THE BEST OF JAZZ/POP

Photo: Rachel Stevens.

Rarely has a backroom fixer moved in front of the camera with such style. In the UK Top 10, the quality of pop was kept buoyant with great singles by Girls Aloud, Junior Senior, Panjabi MC, and more sweet dancehall, thanks to Wayne Wonder and Kevin Lyttle. There were indications, too, that the pre-teen pop market had reached saturation point. Gareth Gates struggled, as did Rachel Stevens and countless other talent-show also-rans whose names, even now, we struggle to remember. Bucking the trend were the surprisingly durable Will Young, the depressingly durable Westlife and Busted, whose canny repackaging of American pop-punk prefigures what will almost certainly be the way forward for boy bands in 2004. The new name on everyone's lips, though, was The Darkness. The story of how some unreconstructed Queen fans with receding hairlines became superstars in 2003 could only gladden the heart. But then they started being hailed as saviors of rock. The Darkness may have brought a welcome ray of bright casuistry to our pop landscape but you suspect Darknessmania may have had more to do with a safe, parodic repackaging of heavy rock for Robbie Williams fans than the genuinely fascinating, ugly beast itself.

 Just as entertaining were The Libertines, whose volatile mix of lurching tunes, break-ups, drug problems, prison stints, reconciliations and unannounced gigs in front rooms kept fans mesmerized. Less thrilling was the disinterring of Elton John and the triumph of the safe and mediocre in Jamie Cullum. From the rock gutter to faux-lesbian titillation: the Russian teens Tatu did it best, in conjunction with a ridiculously catchy single. Madonna and Britney's snog whiffed faintly of desperation as their careers idled. Madonna hooked up with Missy Elliott to flog some trousers, too, detracting further from her once unassailable mystique. Despite not releasing any music in 2003 (unless you count Posh's single on 29 December), Victoria Beckham and Courtney Love gave excellent soap opera.

Photos from L to R: #1. Elton John. #2. Jamie Cullum.

Posh went hip hop, to the dismay of her record label. It didn't do her much good, but it made Roc-A-Fella magnate Damon Dash a household name in the UK. Love, meanwhile, lost the plot on prescription drugs, lost custody of her daughter, and her debut solo album, America's Sweetheart, was delayed for the umpteenth time. Trouble flared around Michael Jackson, arrested on suspicion of child abuse. Phil Spector's mansion was the setting for a gun drama that left an actress dead and Spector arrested on suspicion of shooting her.

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