Why Britney Matters  Why 'Blackout' Is the Most Underappreciated
Smash Album of 2007  It's Britney, bitch. That's the opening to
the first single released from Blackout, Britney Spears's sex
and drugs masterpiece (though the drugs aren't in the lyrics and
"masterpiece" is a bit of a stretch).  I'm not sure what led me
to the point in life where I'm listening to Britney Spears on
repeat. It started while I was writing about a murder trial, a
trial that I almost got thrown out of—the judge calling me to
chambers, three lawyers and two cops sitting around his desk. He
wanted to know if I had been talking to a juror. I had seen the
juror at the train and said hello. The juror wrote a three-page
memo detailing our conversation, which the judge waved in front
of me. He was deciding whether or not to bar me from the court.
All I could say was, "I'm sorry." I returned to my pew, passing
the smiling accused murderer seated at the end of a long table
in the middle of the court. It was a sympathetic smile, his
bright-re