On Fire
by Galaxie 500

Album
On Fire by Galaxie 500
Year: 1989
Release date: 1989-10-23
Overall rank: 428th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 603 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 (428th)

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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 (428th)
On Fire Lower ranked (1,713th) »
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)
Blue Thunder
Average Rating: 88 (162 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
Tell Me
Average Rating: 84 (140 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Snowstorm
Average Rating: 86 (144 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Track pick (880 - 162 votes)
Strange
Average Rating: 88 (162 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
When Will You Come Home
Average Rating: 84 (136 votes)Comments: View 1
6.
Decomposing Trees
Average Rating: 86 (139 votes)Comments: View 0
7.
Another Day
Average Rating: 85 (136 votes)Comments: View 0
8.
Leave The Planet
Average Rating: 81 (123 votes)Comments: View 1
9.
Plastic Bird
Average Rating: 82 (123 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Track pick (880 - 157 votes)
Isn't It A Pity
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: 428th | 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: 5 hours ago)

On Fire collection

On Fire ratings

Average Rating: 
82/100 (from 603 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 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 603 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !		41 hours ago traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,77779/100
 
65/100
 !		09/01/2026 15:19 AndyLish79  Ratings distribution  50581/100
 
85/100
 !		08/30/2026 09:17 Scrabbler  Ratings distribution  29176/100

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 81.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.1.


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On Fire favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 79 members

Exist-en-ciel
Ilovesuicide
elcapnsunshine
Iglou2981
edguyerrison
brent13
slatsheit
rubkill
kieranthewalrus
Untitled

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 146 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/14/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by flamingyesdept () 1. by (1980) 2. by (1986) 3. by (1985) 4. by (1984) 6. by (1983) 8. by (1985) 9. (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. (1980) 12. by (1988) 13. (1984) 14. by (1982) 15. by by by (1989) 18. (1980) 19. (1989) 20. by (1985) 22. by…”
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From BestEverAlbums 08/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5392): By leniad
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by ) 1. by (1989) 3. by (1984) 4. (1982) 5. by (1980) 6. by (1986) 7. by (1989) 8. by (1985) 9. (1980) 10. by (1984) 11. (1986) 12. by (1983) 13. by (1988) 14. by (1984) 15. (1983) 16. by (1989) 17. by (1989) 18. by (1982) 19. (1980) 20.…”
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From BestEverAlbums 07/27/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5386): By Antonio-Pedro
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (2019) 2. (1999) 3. by (2000) 4. by (2013) 6. by (2007) 7. by (1989) 8. by (2011) 9. by (2014) 10. by (1998) 11. by by by (1996) 14. (2012) 15. (2012) 16. by (1997) 17. by (2019) 18. by (2022) 19. by by by (2003) 22. (1991) 23. by…”
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On Fire comments

Showing latest 5 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)
Reply
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)
Reply
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)
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Rating:  
100/100
From 07/18/2022 01:42 | #287557
masterpiece
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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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)
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Best Albums of  1989
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2. Disintegration by The Cure
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4. Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys
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