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Well guys the time is here! I decided to make this video since not only it was the most defining year of my childhood, it was my fav year besides 2001, and 2005 culturally.  But Because people are ALWAYS split on the year, some consider it to be a core 00s year and some consider it to be a regular early 00s year. The year saw the premiere of new shows That's so Raven, One Tree Hill, Simple Life, Arrested Development, Myhtbusters, Chappelle Show,NCIS, Nip Tuck, Las Vegas, Xaiolin Showdown, Cold Case. 50 Cent hit it big with In Da Club, The Iraq War started in mid 2003, However musically glam and bling bling rap was still dominant, Nu Metal was on it's last hurrah, all the kids networks were still in their traditional forms, Friends, Fraiser, NYPD Blue, Oz, were still on. But I do see the year as a transition from early to core 2000s. But I'll ask you guys was it a regular early 00s year or a core 00s year.

It was like an early 2000s year, but that's when most core 2000s media debuted. So, it's like a half early 2000s/half core 2000s year.

Spring & Summer 2003 was still completely early 2000's, but Fall 2003 was the start of the core 2000's.

Fall 2003 was in the transition from early 2000's to mid 2000's along with Spring 2004.

All of 2003 is early 2000s.

Late 2003 / Early 2004 is transition into the mid-2000s, with late 2003 leaning early 2000s and early 2004 leaning mid-2000s.

Core 2000s start somewhere in 2003, but I'm not really confident to say which month.

It's a bitter-sweet year for pop culture. IMO video games, cartoons and music notably declined from the previous year. My favourite thing about 2003 is the movies. Finding Nemo, School of Rock, Freaky Friday, Cheaper By The Dozen, Holes, PIrates of the Caribbean, Bruce Almighty, Freddy vs. Jason, X2 Xmen United and many others.


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Personal life

Personal life wise, I did so much growing up in 2003. My terrible teacher was finally good for something and indoctrinated us to hate America for the Iraq War LOL. When Jean Chrétien (Canadian Prime Minister) said no to sending Canadian troops to the Iraq War he became my personal superhero.

I really got into music in this year starting with buying Avril Lavigne's 2002 album and memorizing the lyrics to every song.

I turned 10 years old in February 2003 and could legally cross the street by myself without having to have my cousins or older friends with me. I would ride my bike to my old toddlerhood neighbourhood and meet my old friends, and I'd also ride my bike with my friends at a nearby forest trail.

My parents also bought a separate computer for the kids complete with broadband Internet, and I started going on websites like Funnyjunk, Habbo Hotel, Yahoo! Music etc. and I really got into a lot of the pop and rock music at the time like Sum 41, Simple Plan,  SR-71, Blink 182, Kelly Clarkson, New Found Glory, Sugarcult, Ocean Avenue, Bowling For Soup etc. one of these is not like the other.

In the summer I went to ice skating and swimming camp. They became my hobbies once cartoons and video games went to crap in late 2003.

I also got into middle school (Grade 6), but I didn't know I was in middle school until the end of the year, because my school was K-8.

To me early-mid (or Spring-Summer) of 2003 still had the early 00's culture. The transition from the early 00's culture took place between late 2003 - early 2004. 2004 is the first year where the core 00's culture took over, but it still had a few early 00's leftovers that remained in the early part of the year. The core 00's culture starts in 2003, but I can't say which month as I'm never good as giving specific dates.

If I had to try and break it down a bit in terms of culture in the '00s as a whole (2000-2009).

Early 00's culture: Early 2000 - Early 2004
Core 00's culture: Late 2003 - Mid 2007
Late 00's culture : Late 2007 - Late 2009

Now this is probably inaccurate as I'm not sure on where everyone else would say the Core 00's culture actually ended.

2003 was an okay year for popular culture.  It was probably the first time things started to really decline on a general level, though the negative influences were far from being fully established.  Music was mostly a mild evolution of early 2000s trends like pop punk and shuffle-beat urban, but there weren't as many instant classics that year as in previous.  You still had some great songs, like the Ataris' "The Boys of Summer" remake, Chevelle's "The Red" and "Send the Pain Below," Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body," "Shake Ya Tailfeather," Live's "Heaven," the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army," and 3 Doors Down's "Here without You," but for the most part, the charts were good-but-not-great.  Movies were a little lackluster in 2003; it certainly wasn't the worst year in cinema, and it had some great films like Finding Nemo, Return of the King, and the first Pirates movie, but it wasn't my favorite 2000s year, either.

