Fire Of Unknown Origin
by Blue Öyster Cult

Fire Of Unknown Origin by Blue Öyster Cult
Year: 1981
Release date: 1981-06-22
Overall rank: 2,141st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 156 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1981 (32nd)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (318th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,141st)

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Blue Öyster Cult bestography

Fire Of Unknown Origin is ranked 2nd best out of 34 albums by Blue Öyster Cult on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Blue Öyster Cult is Secret Treaties which is ranked number 1558 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,101.

Blue Öyster Cult album bestography « Higher ranked (1,558th)
Secret Treaties
This album (2,141st)
Fire Of Unknown Origin
Lower ranked (3,003rd) »
Agents Of Fortune

(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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Fire Of Unknown Origin track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Fire Of Unknown Origin rankings

Fire Of Unknown Origin rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,141st | 1980s rank: 318th | 1981 rank: 32nd  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 2 hours ago).

Fire Of Unknown Origin collection

Fire Of Unknown Origin ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 156 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 156 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !
04/22/2026 07:50 Liks_on_music  Ratings distribution  65581/100
 
60/100
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04/16/2026 17:01 gmessian  Ratings distribution  38560/100
 
100/100
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04/03/2026 11:58 Andras  Ratings distribution  25578/100
 
95/100
 !
03/30/2026 21:42 Strixen  Ratings distribution  4689/100
 
45/100
 !
03/15/2026 04:53 Herdandhokies  Ratings distribution  37755/100

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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.1/100, a mean average of 76.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.5.


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Fire Of Unknown Origin comments

Showing all 9 comments |
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From 03/27/2024 12:15 | #302706
Music in the 6th track is from Russian folk
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/15/2024 18:03 | #302013
BOC has always made an solid impression. Such a good lp
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
As a teenager this vinyl saw a lot of spins and having recently given it a good clean I am pleased that it plays as well as ever. I don't think I would describe any of the tracks as weak. Joan Crawford and Burnin for You are my favourite tracks.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
The last truly great BOC record. Martin Birch turns in a great job behind the board. For BOC, it is one of their more consistently heavy records...and love that album cover.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
The first three cuts alone make a great album. Then throw in Joan Crawford and a host of other solid songs and this is a BOC classic.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 06/05/2016 10:49 | #167899
One of my favorite album and mémoires !
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 01/23/2015 04:18 | #132300
Inconsistent, but still makes me happy.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
Excellent BOC album. Great way of changing with the times but still staying with their own sound. Joan Crawford, Psychic Wars, Vengeance, Burnin For You are faves.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
Not quite sure where to place an album that has songs as great as “Burnin' for You” and “Joan Crawford” and songs as cheesy as “After Dark” and “Sole Survivor.” And, speaking of cheesy, “Heavy Metal: The Black And Silver” would be right at home on a Spinal Tap album. But that’s fairly typical of BOC: their best material is very rewarding and their worst is pretty tough to take.
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