by In honor of the list-making obsession that kickstarted this very site, here’s a list of lists. More specifically, it’s a round-up of ten interesting “Best of the Decade” lists that are currently saturating the internet. I’ve mostly avoided the Best Songs/Movies/Books categories in favor of weirder, minutiae-oriented stuff. Some of these are notable for their thought-provoking content and unique criteria, while others are just funny. And in recognition of the no-fair-voting-for-yourself clause, I’ve avoided listing any of Popten’s fantastic decade lists, like Celebrity Meltdowns and Storyteller
10. Cognitive Dis: 21 Great Albums with Questionable Cover Art, 2000-2009 (The Onion AV Club)
Bulletproof Wallets alone is proof that cover art can be both Awesome and Highly Questionable. Also, if the band Mew is reading this: whoa, guys.
9. Decade Retrospective: Who Had An Awful Decade? (Deadspin)
I like the criteria for this list:
“By a bad decade, we’re not talking about fads that inevitably evaporated. (No Elian Gonzalez, or “Livin’ La Vida Loca.”) We mean people and concepts that, on December 31, 1999, were respected and/or revered, reputations that were devastated by the last 10 years.”
Interesting how Michael Richards and M. Night Shyamalan are both valid inclusions, though the former tarnished his reputation in a single moment while the latter took advantage of the entire decade.
8. The Best New Buildings of the Decade (Curbed)
This list is notable on a personal level, because The Hearst Tower (#10) looks an awful lot like a building I designed and built out of cardboard tetrahedrons in 3rd grade, except mine stuck out of the ground at a 45 degree angle and was structurally unsound.
7. The Best Music of the Decade: Inside the Ballots (Rolling Stone)
The list itself isn’t too mind-blowing, but there’s something about seeing the handwritten scrawl on Lars Ulrich’s ballot that really gives me the urge to write Metallica fan fiction. Also, kudos to Tom Morello for listing his own solo project as the 14th best album of the decade.
6. The Top Ten Health Scares of the Decade (ABC News)
I’m glad they remembered to include cell phones.
5. One Hit Wonders of the 2000s (Billboard)
This list does not include Little T and One Track Mike’s “Shaniqua”. Don’t bother reading it. Watch this instead.
4. Top Ten Science Fiction Disappointments of the Past Decade (io9)
Forgot this:
3. Our Favorite Film Scenes of the 00s (The Onion AV Club)
Any list that includes the hammer fight from Oldboy and the “going into town” sequence from Wet Hot American Summer belongs on a list of great lists. It’s always fun to get away from camp, even for an hour.
2. Tactical Blunders (Newsweek)
Remember when John McCain nobly suspended his campaign to jet back to Washington DC and save us from financial collapse, and how that moved an entire jittery nation to elect him president in an historic landslide?
1. Top 10 PETA Protests of the Decade (UPI)
Body painting: the most effective form of protest next to self-immolation.