During my personal life, everyone in my class was still addicted to Yu-Gi-Oh! at the beginning of 2003, but slowly attention started to shift back to Pokémon with the release of Ruby & Sapphire on the Game Boy Advance.  There were a lot of things that I missed from previous games in Ruby & Sapphire at the time, like being able to import Pokémon from previous games and the time system, but the graphical improvements and originality of the game more than made up for that.  2003 was also the first full year that Codename: Kids Next Door was on Cartoon Network; by that point, it was easily my favorite cartoon I'd ever seen.  I also started watching Survivor with my family during the Amazon season in spring.  Unfortunately, one of the biggest things that comes to my mind when I think of 2003 is the Cedar Fire, which destroyed hundreds of houses, many of which were in my neighborhood.  It was traumatizing having to evacuate our home from out of nowhere, not certain that we'd still have everything by the time the blaze was over.

As far as classifying 2003 goes, I'd say it was basically early 2000s all the way through, even though there were a lot of mid-2000s trends that emerged by the latter part of the year, such as crunk rap, MySpace, and shows like Arrested Development, Teen Titans, and The O.C.  The emergence of 50 Cent and the beginning of the Iraq War caused even the early part of 2003 to seem comfortably removed from the late 90s, in my opinion, but it was still clear that the 2000s hadn't fully finished developing themselves, either.

In terms of personal life 2003 was a great year. Especially the summer of 2003 which is one of my favorite summers. I was still interested in Yu GI Oh and Pokemon, but also started getting an interest in the Ninja Turtles (due to that 2003 version coming out). And if I remember correctly in 2003 was where my interest for Sonic the Hedgehog had peaked. There was the release of Sonic X, those Sonic toys at McDonalds, Sonic Adventure DX releasing on the Gamecube, Sonic Mega Collection which was a compilation that had all Genesis Sonic games on it, the release of Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Pinball Party, and the release of Sonic Heroes. I started collecting the Sonic the Hedgehog comic books as well around that time. In 2003 I was obsessed with the Sonic series as there was too much Sonic going around.
http://info.sonicretro.org/images/3/35/McD_2003_Promotion.jpg

Cartoon Network was still in their Powerhouse era. So I still enjoyed watching all their shows such as Dexter's Lab or Kids Next Door. Nickelodeon was in their silver age so there was still a lot to enjoy on the channel. I was getting interested in shows like Chalkzone and Rugrats All Grown up. Disney Channel was in their first non-Zoog year, but I loved the shows like That's So Raven and Kim Possible. Toon Disney was in their final pre-Jetix year. So basically I was still seeing all their Disney Afternoon and One Saturday Morning cartoons (although this was around the time I ended up getting sick of the seeing the shows). Kids WB was showing Teen Titans and Xiaolin Showdown. Both of which I liked. Boomerang was also pretty cool at the time as well. Watching tons of 60s, 70s, and 80s cartoons that aired on there. Overall 2003 was pretty decent in terms of TV shows. Nice selection to watch.

As mentioned before I loved the summer of 2003 where a huge part of family (some I didn't even know at the time) came together. We were all staying in a big 3 story house with about 15 of us living in it. It sure was lively. We'd do all kinds of things like going fishing. Going to amusement parks. Seeing the movies (it was around that time we were saw Rugrats Go Wild). It was a good time.

Only thing about 2003 I didn't like as much was the music. It was more hit and miss to me.

I kinda hate to encourage this but I cannot resist. 2003 is when we started to get out of our spirit of 1998 chairs and started to move toward our spirit of 2004 chairs but we weren't fully there yet. If we were, then it'd be called the "spirit of 2003 chair" but it's not. ;D ;D ;D

I'm gonna speak solely on experience and not as if I'm some decade scientist.

