Information about 2003 In Music

• 2003 in music (UK)

Events

• January - following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested. The tapes have been used for bootleg releases for years.
• January 13 - The Who guitarist, Pete Townshend, is arrested by Scotland Yard on suspicion of possessing and making indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute such images, after pornographic images are found on his home computer.
• January 15 - 2003 CDNOW Readers' Poll for all albums and new talent of 2002.
• February 3 - Legendary record producer Phil Spector is arrested for investigation of homicide after the body of actress Lana Clarkson is found at his home in Alhambra, California. Police responded to the 911 phone call from one of Spector's neighbors and discovered Clarkson's body who was suffering from a gun shot wound. Clarkson pronounced dead at the scene.
• February 20 - The Station nightclub fire: Fire engulfs a Rhode Island nightclub during a fireworks display which was part of the performance by rock band Great White. The fire quickly spreads across the ceiling, filling the building with thick, black smoke, killing 100 people and injuring 160 others as audience members rush for the exits. Many people were missing for some time, including Great White guitarist Ty Longley, who was later confirmed to be dead.
• February 23 - New York City is the site of The 45th Annual Grammy Awards, featuring Nickelback, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears, and other performers.
• February 27 - Othar Turner, one of the last remaining and most well-known African-American fife-and-drum musicians, dies at the age of 93 in Gravel Springs, Mississippi. Fife-and-drum bands were a significant influence of early blues.
• March 10 - Johnny Cash is admitted to Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee to undergo treatment for pneumonia.
• March 24 - Meteora of Linkin Park was released and debuts at number #01 in billboard.
• April 1 - Dozens of fans walk out during a Pearl Jam concert when lead singer Eddie Vedder made anti-war comments and insulting remarks about U.S. President George W. Bush. Other audience members booed and shouted at Vedder telling him to "shut up." Vedder attempted to calm the crowd by adding "just to clarify... we support the troops."
• April 8 - Godsmack releases their third studio album Faceless
• April 21 - S Club announce live on stage at London's Docklands Arena that they've decided to split up after five years together. Their final single, Say Goodbye, enters the chart at #2 a month after the announcement. Rachel Stevens from the group launched her successful solo career shortly afterwards with the song Sweet Dreams My LA Ex.
• May 12 - Keane releases their third single, Everybody's Changing by the label Fierce Panda
• June - David Del Tredici's Wondrous the Merge for string quartet and narrator, based on a homoerotic poem by James Broughton, makes its controversial debut at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.
• June 14 - The Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ airs the 11th Annual of the Weenie Roast show with AFI, The Ataris, Blur, Chevelle, Deftones, Finch, Foo Fighters, Godsmack, Good Charlotte, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, Jane's Addiction, Less Than Jake, Liam Lynch, Staind, Sum 41, Thrice, The Transplants, The Used, The White Stripes, and Pete Yorn.
• Alice Cooper begins production of his 26th album. It is a departure from the heavy metal sound of previous albums and is more influenced by his albums of the '70s.
• June 27 - June 29 - Glastonbury Festival, UK, headline acts included David Gray, R.E.M., Primal Scream, Morcheeba, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, Lamb, Macy Gray, Feeder, Manic Street Preachers, Moby, and Doves. The weather is mostly dry and the festival deemed a success from both a security and entertainment viewpoint by Michael Eavis.
• July - A-Teens and many others perform at the Stockholm Pride
• July 2 - Delta Goodrem is diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease.
• July 30 - The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, The Guess Who, and others headline a benefit concert in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to prove that the city is safe from SARS. With 450 000 spectators, it is the largest concert in Canadian history.
• August 28 - Madonna sparks media controversy by kissing popstars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the 2003 Video Music Awards. The situation even ignited a quick war of words between Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera over the kiss.
• September 22nd - Max Cavalera & Gloria Cavalera fire Marcello D. Rapp causing Roy Mayorga & Mike Doling to protest against this and leave the band. This causes a whole new Lineup Change in Soulfly.
• September 23 - Limp Bizkit release Results May Vary their first album in 3 years and their 4th album overall.
• October 4 - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's The Rising Tour concludes after 120 shows over 14 months, with record-setting sales in U.S. stadiums during the summer and early autumn.
• October 16 - Simon and Garfunkel begin their "Old Friends" U.S. reunion tour, twenty years after their 1983 world tour.
• October 21 - Delta Goodrem wins 7 ARIA Awards and defeats Amiel's Lovesong for and a Gold ARIA for Single Of The Year, Born To Try
• October 30 - Steve O'Rourke, the manager for Pink Floyd passes away from a Stroke at age 63. In tribute, the legal incarnation of the band reunited to perform at his funeral.
• November 7th - Steve Kmak aka "Fuzz" is fired from Disturbed because Disturbed wasn't totally clicking — personally or musically with him as well as his reported Dave's bad personality, wanting Steve out causing Fricition.
• November 11 - Dream Theater releases their seventh studio album titled Train of Thought, widely regarded as their heaviest album to date
• November 18 - Britney Spears releases In The Zone, she breaks her own record from being the first female artist to have 3 albums in #1 to being the first female artist to have 4 albums in #1 consecutively.
• November 22 - The band, Five Iron Frenzy, plays its last show at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver.
• November 30 - Michael Jackson is arrested on charges of child molestation
• December 6 - P-Funk founder George Clinton is arrested and charged with drug possession in Tallahassee, Florida.
• December 13/14 - The Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ airs the 14th Annual of the Acoustic Christmas show with AFI, Blink-182, Brand New, Chevelle, The Distillers, Jane's Addiction, Jet, KoЯn, Linkin Park, The Offspring, P.O.D., Pennywise, Puddle of Mudd, Rancid, Staind, 311, Thrice and Trapt.
• December 30/31 - The New Year's Eve Falls Festival in Australia, traditionally held in Lorne, Victoria, holds events in both Lorne and Marion Bay, Tasmania at the same time. The same artists perform at both events, alternating between the two venues each night.
• Skinny Puppy reunites
• Joel Madden of Good Charlotte records their song, "S.O.S." naked.
• Lemon Demon releases "Clown Circus", his first album, and "Live from the Haunted Candle Shop", his second album, on MP3.com.

