In 1999, the Magnetic Fields released 69 Love Songs, a three-CD collection of post-postmodern compositions that revealed writer Stephin Merritt as the most ambitious gay wit since Oscar Wilde. Queers have long excelled at irony; in 69 Love Songs, Merritt exploded the concept with his catalog of high-concept, lo-fi love songs about love songs about love songs that should've won him a Pulitzer. Instead, all he got was eternal glory and a hell of a lot to live up to.