to most of his earlier stuff, but that and Nick Cave's "Nocturama" are the only albums I actually paid for this year.

[Privateer Puddin']

sorry, i listen to too much 80s stuff to know whats been released this year

[MrColossal]

heh how interesting

when dmitri was giving all the points on why he likes classical all i could think is "this is exactly why i love nick cave and there's GarageGothic loving him too."

for me i'd rather my music not to be so black and white, good, powerful, evil and nick cave is all about that

he and the bad seeds sometimes make me laugh and cry in the same song. the songs are scary and yet lovely, frightening and yet... well damned frightening

then there are musicians like The Flaming Lips especially with their new album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and Grandaddy's album Sophtware Slump

gorgeous full music that is layered so well.

Whether it's singing about Jeddy 3 or Time Travelers or even a cover of The Hammer Song

some damn fine music

[PeaceMan]

My musical taste is pretty varied but I don't listen to much new music because it is mostly crap or covers. The only new band that I have activly listened to is Nickleback.

I like most music from Metal to Country so I can't really pick a favorite.

[Hobbes]

I think the song that got me the most this year has been "Mad World", the cover by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. It was just such a lovingly composed tune complete with fantastic lyrics by Tears for Fears.

Not that I feel like the lyrics, e.g. I'm not like "the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had". But it's just so beautiful, I can't help connecting with it on a rather deep personal level.

[SSH]

Gotta be Junior Senior's "Move your feet" of course.

EDIT:
If you're talking general musical taste, it's pretty eclectic:

Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Beethoven, both J Strausses

Beautiful South, Billy Joel, Robbie Williams (even I want you back from TT), Queen, Weird Al, Bangles, Tom Jones, Elton John

Tori Amos's Cornflake girl has a certain place in my psyche for being played in the JCMB Hardware bunker almost non-stop during my final year at Uni, also 4 non-blondes, etc.

As for humour, Moxy Fruvous and Barenaked Ladies have some good stuff as well as more serious. And I loved Star Trekkin too. And the Chicken Song. And the Cheeky girls. Didn't like Mr Blobby, though.

[Dmitri]

eric: heh, how about that

reading the responses, I realised I do like some of modern music. If only for some songs' hilarious content (Ala "Star Trekkin'"-Dr. Demento) But I'll concede to admit, a lot of pop/rock is good and enjoyable. Just as a lot of classical is bad/boring.

I dunno, a thought struck me, it's more about the skill of the musician/composer than it is about the genre in which they are creating.

comparing Mods' musicianship to Beethoven's is like comparing an apple to an orange. How do you say one is better. I like some of Mods' as well as some of Beethoven's. What is the difference? I mean, it's all about whether or not you enjoy the music in the end, and I'll concede that I haven't even bothered to listen to a lot of contemporary pieces.

I'll keep an eye out for the songs you mentioned DG, I hope to enjoy them.

I do oppose the intense marketing of the "Top sellers" like Ja Rule, Busta Rhymes and Jennifer Lopez (I REFUSE to call her 'J.Lo') they're paid to have character, look pretty, and sing like idiots. They sell themselves to the crowd, and the crowd loves it. It just makes me angry to thing that humans can be such lemmings to advertising!

grr... hate hate hate hate hate  

[DarkStalkey]

Tricky question. It'd probably be torn between Elbow - Fallen Angel, Autechre - V-PROC, Radiohead - There There, or anything from Four Tet's album. Possibly Unspoken.

[Al_Ninio]

Hey Las, speaking of Rubix Cuba-
Is it just me or was the older version of No or Never (on mp3.com) better than the new version on their website?

Could be just me, though.

[Paranoia]

i'm with a few others stuck in music limbo land between the 60's and 2000
the only thing i've looked forward to was "the golden age of grotesque" marilyn manson (ducks as the bibles are thrown in his direction), but saddly its not a patch on his earlier work, (ducks as a plastic antichrist is thrown in his direction)
but my friends MR Manson is a sweet fluffy bunny compared to the song that seems to fill my musical void these days, every time i hear this track i look for something sharp and pointy to throw myself on to! its the musical delight called.................


THE FAST FOOD SONG!!!!!!!!!!!


**arggggghhhhhh runs off squealing like a piggy in deliverance!!***

[Ben]

Seven Nation Army is a great song.. Not sure if I'd call it the best, though.

I liked Sit Down, Stand Up from Hail to the Theif. I also liked the songs I heard from The Coral's new album, (I think it's from 2003).

Gotta be Junior Senior's "Move your feet" of course.

Best video ever