The rock year in music: 2003's notable news, stars and shows

The rock year was dominated by news stories, not by new trends or new stars. The Kiss (Madonna's smooch with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on the MTV Video Music Awards), the child-molestation charges against Michael Jackson and the death of Johnny Cash were the pop year's history-making events.

Locally, an important new venue debuted. The White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, with its 20,000-seat capacity and state-of-the-art facilities, presented a challenge to the similarly sized Gorge Amphitheatre in Grant County. As it turned out, both outdoor venues had great summers — the Gorge posting its biggest ticket sales ever and White River drawing big crowds for big names like Cher, the Eagles and KISS/Aerosmith.

But the one thing that will have the most lasting impact was the implementation of legal music download technology. Paid services from iTunes, Napster, Musicmatch, MusicNet and other online music outlets greatly improved the economics of the music industry, putting it back on a track after a long slump. Some 16 million digital tracks were purchased through paid services, according to SoundScan, which began reporting legal downloads on July 2. More than 1.3 million tracks are being downloaded each week, and the practice is still in its infancy.

Overall music sales were down 2.2 percent, including downloaded tracks. Excluding such tracks, overall music sales were down 4.7 percent. That's actually a big boost from last year, when there was a 12.9 percent drop from the year before.

The best-selling album of 2003 was "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," the blockbuster debut by controversial rapper 50 Cent, which sold more than 6 million copies. Many of those sales were due to the disc's irresistible dance anthem, "In Da Club."

OutKast also scored some 6 million in sales for its double-disc "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" album. The Atlanta hip-hop duo had one of the most infectious singles of 2003 with "Hey Ya!"

Beyoncé, from the hip-hop vocal group Destiny's Child, launched a successful solo recording career with her album "Dangerously In Love," which sold 2 million copies and yielded the hit single, "Crazy In Love."

The White Stripes enjoyed their first big commercial success with "Elephant," which went to No. 6 on The Billboard 200 album chart and sold more than 2 million copies. It's a great collection of contemporary rock by self-taught guitar phenomenon Jack White and primitive drummer Meg White, his former wife. The duo whip up an incredibly rich, powerful sound, as they demonstrated in their September show at the Seahawks Stadium Exhibition Center.

The Strokes, the band leading the charge of new rock, also had chart recognition with "Room on Fire," which rose to No. 4 in Billboard. The success of such bands means rock 'n' roll is alive and well. The Strokes also played one of the year's most memorable shows, in October at the Seahawks Stadium Exhibition Center. (The show was almost stolen, however, by the opening act, a young, tight, promising Southern rock band called Kings of Leon.)

One of the best albums of the year, and one that's still finding its audience, is Ryan Adams' "Rock N Roll." It has a bunch of songs that would be big radio hits, if only radio programmers weren't so blockheaded. "Luminol" could be the next "Smells Like Teen Spirit" if only it could get airplay (the Nirvana song didn't make it to radio until after it was a hit on MTV — but videos don't have that kind of impact anymore). Other great songs on the CD include "This Is It," "1974" and "Burning Photographs."

Among other notable shows were the double bill of the Vines and the Music, two young bands that also are part of the rock revival, at the Moore in March; Simon & Garfunkel, with guest stars the Everly Brothers, sounding great after all these years, at KeyArena in November; the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the peak of their powers, in the KeyArena in October; and Lucinda Williams, breaking hearts and bringing smiles with her gritty lyrics and earthy drawl, at the Moore in November.

With the recording industry less skittish about downloads, and no longer operating in an atmosphere of fear, maybe there will be more signings of promising artists and more tour support in the new year. 2004 may also see the first "Internet superstar" — an individual or band that will score a hit single or album with the majority of its sales coming from legal downloading.

Maybe then the American music industry will realize that the Internet, with its international reach and ease of operation, is the best friend it has ever had.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com