On Fire
by Galaxie 500

On Fire by Galaxie 500
Year: 1989
Release date: 1989-10-23
Overall rank: 439th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 601 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1989 (6th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1980s (62nd)
Award Top 500 albums of all time (439th)

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Galaxie 500 bestography

On Fire is ranked as the best album by Galaxie 500.

Galaxie 500 album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (439th)
On Fire
Lower ranked (1,724th) »
Today

(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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On Fire track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (880 - 162 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (162 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Track pick (880 - 162 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (162 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Track pick (880 - 157 votes)
Average Rating: 88 (157 votes)Comments: View 2

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

On Fire rankings

On Fire rankings summary
Overall rank: 439th | 1980s rank: 62nd | 1989 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: 1 hour ago)
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 WasinskiTop 100 Music Albums of 198984/1001
2026Foxforce5Top 37 Music Albums of 198927/371
2026 arthurbittencourtTop 99 Music Albums of the 1980s79/994
2026LittleM1971Greatest Music Albums: 501-60093/100 -
2026LittleM1971Top 89 Music Albums of 198916/894
2026Exist-en-cielTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s82/1004
2026 arthur237Top 100 Greatest Music Albums57/10041
2026 TakaTop 100 Greatest Music Albums86/10015
2026 imacgillTop 100 Music Albums of 19898/1005
2026blueandthemoonTop 33 Music Albums of 198930/331
2026 slatsheitTop 100 Greatest Music Albums72/10028
2026 TakaTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s83/1004
2026leniadTop 101-200 Greatest Music Albums46/100 -
2026 HeliosTop 100 Music Albums of 198973/1001
2026UntitledTop 26 Music Albums of 19895/264
2026 swedTop 53 Music Albums of the 1980s35/537
2026 dihansseTop 60 Music Albums of 198920/603
2026Rm12398Top 26 Music Albums of 198913/263
2026 flamingyesdeptTop 100 Music Albums of the 1980s64/1007
2026ornot27Top 66 Music Albums of the 1980s16/6615
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 508
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 3,817
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

On Fire collection

On Fire ratings

Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 601 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 601 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
 !
08/20/2026 14:32 Taka  Ratings distribution  1,08380/100
 
30/100
 !
08/13/2026 01:08 ToadieCoyote  Ratings distribution  4359/100
 
80/100
 !
08/02/2026 18:44 Milhaud  Ratings distribution  2,14671/100
 
80/100
 !
07/20/2026 08:51 Scrabbler  Ratings distribution  29076/100
 
85/100
 !
07/14/2026 01:56 AAL2014  Ratings distribution  4,21275/100

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 81.8/100, a mean average of 80.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 82.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.2.


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On Fire comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 41 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:  
85/100
From 06/02/2026 07:49 | #314749
"On fire". Indeed. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 05/24/2023 21:08 | #297204
Great album, probably not for everybody, but I totally get the vibe of this record. Some tracks are gorgeous harmony of slow paced instrumentals and vocals. My favorite are: Strange, When Will You Come Home, Decomposing Trees, Tell Me, Another Day, Isn't It A Pity.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/01/2023 23:54 | #293489
The group create a unique and engaging sound on this release that has led to me always getting excited when I revisit this album. Musically, it is heavy and slow with each song being beautifully built up with a large amount of attention being put on every track. We open the record with a fantastic cut that sets the tone for the music we are about to experience and is a brilliant introduction. The other bookend of the album closes it off perfectly with a beautiful cover of Isn't It A Pity which they make their own and the quality on the song is stunning. I thoroughly enjoy the different feel their instrumentations brings to us as well as it gives the music an edge a lot of other records don't have. Also, I love the vocal performance on here and it only adds to how special this record is. Overall, this record is consistently great and is slightly under appreciated for how much quality is present all across this release.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/18/2022 01:42 | #287557
masterpiece
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 03/30/2022 10:05 | #283600
whoa, my new favorite band
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
55/100
From 09/20/2021 19:49 | #273998
Horrid vocals, amateurish guitar playing, monotonous rhythms, yet somehow pulls through with some euphoric moments, even if On Fire is largely uninteresting. Maybe I'll get slowcore at some point, but for right now it just seems like pointless drivel to me. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 04/08/2021 22:19 | #268352
Que álbum impressionante! Lindas camadas de som e distorção!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 04/08/2021 14:26 | #268325
"Hey, can you strike your guitar on the one, the second off-beat, and the fourth beat"

"For this song?"

"No, the whole album"

"Sure, can you then sing like someone is choking you"

"For this song?"

"No, the whole album"

"I'm sure glad we're not repetitive and bland like the hip hop and pop that posers listen to nowadays"

Wasn't surprised to find out they were American. It clarified a lot rather. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (2 helpful | 4 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/27/2021 18:11 | #265185
I've come to appreciate it more in the course of time, but it still hasn't clicked. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
40/100
From 04/16/2020 20:58 | #250043
Give me all the unhelpfuls you like, but I don't see the appeal of this. All songs sound exactly the same to me. Simple hazy chord progressions with somewhat pleasant guitar soloing over a slow beat with little to no dynamism. No hate intended, just my opinion. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (3 helpful | 3 unhelpful)

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