Unbest

In early December 2011, as the great year-end listmaking bonanza began once again to sweep the Internet, we started wondering: What if there was an outlet for writers and fans to celebrate the music that meant the most to them over the course of the previous year, regardless of who made that music or when it was released, without having to worry about lists or rankings or points or quantification? What would that look like? 

Over the next two months, we got our answer: It would look like dozens of folks—professional writers, aspiring professional writers, staunchly self-professed “non-writers”—spilling their guts on a hugely diverse array of artists, waxing honest and gut-wrenching and melancholy and often very funny. It looked like nothing we could have predicted the afternoon we hastily cobbled together our original mission statement and threw together the website before the notion passed us by.

A huge huge thank-you is due to all the writers who submitted (often multiple entries!) and to everyone else who supported the project with links and kind words.

We’ve already been asked if Unbest will return at the end of 2012; we have received at least a few threats of bodily harm if it does not. The answer is, well, it probably will. To keep tabs on us, you can like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. You can also read through the 2011 archives by scrolling below or by perusing the list right here:

• Austin L. Ray on Action Bronson’s Dr. Lecter (2011)
• Lindsay Eanet on Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (from Armageddon - The Album, 1998)
• Evan Minsker on The Gap Band’s Gap Band IV (1982)
• Vicki Mayowski on The Avett Brothers
• Ian Mathers on Subrosa’s No Help For the Mighty Ones (2011)
• Cristina Martin on Fleet Foxes’ “Helplessness Blues” (from Helplessness Blues, 2011)
• Meagan Morrow on Wild Flag’s Wild Flag (2011)
• Kasia Galazka on St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy (2011)
• Daniella Joseph on LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (2011)
• Meghan O’Dea on The Magnetic Fields’ “I Think I Need A New Heart” (from69 Love Songs, 1999)
• Erin M. Routson on “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj (from Pink Friday, 2010)
• Ian Mathers on Jónsi’s Go (2010)
• Gray Chapman on The Kills’ Blood Pressures (2011)
• Lindsay Rhoades on Washed Out, Dirty Beaches, and rejecting the trappings of supposed adulthood
• Erin M. Routson on Sonic Youth
• Brooke Hatfield on her most feelingiest songs of 2011
• Kim Huston on PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011)
• Julia Askenase on Blood Orange’s Coastal Grooves (2011)
• Themarq on Radiohead’s “Give Up The Ghost” (From The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, 2011)
• Brian Collins on Bruce Springsteen’s “Candy’s Room” (from Darkness on the Edge of Town, 1978)
• Kolleen Alexandra on The Mountain Goats’ “This Year” (from The Sunset Tree, 2005)
• Ani Vrabel on Kanye West’s “Runaway” (from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010)
• Heather Hansman on Dawes’ “A Little Bit of Everything” (from Nothing is Wrong, 2011)
• Anonymous on Florence & the Machine’s “No Light, No Light” (from Ceremonials, 2011)
• Caroline Klibanoff on Okkervil River’s “Plan D” (from Golden Opportunities 2, 2011)
• Alicia Johnson on LCD Soundsystem
• Brenda Cromb on The Handsome Furs’ “When I Get Back” (from Sound Kapital, 2011)
• Leslie Dunn on Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” (2011)
• Alvin Diec on his favorite album covers (2011)
• Rachel Bailey on Talking Heads’ “This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)” (from Speaking in Tongues, 1983)
• Erin M. Routson on Crime Mob’s “Circles” (from Hated On Mostly, 2007)
• Kim Huston on Morrissey
• Pete Rorabaugh on Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove” (1981), The Avett Brothers’ “When I Drink” (2006) and New Order’s “Everything’s Gone Green” (1981)
• Jeremy D. Larson on Third Eye Blind’s “If There Ever Was A Time” (2011)
• Susannah Young on EMA’s Past Life Martyred Saints (2011)
• Lyndsie Bourgon on The Black Keys’ “Everlasting Light” (from Brothers, 2010)
• Jason Sanderbeck on Kurt Vile’s Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011)
• Jill Guccini on Florence & the Machine’s Ceremonials (2011)
• Dylan Kight on Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
• Melanie Killingsworth on Arcade Fire’s “Keep the Car Running” (fromNeon Bible, 2007)
• Kim Huston on Drake’s Take Care (2011)
• Marcus Rosentrater on Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (2011)