Bands formed

• The Academy Is...
• All Time Low
• Arcade Fire
• Bloc Party
• The Bravery
• Cansei de Ser Sexy
• The Chariot
• Criteria
• Damageplan
• DevilDriver
• Editors
• The Elected
• Flee the Seen
• The Forces of Evil
• From a Second Story Window
• Glass Piñata
• Giant Drag
• Headlights
• He Is Legend
• Kaiser Chiefs
• Korpiklaani
• Lemon Demon
• Living Things
• The Most Serene Republic
• The Number Twelve Looks Like You
• The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
• Red Temper
• Rogue Wave
• The Subways
• Tapes 'n Tapes
• Velvet Revolver
• Wolf Parade

Bands disbanded

• Bis
• Carissa's Wierd
• Box Car Racer
• Coal Chamber
• Crazy Town
• Desaparecidos
• The Dismemberment Plan
• Earthsuit
• Five Iron Frenzy
• The Forces of Evil
• The Headstones
• Jets to Brazil
• Lighthouse Family
• Mansun
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Pantera
• Pitchshifter
• S Club
• Suede
• TLC
• Transatlantic
• Zwan

Albums released

Top 5 Albums Of Billboard Year

1. Beyoncé - Dangerously in Love
2. 50 cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin'
3. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
4. Shania Twain - Up!
5. Dixie Chicks - Home

Top 10 selling albums of the year

1. 50 cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin' - 6,300,000
2. Beyoncé - Dangerously In Love - 4,747,000
3. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me - 4,656,300
4. Britney Spears - In The Zone - 4,200,000
5. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - 3,591,000
6. Evanescence - Fallen - 3,400,000
7. Linkin Park - Meteora - 3,210,000
8. Toby Keith - Shock'n Y'all - 3,100,000
9. Hilary Duff - Metamorphosis - 2,904,132
10. Jennifer Lopez - This Is Me... Then - 2,000,000

