Goo
by Sonic Youth

Goo by Sonic Youth
Year: 1990
Release date: 1990-06-26
Overall rank: 493rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 796 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1990 (6th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1990s (85th)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (493rd)

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Sonic Youth bestography

Goo is ranked 2nd best out of 43 albums by Sonic Youth on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Sonic Youth is Daydream Nation which is ranked number 75 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,885.

Sonic Youth album bestography « Higher ranked (75th)
Daydream Nation
This album (493rd)
Goo
Lower ranked (549th) »
Sister

(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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Goo 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
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (880 - 209 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (209 votes)Comments: View 2
2.
Track pick (870 - 182 votes)
Average Rating: 87 (182 votes)Comments: View 2
4.
Track pick (880 - 224 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (224 votes)Comments: View 6

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

Goo rankings

Goo rankings summary
Overall rank: 493rd | 1990s rank: 85th | 1990 rank: 6th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 RhynerTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s94/1001
2026 PurplepashTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s16/10017
2026 neilgeeTop 100 Music Albums of 199023/1004
2026SkernsTop 69 Music Albums of 199057/691
2026MasterOfPuppetsTop 500 Albums: 201-30052/100 -
2026cicadelicTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s19/10016
2026 videoheadcleanerTop 80 Music Albums of 199070/801
2026LittleM1971Top 86 Music Albums of 199025/864
2026Cheboygan74Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s74/1005
2026 baystateoftheartTop 47 Music Albums of the 1990s33/476
2026Foxforce5101 - 20055/100 -
2026PapaShiz86Top 50 Music Albums of 199013/504
2026 HaydenTop 50 Music Albums of 199037/501
2026 cestuneblagueTop 100 Music Albums of 199018/1004
2026 TheDarkOrbTop 10 Music Albums of 19909/101
2026 SomethingSpecialTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s80/1004
2026lanadeleswiftTop 32 Music Albums of 199016/323
2026RangerTop 100 Greatest Music Albums41/10059
2026 Norman BatesTop 100 Music Albums of 19905/1005
2026MasterOfPuppetsTop 100 Music Albums of the 1990s64/1007
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 594
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 3,460
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Goo collection

Goo ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 796 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 796 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 !
08/05/2026 10:32 SomethingSpecial  Ratings distribution  1,78482/100
 
40/100
 !
08/02/2026 15:42 marcoserra1966  Ratings distribution  86759/100
 
75/100
 !
07/30/2026 01:10 xhitmanx  Ratings distribution  1,57274/100
 
90/100
 !
07/23/2026 12:12 Charlesd  Ratings distribution  11183/100
 
90/100
 !
07/12/2026 17:53 liquidbottle  Ratings distribution  77582/100

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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.8/100, a mean average of 79.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.


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Goo comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 38 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:  
80/100
From 07/09/2025 03:36 | #310005
With this album I find it's necessary to let go and embrace the noisiness and distortion, as if the music were trying to put you in a trance, and then I do like it. It helps that their playing is amazing, and nowhere more so than on "Kool Thing". Still not a noise-rock fan, but I like most of this album. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/21/2023 08:10 | #297699
Great, a bit more accesible follow-up to Daydream Nation remaining in similar style, but little less noisy. My favorite tracks are Dirty Boots, Song For Karen, Kool Thing and probably the most underrated song here - Disappearer.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/30/2021 11:14 | #274468
Dirty Boots is one of my favorite songs of all time. But as the album progresses it doesn't hold my interest in the same way as daydream nation. Obviously I still love it or it wouldn't be getting a 9/10 from me. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/11/2021 02:25 | #264179
Sonic Youth were never my favorite, but this was the album that came closest to convincing me I was wrong.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/08/2021 19:51 | #264050
This poppier approach works better for me than Daydream Nation. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/28/2020 17:05 | #261571
Very good album but not their best. I like how they paid tribute to Karen Carpenter, that was nice. Good album to break into the '90's.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/11/2020 21:37 | #246721
Great.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 07/20/2019 18:06 | #240045
Favorite Tracks:Dirty Boots, Cinderella's Big Score
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 05/28/2019 20:22 | #236845
I m new to sonic youth I had heard and read about them but never sat down and paid attention well I finally did and look forward to go through their discography
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 11/20/2018 15:55 | #225294
First 7 tracks are excellent, on par with their best albums. But then comes a 3 track run which sadly isn't as good. Not terrible, but not good enough for SY record. That being said there are a number of underrated songs here, especially the closer Titanium Expose and Mote which are so good. And yes, Dirty Boots is one of their best tracks, incredibly good. All in all another excellent Sonic Youth record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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