The Message (studio album)
by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

The Message by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Year: 1982
Overall rank: 3,764th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 119 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1982 (58th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (563rd)
Award Best albums of all time (3,764th)

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Grand Master Flash And The Furious Five, The Message, 1982 1st Sugar Hill
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Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five The Message SH 268 1982 OLD SCHOOL RAP
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Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five–The Message-2010 -Sugar Hill Records – SH
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Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five bestography

The Message is ranked as the best album by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five album bestography « Higher ranked
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The Message
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(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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The Message track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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1.
Rating: 79 (22 votes)Comments: View 0
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2.
Rating: 77 (23 votes)Comments: View 0
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Rating: 76 (20 votes)Comments: View 1
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Rating: 75 (20 votes)Comments: View 0
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Rating: 68 (18 votes)Comments: View 0
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Rating: 67 (18 votes)Comments: View 0
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Rating: 89 (87 votes)Comments: View 2
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The Message rankings

The Message collection

The Message ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 119 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 119 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
55/100
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27 hours ago NYAndreas  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 91955/100
 
65/100
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4 days ago Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 37268/100
 
65/100
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10/07/2025 06:16 MaxStorm98  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,77390/100
 
5/100
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09/06/2025 05:11 Proto  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 3,63433/100
 
65/100
 Report rating
04/13/2025 12:56 Mafedere  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 31777/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.3/100, a mean average of 72.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.4.

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The Message favourites

Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite

The Message comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 11 comments |
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Rating:  
55/100
From 03/01/2023 08:40
Stand out tracks are their two UK hits "The Message"(8) and "Scorpio"(77). If "Dreamin'" and "You are" weren't on this album then it would have been a good EP.
#294582 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 12/02/2021 14:19
rap. project street music as its finest some soul and funk as well
#276998 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/15/2021 02:48
The first 4 tracks are very good and the track, The Message, is one of the greatest songs of all time. Dreamin and You Are are,
antonymously, some of the worst soul songs and worst songs PERIOD of all time.
Honestly, if tracks 5 and 6 just weren't in the album, this would seriously be one of the top ten albums of all time.
#264443 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/21/2019 19:27
Run DMC didn't sound this good in '87, it was actually '83 when they released Sucker MCs and consequently made these dudes sound and look like they were from a bygone era. And by the time of Sucker MCs, they were. This album came out in October '82 and then Sucker MCs in March '83 which then ushered in the new school, subsequently kold krushing the disco rappers and Sugar Hill and stomping all over them with hard 808s, addidas and Def Jams...by July '83 Whodini had dropped their first album.
#230207 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 06/25/2018 00:28
Ground breaking songs such as "the message" are paired with poor tracks leading to an uneven album.
#217228 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 10/24/2016 18:39
A bit of filler on the back half, but holy hell is this a great record.
#177374 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/30/2016 21:17
1982!!! That's all I gotta say.

Well ok, I'll say more: Holy Cow... this song is from 1982... it definitely sounds old school, but WAAAY ahead of it's time. Run-DMC didn't sound this good in 87.
#164902 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 04/16/2016 21:21
C'mon. There's some classic/great tracks on here (message,Scorpio,it's nasty) but dreamin and you are, are just horrible. Stevie wonder they were not. Singles wise they were up there with the best of the 80s, album wise no.
#163944 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/29/2015 18:01
This is old school hip-hop in a nutshell. I can't stop dancing.

8.5/10

Fav Tracks: It's a Shame, The Message
#144797 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/02/2014 19:37
I love this album. It is so innocent, so pure. The roots of hip hop.
#113553 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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Best Albums of 1982
1. Thriller by Michael Jackson
2. The Dreaming by Kate Bush
3. The Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden
4. Pornography by The Cure
5. Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen
6. 1999 by Prince
7. Avalon by Roxy Music
8. Rio by Duran Duran
9. Love Over Gold by Dire Straits
10. The Nightfly by Donald Fagen
11. New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) by Simple Minds
12. Combat Rock by The Clash
13. Imperial Bedroom by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
14. Peter Gabriel (1982) by Peter Gabriel
15. Big Science by Laurie Anderson
16. English Settlement by XTC
17. Screaming For Vengeance by Judas Priest
18. Hex Enduction Hour by The Fall
19. Bad Brains by Bad Brains
20. The Lexicon Of Love by ABC
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