Top Cultural Game-Changers

The ‘00s were full of important contributions to culture, but which ones will we still be talking about in another decade? Here are some of New York’s picks:

• TV: The Sopranos for inventing quality cable, American Idol for changing the music industry, and of course all things Oprah Winfrey.
• Books: The Da Vinci Code for singlehandedly sustaining the book industry, and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay for blazing the trail of combining geek lit with high lit.

• Movies: The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Identity—“Not art, but everyone will imitate it”—and Best in Show, one of the greatest mockumentaries ever.
• Art: David Hammons’ pitch-black gallery with tiny blue lights was “the best manifestation of life in the bad days after 9/11.”
• Architecture: Hearst Tower for being the first tall building to emerge after 9/11, and IAC Headquarters for challenging long-held ideas about office buildings.
• Music: The Strokes’ Is This It, which everyone is still trying to imitate; Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak for defining the Auto-Tune era; and, sadly, Britney Spears’ Oops I Did It Again.
• Theater: Mamma Mia!—the only Broadway show that will probably still be running in 2020—and The Producers: “Man, remember when that silly musical with the dancing Nazis was the hottest ticket in town? How the hell did that happen?"
• Comics: Infinite Crisis and Civil War, DC and Marvel's enormous crossover events, and Japan’s mega-selling Naruto.

For the complete list, click here.
(More best of the decade stories.)