World Cafe 30th Anniversary Playlist: 2003

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of World Cafe, we're looking back and posting playlists from each year of the show. As music has evolved over the years, so have our playlists, which have grown to reflect a much wider range of music than when we first set out.

2003 was the year of "Stacy's Mom" from Fountains of Wayne, the now-stadium-staple "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, OutKast's incredible double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and several excellent projects from singer-songwriters Josh Ritter, Lucinda Williams and Ben Harper, as well as Warren Zevon's final studio album, released just a month before his passing.

Ben Gibbard appeared on two big albums in 2003: Along with Jenny Lewis and Jimmy Tamborello, Gibbard released the The Postal Service's only album, while Death Cab For Cutie released Transatlanticsm – both critical and mainstream successes. Speaking of the mainstream, there wasn't a dancefloor or pop radio station in the world that didn't wear out the grooves of "Crazy In Love," from Beyoncé's incredible debut solo album, Dangerously In Love. (And let's not forget "In Da Club" from 50 Cent's debut, which we still hear in the club.)

Copyright 2022 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.