The Worst Lyrics of the Decade

It has come to this: a brutal, single-elimination, March Madness–style tournament to determine the most appalling songwriting conceit of the past 10 years. With an assist from various online pals (especially Voice music blog Sound of the City’s own F2K braintrust), we’ve waded through the torrent of political passions (and bodily fluids) unleashed in the aughts and arrived finally at a battle royale between the obvious (Black Eyed Peas) and the not-so-obvious (Liz Phair). It’s a duel so dismaying, in fact, that I’m disinclined to choose between them. No winners here, alas. We are all losers. Better luck next decade. (Just kidding. The Black Eyed Peas take the final in a walk.)