The Modern Dance
by Pere Ubu

Album
The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu
Year: 1978
Release date: 1978-02-00
Overall rank: 919th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 411 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1978 (18th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (187th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (919th)

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Pere Ubu bestography

The Modern Dance is ranked as the best album by Pere Ubu.

Pere Ubu album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (919th)
The Modern Dance Lower ranked (3,032nd) »
Dub Housing

(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 Modern Dance rankings

The Modern Dance rankings summary
Overall rank: 919th | 1970s rank: 187th | 1978 rank: 18th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 3 hours ago).

The Modern Dance collection

The Modern Dance ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 411 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help 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 411 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
50/100
 !		03/27/2026 05:20 brent13  Ratings distribution  2,12867/100
 
75/100
 !		03/04/2026 11:27 zrommeke  Ratings distribution  3483/100
 
75/100
 !		01/12/2026 09:28 platus  Ratings distribution  5,86574/100
 
0/100
 !		01/06/2026 23:57 subnam  Ratings distribution  16123/100
 
75/100
 !		12/12/2025 19:50 traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,74279/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 77.7/100, a mean average of 76.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.4.


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The Modern Dance comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 21 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
40/100
From 03/29/2023 13:08 | #295575
Last track is the best from the album, IMHO.
Two singles from 1975th are the best ??? Also next album is better, than this one.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 03/24/2022 22:52 | #283348
I love The Modern Dance. I find it positively accessible compared to some of his more recent stuff.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/27/2021 14:18 | #278061
Not for me, I think that I settle for little less challenging albums...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
5/100
From 09/08/2021 17:03 | #273526
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -5 votes (0 helpful | 5 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/20/2020 10:38 | #253971
Good album a little bit average but ok. I give it a good 85 for interesting noise rock and punk rock like the Sex Pistols.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/13/2018 05:16 | #205362
This album was surprisingly fun to listen to, although I found the last ten minutes or so more of a trial than I typically like.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/04/2016 12:59 | #179561 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One of my all time favorites. Brilliant! A masterpiece.
I first heard this masterpiece in 1980 at universty, and although it sounds relatively tame in 2017, in 1978 'The Modern Dance' was a radical revolutionary new kind of music, birthed in punk - soaked in experimentation and sophistication.
It has dated well, an exceptional work.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 05/31/2016 17:33 | #167437 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A great post punk album. Similar in attitude and presentation with Joy Division's, unknown pleasures. The modern dance, is a fantastic record of alienation, frustration, and anger, and delivered with a swagger. There is no point in picking out individual tracks, it all needs to be listened together in one sitting, like most great albums. A classic late seventies LP.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 05/20/2016 11:05 | #166504 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A challenging album, not to everyone taste. If the listener pays attention it's capable of creating a soundscape environment unlike anything you've heard before. Highly recommended.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 03/25/2015 00:31 | #137720
I was so excited about this on the first listen and on many more to come!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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