Top 5 Pop-Punk/Punk Rock Albums of 2003

Making lists is not really my thing, but making top albums/artists list is actually something I enjoy quite a lot. Recently I've been struggling to find new music to share, or maybe it's just that time when I go through stuff I've been listening to in the past just to relive the moments these songs remind me of. That is how the idea of making a post like this came to my mind. Of course all the anniversary tours and special releases of albums turning 10 or 20 years shaped this to be my personal best of 2003. Albums with birthdays if you will.

Making an album that people would listen to 10 or more years after its release is something that any musician/artist would like to experience, but not many do. The albums you'll see in these post are ones that made some deffirence either just for me or for the whole music scene. There are bands that I don't even listen to anymore, or such that broke up later, anyway: These are the albums that I think mattered the most exactly 10 years ago, albums that I love/loved from start to finish...

Warning: This list is just a personal best, it's not based on votes, surveys or MTV, or even my tough-guy-hardcore friends' opinion!

5. Blink-182 - Blink-182

 

Nothing much needs to be said about Blink-182, only that their self titled 2003 album was the last one they released before breaking up. Being a fan since 1998 I just wanted (and still do) another Dude Ranch or Enema of the State, not realising they weren't sixteen anymore. Still that was and still is a great record, and it deserves to be here because it marked the begining of a totally different Blink-182 era.

4. The Movielife - Fourty Hour Train Back to Penn

There's a special place for The Movielife in my pop punk collection. They were probably one of the first bands that mixed pop punk with a little bit of hardcore spirit and they did it so well! Fourty Hour Train Back to Penn was their sophemore release and had the follow up the amazing...the really amazing debut - This Time Next Year. With songs like "Face Or Kneekaps", "Jamestown" and "Kelly" I think The Movielife did a pretty decent job, so there goes the 4th place.

3. Brand New - Deja Entendu

I know...I know there is nothing pop punk about this record except maybe the fact that the album before it was/is one of the best in the genre. Brand New's Deja Entendu is one of these special albums that you either don't care about or love for the rest of your life. A record that started the transition of Brand New from being an amazing pop punk band to being an even more amazing indie/rock/alternative/emo one! "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" and "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" alone are enough for this album to take the third spot, but the rest of the songs are as beautiful as these two...or maybe even more.

2. Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue

Hmm..what to say about Yellowcard? Just another mainstream pop pop pop punk band...ohh wait, they have a violinist, that should be new! Well in 2003 it was, at least for me. Ocean Avenue was the album that put Yellowcard on the map, it was like Blink-182's Enema Of The State or New Found Glory's Sticks and Stones. The band got so much plays on MTV that it made them easy to be hated...but you know what, songs like "Way Away", "Empty Apartment", "Only One" and "View From Heaven" sounded so good to the 19-year-old me. So...yeah, Happy Birthday to Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue!

1. Rise Against - Revolutions Per Minute

Revolutions Per Minute is not only the best album of 2003, it's one of the best ones....ever! This is such a punk rock/hardcore classic that I get excited even thinking about it. You can count the albums that I've listened to more than this one, on the fingers of one hand! This record is a definite gamechanger....damn it, it's a lifechanger! Revolutions Per Minute is my favorite Rise Against album and still I love everything they have released. It's hard to point out any standout tracks because...this is a standout record that would blow away any punk rock fan .