A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

ESSENTIAL READING: Thousands of music albums are produced each year -- some good, many bad, but few so completely useless as to merit the scorn of the Onion A.V. Club's. As regular a December appearance as the New York Times' "who died?" issue and irrelevant college football bowl games, the Onion's annual awards for the least essential albums of the year are now online. Among the highlights:

LEAST ESSENTIAL COVERS ALBUM

Toto
Through The Looking Glass

Who's that reproducing the riddims of Bob Marley's classic "Could You Be Loved" at the opening of Through The Looking Glass? Why, it's Toto, the blowsy '80s standby known for such hits as "Africa" and "Rosanna"! For those who love Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and Bob Dylan but are constantly complaining that their songs could be more Totofied, Through The Looking Glass is as good as it gets. Everyone else should panic and flee, trampling loved ones if necessary.

Still online for your time-wasting pleasure are the 2001, 2000 and much-beloved least essential albums of the 90's awards. Snark-o-rama, indeed.