The Big Heat
by Stan Ridgway
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Stan Ridgway bestography
The Big Heat is ranked as the best album by Stan Ridgway.
(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 The Big Heat on YouTube
The Big Heat track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Big Heat 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 |  DommeDamian | Top 14 Music Albums of 1986 | 2/14 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Wasinski | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 49/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | culwin | Top 59 Music Albums of 1986 | 30/59 | 3 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 71/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  imacgill | Top 100 Music Albums of 1986 | 49/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | DommeDamian | Favorite albums with great replay value | 50/81 | - |
| 2026 | DommeDamian | June 26: 101-200 | 71/100 | - |
| 2026 | DommeDamian | Favorite album covers | 18/85 | - |
| 2026 |  Arthurknight | Top 99 Music Albums of 1986 | 95/99 | 0 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 58 Music Albums of 1986 | 17/58 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 47 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 112 | |||
The Big Heat collection
Showing all 11 members who have this album in their collection
The Big Heat 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 37 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 04/24/2026 07:28 | cicadelic | 13,855 | 73/100 |
| ! | 07/15/2025 22:13 | culwin | 1,578 | 75/100 |
| ! | 03/14/2025 04:51 | Moondance | 20,825 | 72/100 |
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 73.2/100, a mean average of 73.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 9.8.
The Big Heat favourites
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Forum mentions
neilgee 07/12/2025 20:34 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)The Big Heat comments
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Sandrof1969 02/17/2018 10:08 | #208516
L'esordio solista dell'ex Wall of Voodoo Stan Ridgway; un album di canzoni a metà tra il metropolitano e la tradizione americana, un personaggio che si pone come un cowboy moderno.
Unfortunately this album is very overlooked, but it's very good. The highlights are The Big Heat, Pile Driver, and Camouflage, and the song Walkin' Home Alone is the best on the album. I'd say it's worth a listen if you want to hear something that has been unfortunately forgotten.
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