Hello listeners! So, the research portion has gotten rolling here at Little Room, and this week’s show will highlight albums that were charting on college radio stations across the USA in 2003.
Of course, some of them came out earlier, and were still playing in the early part of 2003, and some didn’t come out until 2003. A few were even re-releases of even older albums (yowza), but I think it’s a good overview of what college radio probably sounded like in 2003.
“Little Room” by The White Stripes (White Blood Cells, 2001, Sympathy for the Record Industry)
*It’s not from 2003, but I play it every show as an intro, so it’s gotta be on the list.
“If She Wants Me” by Belle and Sebastian (Dear Catastrophe Waitress, 2003, Rough Trade)
“I Was Meant for the Stage” by The Decemberists (Her Majesty the Decemberists, 2003, Kill Rock Stars)
“40 Days, 40 Fights” by Badly Drawn Boy (Have You Fed the Fish?, 2003, Twisted Nerve)
“No Children” by The Mountain Goats (Tallahassee, 2002, 4AD)
“Transatlanticism” by Death Cab for Cutie (Transatlanticism, 2003, Barsuk)
“Gone for Good” by The Shins (Chutes Too Narrow, 2003, Sub Pop)
“Summer Babe [Winter Version]” by Pavement (Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Reduxe, 2002, Matador Records) re-release
“Hey Ya!” by Outkast (Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, 2003, LaFace/Arista)
*One of the biggest songs of 2003, period, but Outkast got their start on college radio right here in Atlanta, so you gotta give credit.
“2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)” by Radiohead (Hail to the Thief, 2003, Parlophone)
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by JET (Get Born, 2003, Elektra/Capitol)
“Ball and Biscuit” by The White Stripes (Elephant, 2003, V2)
“We Used To Be Friends” by The Dandy Warhols (Welcome to the Monkey House, 2003, Capitol)
“Ghost Trains” by Erlend Øye (Unrest, 2003, Astralwerks)
“Staring at the Sun” by TV on the Radio (Young Liars EP, 2003, Touch and Go)
“This Charming Man” by Death Cab for Cutie (You Can Play These Songs With Chords, 2003, Barsuk) re-release
“Do You Realize??” by The Flaming Lips (Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, 2002, Warner Bros.)
“Happy Kid” by Nada Surf (Let Go, 2002, Barsuk)
“Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone” by Ted Leo and The Pharmacists (Hearts of Oak, 2003, Lookout!)
“Some Red Handed Slight of Hand” by Cursive (The Ugly Organ, 2003, Saddle Creek)
“Bandages” by Hot Hot Heat (Make Up the Breakdown, 2002, Sub Pop)
“Obstacle 1” by Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights, 2002, Matador Records)
“The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” by The Postal Service (Give Up, 2003, Sub Pop)
“Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Fever to Tell, 2003, Interscope/Fiction)
“Slow Animals” by The Strokes (Comedown Machine, 2013, RCA)
“A New Wave” by Sleater-Kinney (No Cities to Love, 2015, Sub Pop)
The last two are sort of “in lieu of,” since both of these bands had huge releases (The Strokes’ Is This It and Sleater-Kinney’s One Beat) in 2003 that were very popular, but I need to close out with something to bring us out of this time machine, y’all.
Tune in next week; I’ll probably pick another year and go through the top albums again so you can all keep getting your two-hour college radio history lesson every Thursday!