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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American Idiot did the unthinkable for Green Day: it made them respectable. Arriving at the mid-point of the 2000s, it was the quintessential big important rock protest record of the George W. Bush era, embraced by listeners who never bothered with the neo-punk trio before, listeners who now turned to the group as some kind of voice of a generation -- an impression only heightened by their duet with U2, a veritable passing of the torch that raised expectations for the sequel to American Idiot. Sensible punks that they are, Green Day opened the escape hatch and bolted, creating a new identity as Foxboro Hot Tubs, an unabashed old-fashioned garage-rock band with a debut called Stop Drop and Roll!!! seemingly designed to play nonstop on Little Steven's Underground Garage Radio for all of 2008.

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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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