Nail
by Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel
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Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel bestography
The best album by J. G. Thirlwell is Nail which is ranked number 2478 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 646.
(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 Nail on YouTube
Nail track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Nail rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 6 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 50 Music Albums of 1985 | 30/50 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Arthurknight | Top 99 Music Albums of 1985 | 7/99 | 5 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 31 Music Albums of 1985 | 18/31 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 74 Music Albums of 1985 | 37/74 | 3 |
| 2026 |  videoheadcleaner | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 5/100 | 19 |
| 2026 | videoheadcleaner | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 10/100 | 91 |
| 2026 | martintho | Top 38 Music Albums of 1985 | 37/38 | 0 |
| 2026 |  Glitterboiii | Top 50 Music Albums of 1985 | 22/50 | 3 |
| 2026 | videoheadcleaner | Top 100 Music Albums of 1985 | 1/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 47 Music Albums of 1985 | 30/47 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 114 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 646 | |||
Nail collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 28 members
Nail 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 139 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/17/2026 06:55 | TitoVampir | 197 | 76/100 |
| ! | 05/03/2026 11:18 |  Timhop | 28 | 88/100 |
| ! | 03/17/2026 22:56 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,199 | 70/100 |
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 21% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.8/100, a mean average of 72.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 20.9.
Nail favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 13 members
Nail forum mentions
Purplepash 04/21/2025 02:39 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
neilgee 10/30/2023 21:06 in What album are you listening to right now?
dihansse 05/09/2017 20:07 in My discoveries per yearNail comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
James Thirlwell, better known as Foetus, became a protagonist of both the London and the New York counterculture, and, ultimately, one of the most significant musicians of the decade, wedding the punk aesthetics to theatrical and classical-music ambitions. 'Nail', his masterpiece of reckless nihilism and 'trash' as a form of art, is the album that best personifies this approach. Thirwell's musical journey is a tortured vision of hell on earth - a nightmare from which its participant appears unable to awake from.
timtooky 04/24/2014 21:27 | #109984 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
strange and sophisticated music here, nothing for drive-by-listening. it feels like a drunken broadway musical. surely a commendable effort - but also very exotic and a bit offish.
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