What about the music?
We’ve had Time Magazines ideas for the coolest inventions of last year and Paul Boutin’s 101 Ways to Save the Internet.
But what about the music?
The Year in Review (in other words, the Top and Bottom of 2003) al la Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper gives us this:
For the best …
WHO KNEW PIANO PLAYING WOULD BE SO POPULAR ?
Following Alicia Keys’s five Grammys in 2002, Norah Jones wins in eight categories, including best new artist and record of the year.
HITTING THE REUNION CIRCUIT
Simon and Garfunkel reunite for the Old Friends tour, giving fans a chance to listen once again to favourites such as Homeward Bound, The Boxer and The Sound of Silence.
MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
Bono, Peter Gabriel and Beyoncé Knowles take the stage in Cape Town for an AIDS benefit concert for which South Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela, is host.
SHE’S NO BRITNEY
Avril Lavigne gives young girls a role model who doesn’t gyrate around a stage clad only in her underwear.
COUNTRY MUSIC DARLINGS TO PIRIAHS IN A HEARTBEAT
After the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines says that, as a Texan, she is ashamed that U.S. President George W. Bush is from Texas, country radio stations across the United States yank the trio from playlists. Maines later apologizes for being disrespectful but defends her right to speak up about the war in Iraq.
And if that’s the best – what’s the worst?
PROBLEMS IN NEVERLAND
Pop superstar Michael Jackson is charged with multiple counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14.
WE’RE SORRY, WE’RE REALLY SORRY
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reportedly pay $30,000 to take out an ad in Variety to apologize to Celine Dion for missing the first show of A New Day.
LIP LOCKED
Trying to show that she still has it, Madonna shares an open-mouthed kiss with Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.
FADES TO BLACK
Country music legend Johnny Cash dies of complications from diabetes.
MOST HEARTLESS LAWSUIT OF THE YEAR
The Recording Industry Association of America began its war on illegal file-sharing by suing 12-year-old Brianna LaHara. Among the songs the girl had downloaded were If You’re Happy and You Know It and the theme to the television series Family Matters.