Top hits on record

• "American Life" - Madonna
• "Angel" - Amanda Perez
• "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet
• "Are You Ready For Love?" (re-mix) - Elton John
• "Baby Boy" - Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul
• "Beautiful" - Christina Aguilera
• "The Beautiful Occupation" - Travis
• "Be Mine" - David Gray
• "Behind Blue Eyes" - Limp Bizkit
• "The Boys of Summer" - Ataris
• "Born to Try" - Delta Goodrem
• "Breathe" - Blu Cantrell
• "Bring Me to Life" - Evanescence
• "Cannonball" - Damien Rice
• "Can't Hold Us Down - Christina Aguilera featuring Lil' Kim
• "Chihuahua" - DJ Bobo
• "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" - The Darkness
• "Clocks" - Coldplay
• "C'mon C'mon" - Sheryl Crow
• "COLORS - Hikaru Utada
• "Come Clean" - Hilary Duff
• "Crazy in Love" - Beyoncé
• "Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake
• "Don't Look Back into the Sun" - The Libertines
• "Don't Know Why" - Norah Jones (held over from 2002)
• "Don't Steal Our Sun" - The Thrills
• "Faint" - Linkin Park
• "Feeling This" - blink-182
• "Feel Good Time" - Pink
• "Fighter" - Christina Aguilera
• "Forever and for Always" - Shania Twain
• "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face" - Coldplay
• "Growing on Me" - The Darkness
• "Girls & Boys" - Good Charlotte
• "Hold On"- Good Charlotte
• "Hey Ya!" - OutKast
• "Hurt" - Johnny Cash
• "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness
• "I'm with You" - Avril Lavigne
• "In Da Club" - 50 Cent
• "Innocent Eyes" - Delta Goodrem
• "Intuition" - Jewel
• "Invisible" - Clay Aiken
• "It's My Life" - No Doubt
• "It's Showtime!!" - B'z
• "Just Because" - Jane's Addiction
• "Just the Way I'm Feeling" - Feeder
• "Laura" - Scissor Sisters
• "Losing Grip" - Avril Lavigne
• "Lost Without You" - Delta Goodrem
• "Love at First Sight" - Kylie Minogue
• "Mad World" - Gary Jules and Michael Andrews
• "Maybe Tomorrow" - Stereophonics
• "Me Against the Music" - Britney Spears featuring Madonna
• "Me Myself and I" - Beyoncé
• "Miss Independent" - Kelly Clarkson
• "Milkshake" - Kelis
• "Molly's Chambers" - Kings of Leon
• "My Love Is Like...Wo" - Mıa
• "Never Leave You" - Lumidee
• "Not Me, Not I" - Delta Goodrem
• "Novocaine" - Alice Cooper
• "Numb" - Linkin Park
• "One Horse Town" - The Thrills
• "Ourselves" - Ayumi Hamasaki
• "Out of Time" - Blur
• "Perfect" - Simple Plan
• "P.I.M.P." - 50 Cent
• "Pump It Up" - Joe Budden
• "Right Thurr" - Chingy
• "Rock wit U (Awww Baby)" - Ashanti
• "Rock Your Body" - Justin Timberlake
• "Rollover DJ" - Jet
• "Save Yourself/Genie in a Bottle" - Speedway
• "Say You Will" - Fleetwood Mac
• "Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes
• "Sing For The Moment" - Eminem
• "Shake Ya Tailfeather" - Nelly, P. Diddy & Murphy Lee
• "So Yesterday" - Hilary Duff
• "Somewhere I Belong" - Linkin Park
• "Songbird - Oasis
• "Spitting Games" - Snow Patrol
• "The Anthem" - Good Charlotte
• "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" -