This is around the time Emo started meaning dyed black hair, bangs and eyeliner. When I look at some of the big Emo acts of 2003; I still see bands with the old 1998 styles (pusedo-Jawbreaker Pop Punk adapted by Get Up Kids melodic stuff or the Posion The Well/Refused Post-Hardcore sound) like Thursday (they sorta fell off with their 2003 album. Not at all as good as Full Collapse and us dudes knew it), Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional and The Used and at the same time the start of the real 2000's with Fall Out Boy's debut mid way through the year and Something Corporate North during the later half (when I compate both these bands 2002 outputs to their 2003 work, it's completely different); this change was also accelerated with blink's untitled late during the year but I guess this had more of an effect on 2004 than 2003. When I look at bands from 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the albums/photos/videos/music released during that time I always hear loud fun music, see spiky bleached hair and bright clothing. When I look towards 2003 (notably albums recorded solely in 2003 usually sound different but if recorded sometime in 2000-2002 it doesn't) I see them wearing the bangs over their face and going all "serious." 2003 also disappointingly lacked the mid-90's Skate Punk holdovers shown on Bad Religion's Process of Belief and Authority Zero's A Passage in Time (and countless others) but it did have Offspring's Splinter. It's a good album (basically Americana part 3) problem is Ron left them early '03 and it just wasn't the same without him. Green Day was also extremely absent this year after the big Pop Disaster Tour in 2002 and made things feel empty. Little did I know they were in studio recording what would become one of, if not the, worst albums in all history. I can't help but feel like the best things of 2003 should of been released in 2002 instead. Rad Pop Punk albums like So Long Astoria (if they released this in 2002, Kris Roe and his funky friends would have short spiky hair as I remember them looking like in 2002), MFZB, Forty Hour Train Back to Penn and Foot in Mouth Disease (these bands still had the spiky hair in 2003) would of fit in more and done much, much better in 2002's culture rather than 2003's. I bet if Splinter came out in 2002 it would be a much better album, too. Warped Tour 2003 was good. I enjoyed myself but not as much as 1996-2002 (which I absolutely love).

As I remember it, 2003 was the last year of that Creed-like Post-Grunge (the singer sounds like he's gargling but I don't think these guys brush their teeth often) but also the beginning of the post-post-Grunge Alt. Metal style that bands like Three Day's Grace and later-era Breaking Benjamin were playing. Nu Metal was also still hanging on in 2003. Those stupid turntable centric yo-yo wigger albums (crap but better than Panic at the Fallout Paramore's 2005 stuff) like Meteroa, Blackout, Faceless or even Take a Look in the Mirror in late 2003 were still pretty successful but things like MC Freddy Durst hugely disappointed his "fanz" with that crappy Results May Vary album signaled the end of "da era." The anticipation for the next Bizkit was too high for an album like that. You also had jangly Alt-Pop Rock bands like the Goo Goo Dolls with Sympathy or Matchbox 20 with Unwell still on the radio and MTV. Rock music in general started (key word: started) to become very homogenized in 2003 after being very diverse in the years before it. In 2004, it was two things: Faux-Emo and Post-Post Grunge; both of which intercepted and had an influence on each other. Hip Hop had entered a new era with Fiddy Cent (my boy fiddy is like the Kurt Cobain of the 2000's) and Lil Jon taking over as the new hot artists and 2003 didn't have a fun little "Real Slim Shady" or "Without Me" tune (neither did the rest of the decade. No Shady theme, no fun) for me to enjoy so I can't say "hey, this isn't too bad. Not the best but not too bad." 2004 is actually a slightly better year for hip hop because it's when To the 5 Boroughs was released and that's the very last hip hop album that I give a damn about (aside from Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2). RnB still had a soulful sound as I recall which died around 2004-ish. I also remember 2003 being the year that I stopped hearing songs like "Backstreet's Back" and others on the radio.

