VA - Forty : Forty - The Dr. Martens Boxset (2000)

First embraced by the mods, Dr. Martens shoes have been a staple of British pop culture and global youth culture virtually since the company debuted its original eight-holed workers boot on April 1, 1960. Though rivaled only by Converse's Chuck Taylor hightops as the official shoe of rock & roll, Docs certainly don't require their own freakin' box set to celebrate their longevity, yet Virgin compiled one anyway -- assembling 40 tracks in honor of the shoemaker's 40th anniversary, Forty Forty is more of a footstool than a box set, arriving packaged in cherry-red leather complete with AirWair tag. Outside of Dr. Martens collectors sure to be lured by the 28-page color booklet, it's difficult to imagine who might purchase this set -- the music itself is great, spanning from Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" to the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" to Morrissey's "Every Day Is Like Sunday," but while much of the material evokes either the mod or rudie cultures that most fervently claimed these shoes as their own, none of these tracks are remotely uncommon, and most listeners are sure to have the majority in even a merely adequate record collection. And would it have killed Virgin to license Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"?