Peking Duck, and buttered popcorn! That is funny - of course taste is also just as unifying as it is is separating us. So the lists have that function.

I think my animosity against such lists is because I don't share the hierarchical way of viewing our existence - the same reason, I believe, others like these lists so much: They bring order - but not truth.

There is also the fact that none of us know. I could look at Sophia Loren or Beatrice Dalle or Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe all day, but the most beautiful girl is probably in a baker shop in Belarus or is a hair dresser in Lagos. The best blues is played on a porch somewhere.

So as a general pointer to how a certain persons taste is composed, I think they can be fine. When some authority like Rolling Stones or the Danish State does it I am much less enthusiastic :)