From AwardAnnals
Results of the Grammy Award in the year 2003. For a ranked list of albums, try an honor roll:
One by One
Foo Fighters
There’s a certain sameness to the spiky, percussive bursts of punk-pop tabled by the Foo Fighters. Yet it’s pretty hard to fault players as palpably enthusiastic as Dave Grohl and his gang. Every Foos record, up to and including their fourth studio disc,
One by One, fluently merges rock menace with unabashedly cheery melody and thoughtful if cryptic lyrics. (And those videos!) So while insistent, guiterrorized tracks like “All My Life” and “Times Like These (One-Way Motorway)” don’t expand the Foos’ oeuvre, they’re catchy as hell and well worth the price…
Fallen
Evanescence
The
Daredevil soundtrack provided a nice boost for this previously unknown quartet from Little Rock, Arkansas. Evanescence’s songs “My Immortal” and the imposing “Bring Me to Life” are clear standouts in the film, mainly because they work so well with the dramatic, eerie undertones of the storyline. They reappear here on the band’s debut, alongside a selection of similarly brooding tracks that evoke pensive artists like Tori Amos and the Cranberries. Vocalist Amy Lee has the kind of voice that can cause weeks of insomnia, but on songs like “Tourniquet” and…
The Long Road
Nickelback
It’s never easy following up a multi-platinum success, but Canada’s Nickelback’s latest seem sure to match the sales of the many-million-selling
Silver Side Up. The formula remains pretty much the same—nothing fancy, just radio-friendly grunge that lends an appropriately dramatic backing to the powerful and increasingly confident voice of Chad Kroeger. Aside from the fast and punchy opener “Flat on the Floor,” the tough, staccato “Because of You,” and the Oasis-like “Figured You Out,” the band deal exclusively in soft-rock anthems (soft, that is, by 2003’s…
Audioslave
Audioslave
The debut of thundering supergroup Audioslave—featuring members of Rage Against the Machine post-Zack de la Rocha with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell—is as much curio as fascinating blend of visions. Cornell might be outnumbered, but his unmistakable holler and nihilistic imagery ensure that
Audioslave, the album, recalls early Soundgarden. That’s especially true since de la Rocha took Rage’s signature rap and politicking with him. Still, if this is Soundgarden, it’s Soundgarden set to stun. Rage guitarist Tom Morello is more of a mauler than Kim…
More Than You Think You Are
Matchbox Twenty
Florida’s megaplatinum matchbox twenty prove with their third album to be far more versatile than expected, comfortably outlasting the predictions of naysayers. Reuniting with producer Matt Serletic, the quintet takes credible swings at gospel (“Downfall” features a choir), Traveling Wilburys-type twang (“All I Need”), and big-arena rock with “Disease,” cowritten by singer Rob Thomas and Mick Jagger and winkingly recalling Thomas’s star turn with Carlos Santana on “Smooth.” Pedal-steel great Greg Leisz spruces up several tracks, notably the tearjerker “Hand Me…
