Rock N Roll Animal
by Lou Reed
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Lou Reed bestography
Rock N Roll Animal is ranked 5th best out of 38 albums by Lou Reed on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Lou Reed is Transformer which is ranked number 146 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 9,248.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Rock N Roll Animal on YouTube
Rock N Roll Animal track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Rock N Roll Animal rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Leonard | Top 99 Music Albums of 1974 | 40/99 | 3 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of 1974 | 12/100 | 4 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 41 Music Albums of 1974 | 28/41 | 2 |
| 2026 | mikepen | Top 40 Music Albums of 1974 | 26/40 | 2 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1974 | 76/100 | 1 |
| 2026 |  MadhattanJack | Favorite Live Albums | 6/60 | - |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 100 Music Albums of 1974 | 30/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Tamthebam | Best of The 70s Pt.2 (101-200) | 35/100 | - |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 99 Music Albums of 1974 | 75/99 | 1 |
| 2026 | Kettwig | Top 18 Music Albums of 1974 | 18/18 | 0 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 177 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 696 | |||
Rock N Roll Animal collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 152 members
Rock N Roll Animal ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 246 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/16/2026 09:37 |  Norman Bates | 10,193 | 75/100 |
| ! | 06/23/2026 05:31 | MadhattanJack | 6,029 | 66/100 |
| ! | 06/15/2026 01:39 | classicjoe | 507 | 78/100 |
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 is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.2/100, a mean average of 77.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.4.
Rock N Roll Animal favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 32 members
Rock N Roll Animal forum mentions
Rock N Roll Animal comments
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bigeyedfish 12/11/2013 01:59 | #97216 | TOP COMMENT
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Very good at what it is, but what it is isn't quite Lou Reed. His songs, arranged as intense stadium rock with dual dramatic virtuoso guitars. Still a worthy edition to any Lou collection, as it's an important piece of his history, a big part of what he's known for, and rather good in it's own Rock N Roll Animal Way.
Tamthebam TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/02/2015 09:01 | #130627 | TOP COMMENT
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One of the best Live albums ever. Lou Reed at his best stoned & out of control.
As a big VU fan, it's hard to listen to Heroin and WHWL for the first time on this album. I love the glammed up versions of the Loaded songs, but it's hard to listen to the other two after already falling in love with the experimental nature of the original recordings. I'll give it a few more listens though.
The intro sweet jane that opens this album is intoxicating and among the best opening tracks in rock.
Nobodyisemo 10/20/2015 15:45 | #151773 | TOP COMMENT
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I can't, in good conscience, give this album more than an 85. It's sonically fucking amazing and should be taking up a place in my top 20. However, as mentioned by bigeyedfish, the atmosphere is not Lou Reed, it's not lousy street urchin squirming for a fix.
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