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There are plenty of stories to tell about triple j's Hottest 100 of 2003.
Powderfinger became the first act to land three songs in the top 10, a remix of a Coldplay song performed far better than its original had the year earlier, and Jet, an Australian act, wrestled back the number one spot for the locals after it'd been taken by Queens of the Stone Age the year prior.
Perhaps the countdown's greatest story, however, is that of its debutantes.
It was the year artists like Missy Higgins, Hilltop Hoods, Jet, The Cat Empire, Pete Murray, Xavier Rudd and The Butterfly Effect made their first big impact on the Australian public. An impact big enough to earn them their debut Hottest 100 spots.
These acts have all gone on to sell a staggering number of records in the years since, they still perform to huge crowds after decades in the game, and now have plenty more Hottest 100 appearances under their belts.
But, in 2003, these fresh-faced acts were experiencing success for the first time. We caught up with some of them to reflect on making it big 20 years ago, and how things have changed.
What was the sound of 2003?
The new rock revival that had kicked off a couple of years earlier with acts like The Strokes and The Vines was still in force in 2003, but audiences were also embracing something far gentler.
"Acoustic music was really big back then," Missy Higgins says. "A lot of the festivals were like, me, John Butler, Pete Murray, George, Xavier Rudd… acoustic, folky, singer-songwriter music was pretty big back then."
"I think it was time for a fresh sound," Mat McHugh, frontman for The Beautiful Girls, who made #62 and #41 in 2003, says. "Rock music had dominated the airwaves for my whole life.
"It seemed there were a whole bunch of musicians emerging that were interested in a wider variety of styles – dub, blues, folk, hip hop – and were attempting to mash them all together."
The laid-back, rootsy, beach-centric sound that had started to make waves via artists like Ben Harper and John Butler really took hold in 2003.
Relative newcomer Jack Johnson scored three songs in the 2003 Hottest 100, for instance, but it was the local talent that got the most attention.
While playing roots music in the early 2000s ended up being pretty good business for a lot of artists, it wasn't a calculated decision for most of them.
"This roots thing started to gather momentum, which was good timing for me with what I was doing," Xavier Rudd says.
"But I felt like I kind of just stumbled into it. My whole thing was pretty quirky, didges with guitars and stuff, no one was doing that, and I didn't see it as anything really commercial. Then, all of a sudden it got traction and became popular, so I was stoked.
"Nothing was planned, it was just a bit of a surprise. I guess the timing was perfect in what I was doing sort of became a flavour."
For Rudd, finding fame was nice, but what he really needed was a pay cheque.
"I had a young kid at that point — I had a baby at 21 — for me, it was a way to earn money," he says.
"We had nothing. We had this little kid, no money, and I was still working a day job. I had a busted car that didn't work. I remember we were eating potatoes, and we'd mix it up by putting a different sauce on the potatoes.
"I was just doing as many gigs as I could just for cash. I made a CD and I'd sell those in my breaks, people would come up and I'd sell, you know, 10 CDs or whatever and I'd have a pocketful of cash — it was a good little money earner."
It wasn't just the laid-back stuff that was thriving.
While Australian hip hop had yet to see its most dominant era by 2003, Hilltop Hoods' appearance in the top 10 of the 2003 Hottest 100 sent a message that the style was becoming a force to be reckoned with.
"It wasn't like coming into hip-hop music now [and there is] the possibility of a career in Australia," Hilltop Hoods' Suffa says.
"There was no career of being a hip-hop musician. That wasn't a job that existed.
"So, having to quit our job in order to tour and, specifically, getting in the top 10 of that countdown that year was very surprising. Still is."
Heavy acts like Cog, Sunk Loto and The Butterfly Effect were also beginning to enjoy success as young audiences embraced a new breed of dark, hard-edged bands as nu-metal's glory days faded quickly.
"This country has produced some of the best music in the world," Clint Boge, frontman of The Butterfly Effect says.
