When you pop a Mozartkugel in your mouth, you can tell if the chocolate and marzipan confection is authentic or not. But is that portrait on the wrapper the real Mozart? Did he actually look like that? Come on, now!

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Stephen Thomas Erlewine
To nobody's surprise, the final two are David & David, the least predictable final two since, oh, Clay and Ruben? To be fair, most Idol finales are predictable -- did you expect Carrie Underwood not to make the final two? -- but the producers' manipulations this season have been glaringly apparent from the get-go, culminating in the delivery of Syesha's execution papers in the form of that song from Happy Feet. It's an end that's strangely appropriate to this election year, a year that began with many Democrats claiming they'd be happy if either Hilary or Barack won. For me, that's also true of American Idol this year: I'm going to be equally unhappy with either winner.

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We love 1999 a whole lot, but maybe not quite as much as we love making lists. Each month (or so), until we have covered every year we can remember (unless we get tired), we will take a look at our favorite albums and singles released during a given year. In the year 1999, Basement Jaxx, Eminem, Mos Def, the Flaming Lips, the Dismemberment Plan, the ageless Tom Jones, the mighty LEN, and dozens of others produced nonperishable goods that would've gotten us through a Y2K drought of just about any magnitude.

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