Movies were decent in 2003. I like the Hulk because of it's goofy graphics and how it's basically an unintentional comedy and X2 is a really good action movie but Daredevil was f*cking stupid (Ben Afflick is such a dork). None of these movies compare to the great Spider-Man, the best superhero movie ever created. Matrix: Reloaded was pretty sick with Ted Neo doing all those sick tricks, Bruce Almighty was super hilarious and ultra good, Finding Nemo is a good comedy (for the whole family), Return of the King is ok but not very ADHD-friendly (and that is very offensive to me) and T3 is good (I don't care what anybody says. I know it's not as good as the mighty T1 or T2 but it's still pretty good). Fashion in 2003 was very mixed between the styles of the years prior (spirit of 1998) such as baggy dickies pants and shorts, chain wallets, white-boy Nu Metal dreads, tube socks, loose t-shirts, spiky frosted hair, puka shell necklaces, tomboy styles and spirit of 2004 fashions like generic mean girls fashion, Zac Afron 2005 shaggy bangs hair and somewhat more fitted shirts. I think it leaned towards the former, though. Skateboardin' n XTREME!!! rad sh!t wasn't as big this year as the three years before it because everyone started to go all wimpy and crap. DVD's and VHS were on equal footing in 2003 but by the end of the year it was clear DVD was winning, the 5th generation pretty much lost whatever presence it had left, XP started to overtake 98 and ME with the arrival of SP1a, I remember more people buying mp3 players during the later half of 2003 (no, not iPods, in case you're wondering. I remember them being more prominent in 2004) but dial-up still reigned as the supreme master over broadband. TV wise, well you had all those real 00's shows like the OC, Arrested Development and One Tree Hill but you also had stuff like Friends, Robot Jones (a show that was not allowed to exist in the real 00s) Frasier, Buffy and Sabrina. One thing that sticks out to me about TV is 8 Simple Rules when John Ritter died. Those later seasons, while still good, felt a lot different without him. Videos games were good but I can't think of any I liked at the moment except Tony Hawk Underground. It was good but 2003 didn't have a Pro-Skater like the years before it.

This was also when my friends slowly started losing interest in road trips and going to shows which was kinda a bummer. For the most part it wasn't a big change as only a few people left and "grew up." However, we all stopped our shenanigans in 2005.

Overall the year felt more serious and focused and all that stupid crap but it still had a bit of that bright, XTREME! sunshiney sense. I'll always cherish and miss 2000, 2001 and 2002 over it but I'm still very nostalgic for it and miss it much, much more than the rest of the decade. As for my vote? Neither. It's not a typical early 2000's year nor is it a typical real 2000's year.

"Nice essay, Jordan! What the hell is this crap!?" ;D


My parents also bought a separate computer for the kids complete with broadband Internet, and I started going on websites like Funnyjunk, Habbo Hotel, Yahoo! Music etc. and I really got into a lot of the pop and rock music at the time like Sum 41, Simple Plan,  SR-71, Blink 182, Kelly Clarkson, New Found Glory, Sugarcult, Ocean Avenue, Bowling For Soup etc. one of these is not like the other.


Two of those, actually. ;) Kelly Clarkson for one and you mentioned a bunch of Pop Punk bands but Ocean Avenue is an album (by Yellowcard). :P


To me early-mid (or Spring-Summer) of 2003 still had the early 00's culture. The transition from the early 00's culture took place between late 2003 - early 2004. 2004 is the first year where the core 00's culture took over, but it still had a few early 00's leftovers that remained in the early part of the year. The core 00's culture starts in 2003, but I can't say which month as I'm never good as giving specific dates.

If I had to try and break it down a bit in terms of culture in the '00s as a whole (2000-2009).

Early 00's culture: Early 2000 - Early 2004
Core 00's culture: Late 2003 - Mid 2007
Late 00's culture : Late 2007 - Late 2009

Now this is probably inaccurate as I'm not sure on where everyone else would say the Core 00's culture actually ended.


I agree with your chart. It seems pretty accurate to me!

As I mentioned in another thread, I don't think there really was a mid/core 2000's, culturally speaking. That decade is more split into two halves: 2001-2004 (early 00's) and 2005-2008 (late 00's). 2000 is culturally associated with the late 90's/Y2K culture, while 2009 is associated with the early 10's culture. That being said, 2003 is an early 00's year.