"It's extremely humbling and I feel very privileged to be a part of it still. It largely can be contributed to the fact that all those bands got out and toured their bums off."
A little help from their friends
Touring with the artists who'd built their audiences in the late-90s, an era considered the glory days of Australian alternative music, helped introduce audiences to this new breed and instilling some confidence into their younger compatriots.
"I was super inspired by The Waifs," Higgins says.
"I was lucky enough to support them just coming out of high school. They took me around the country. I just watched them every night telling stories and pulling the audience in like they were just playing to friends in their living room.
"Of course, the fact that they were singing in an Australian accent, which was not that common back then, definitely helped shape my own style."
"Grinspoon took us out on the road a bunch of times," Boge recalls. "One of our first tours was with Grinspoon and 28 Days, which was amazing.
"Going out on the road with Cog and then having our mates Karnivool burst onto the scene doing great things. There was a sense of camaraderie."
That solidarity between artists was not necessarily a given, as the intense pressure of trying to break through sometimes meant mateship took a beat seat.
"I think there was definitely a sense of camaraderie in certain areas of the industry, with artists who were breaking at the same time," Missy Higgins says. "There was a feeling that we're all fish somehow making it in this small pond together.
"At the same time, I think me and my fellow females that were coming up at the time did feel a lot of competitiveness with each other, because of the fact that it really felt like there wasn't much room for all of us to make it at the time, which, of course, I don't think was true.
"But it's just hard when you're a very small industry in a comparatively small country compared to America.
"I remember going over to America and being like, 'Wow, everyone really supports each other over here, people want to help each other become more successful'. That was something that I really had not felt in Australia at that point."
"I was always filled with anxiety and impostor syndrome after being so suddenly thrust into the spotlight," McHugh admits.
"We did make some really good friends who are still close to this day.
"There was one memorable time in the USA when we were scheduled to open for an Australian roots act who kicked us off because he didn't want to 'share the spotlight'. We probably all have different definitions of camaraderie."
The pros and cons of making music 20 years on
The music industry has been majorly disrupted over the past 20 years, as technology changes the way people consume, market, and make music.
The biggest downside of this new era is the dwindling resources major music companies dedicate to emerging artists now that they earn less money through record sales.
"There was a lot more money in the music industry in Australia, because the streaming services weren't sucking the finances out of the industry and the record companies were able to really support local artists," Higgins says.
"So, artists were able to make a career out of touring the country and out of actually selling albums and selling singles, which is very different from the industry now."
The democratisation of music creation through simple, portable, inexpensive recording set-ups has given us new sounds, new stars, and new ideas about what is possible with limited resources. Something artists could only dream of in 2003.
"It was before making music on your computer became so popular," Higgins says. "I think, with that, people started making way more programmed music and electronic music in their bedrooms, which brought on a new wave of music in Australia and around the world.
"But, back at that point, it was very much real instruments as opposed to computers."
While few people consider this to be a bad thing, there is a natural yearning for this 'realness' to remain.
"Anybody can make a polished sounding song on their laptops," McHugh says. "It's heading towards human beings not even being needed in the process.
"I still value all the things that make music human, all the slight imperfections and being able to express a human feeling are what makes music beautiful to me."
There are a raft of good things about the present state of music, and it's not just benefiting younger artists. Those who never really gelled with being beholden to the timelines set by record industry bosses.
"It's so different," Katy Steele, whose band Little Birdy nabbed two spots in the 2003 countdown says. "Back then it was about selling records. Now, you can get a song up for streaming within a month.
"Personally, because we're so disorganised as artists, I love the new format. You don't make any money, but I love the fact that you can just put a single up and then you can just put another single up. I love the fact that you can just do what you want.
"I love that freedom and the creativity that you can get involved in. There's no plan you have to stick to these days, and I think that's really cool."
Relive the Hottest 100 of 2003 on Double J this Saturday. Tune in right here.