Oh-Five Alive

Will 2005 be remembered as the year music giant Sony BMG began to fall? New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer got 'em in a July exposé on illegal radio payola practices, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott handed them a lawsuit in November over the company's computer-damaging copy protection on new CDs.

The music-loving masses should revel in these licks against a major label and toast to the rest of the bastards getting theirs in '06, but sadly, they'll probably just prattle about George Bush hating black people and Nick and Jessica hating each other. Do the world a favor and buy the gossip-lovers these CDs, the ones that prove that 2005 was worth something after all. This year, we've included top 10 album lists from our most frequent contributors, too.