The Idiot
by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop bestography
The Idiot is ranked 2nd best out of 36 albums by Iggy Pop on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Iggy Pop is Lust For Life which is ranked number 511 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,397.
(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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Listen to The Idiot on YouTube
The Idiot track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Idiot rankings
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paladisiacThe Idiot collection
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The Idiot 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 547 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 01/29/2026 04:29 | brent13 | 1,858 | 69/100 |
| ! | 01/15/2026 22:22 | glebrus | 194 | 86/100 |
| ! | 01/06/2026 03:16 | Exist-en-ciel | 7,503 | 70/100 |
| ! | 12/23/2025 19:32 | patatajoe | 7 | 49/100 |
| ! | 12/12/2025 02:34 | Olli | 6,754 | 63/100 |
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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.0/100, a mean average of 79.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.
The Idiot favourites
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The Idiot comments
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pedro1976 07/03/2025 22:16 | #309883
an iconic and influential record that still feels fresh
lleon79 01/29/2023 01:21 | #293355
I knew about this record having been produced by Bowie, but after listening to it and reading a bit more, this can be easily considered a Bowie album.
Brandon8 12/28/2022 03:10 | #292272
Iggys’s solo debut was a great collaboration with David Bowie. Best tracks are Sister Midnight, Nightclubbing, Funtime, China Girls and Dum Dum Boys about his old band.
There are some pretty good songs here like Nightclubbing, Funtime and China Girl, the rest isn't so great, but as a whole it works.
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Sister Midnight, China Girl, Dum Dum Boys, and Nightclubbing are really good. The rest are fine. For an album with 8 songs, that's a fine rate, but for me it's not as memorable or as front to back listenable as Lust for Life or the Stooges albums.
Krautrock meets Garage Rock in a nocturnal album with a plenty of industrial influence. Maybe the birth of Post-Punk.
teague 06/24/2020 02:00 | #254344
The Idiot sees Iggy Pop at his most creative. Songs like Nightclubbing and Funtime are good examples of the industrial flavors this album contains, they’re very hypnotic and driving.
santropez 07/21/2019 11:52 | #240075
Favourite track: "Mass Production"
Least-favourite track: "Tiny Girls"
Another album I've loved for years. The opener Sister Midnight is one of my favourite all time tunes - it featured as Red Money on Bowie's Lodger album with different lyrics (and I love that version too).
Also featuring here and to appear later on Bowie is China Girl - again like both versions but prefer Iggy's. Finally, must mention Nightclubbing - there isn't a bad track on this album although Mass Production and Dum Dum Boys won't please everyone. Sadly for me it's just dropped out of my personal top 100 however
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