Naked
by Talking Heads

Naked by Talking Heads
Year: 1988
Release date: 1988-03-15
Overall rank: 3,686th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 261 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1988 (48th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (542nd)
Award Best albums of all time (3,686th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
Naked - Audio CD By Talking Heads - GOOD
Condition: Good


eBay
eBay
Talking Heads – Naked - Purple LP Vinyl Record 12" - NEW Sealed - 2023 Reissue
Condition: New


eBay
eBay
Talking Heads - Naked LP - Sire OG Press w/Inner Vinyl Gorgeous NM
Condition: Used


  My favourite store:  

Talking Heads bestography

Naked is ranked 9th best out of 18 albums by Talking Heads on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Talking Heads is Remain In Light which is ranked number 25 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 27,181.

Talking Heads album bestography « Higher ranked (2,337th)
The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads
This album (3,686th)
Naked
Lower ranked (4,672nd) »
True Stories

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to Naked on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Naked rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,686th | 1980s rank: 542nd | 1988 rank: 48th

Naked collection

Naked ratings

Average Rating: 
69/100 (from 261 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 261 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !
05/11/2026 16:40 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,43470/100
 
0/100
 !
05/10/2026 05:17 shanelovesyou111  Ratings distribution  71571/100
 
60/100
 !
04/26/2026 15:02 Pavloss  Ratings distribution  48850/100
 
60/100
 !
03/29/2026 10:57 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  3,61883/100
 
80/100
 !
03/22/2026 18:10 platus  Ratings distribution  5,85274/100

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 has a Bayesian average rating of 68.6/100, a mean average of 67.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 68.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.1.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Naked favourites

Showing all 14 members who have added this album as a favourite

Naked comments

Showing all 8 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:  
90/100
From 11/30/2023 20:04 | #300222 | TOP COMMENT
It's taken a long, long time, but I've finally come to appreciate Naked for what it is: A bizarre, somewhat experimental album from a band that had completed a full transformation by the end of its third and final artistic "phase". It's not the nervous Talking Heads of the late 70's, or the groove-oriented Talking Heads of the early 80s. The anxiety-ridden lyrics are still there, the grooves are still there, but they've fused the two together to create a completely different sound this time, and serves as an excellent coda to their career.

If you just can't stand the minimalism (The Facts of Life, Cool Water) or you can't stand the bombastic arrangements replete with vampire-esque Byrne vocals (Blind, Mr. Jones), you at least owe it to yourself to check out Nothing But Flowers. This magnificent song has every TH hallmark: the groove, the lyrics, and the spectacular full ensemble performance (listen to Tina's bass)! Nothing But Flowers is Talking Heads' magnum opus, an instant classic, and their final transcendent work. Naked isn't a perfect record, but it's a very good one that halts the momentum slide that began (slightly) with Little Creatures and serves as a creative exclamation point for their career as a band. Well done.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
30/100
From 03/10/2022 06:01 | #282592
Boy did this one bore the crap out of me.

It happens.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 05/27/2020 18:23 | #252332
A couple of surprising good tracks. Ruby Dear is a standout.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 03/14/2018 19:45 | #210908 | TOP COMMENT
Maybe it's because I love Talking Heads so much but I actually thought this was pretty decent. There are some awkward moments and moments that simply don't work but David Byrne's songwriting reaches new heights and the instrumentation is unique and fun as ever.

Liked it, but definitely for completists.

85/100
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 05/18/2017 07:41 | #190983 | TOP COMMENT
Of course it's no Remain In Light or Fear of Music, but it's certainly a good deal better than Little Creatures or True Stories. Doesn't deserve to be the lowest rated Talking Heads album here.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 10/07/2014 19:55 | #123640 | TOP COMMENT
Rather disappointing for one of my top bands overall....
One nice song ---- N.B. flowers.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 11/16/2013 23:49 | #93013 | TOP COMMENT
Wonderful lyrics that really get you thinking.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
30/100
From 05/15/2012 02:15 | #42363
Here they attempt to recapture their old post-punk sound while at the same time remaining commercial. It didn't really work that well for them on either front.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Naked

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below.
The top comments are featured on our aggregated charts!
Log in or create a FREE account to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.