Confusion Is Sex
by Sonic Youth
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Sonic Youth bestography
Confusion Is Sex is ranked 14th best out of 44 albums by Sonic Youth on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Sonic Youth is Daydream Nation which is ranked number 74 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,857.
(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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Confusion Is Sex track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 73 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Confusion Is Sex rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | CripplingAutism | Top 71 Music Albums of the 1980s | 38/71 | 10 |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 55 Music Albums of 1983 | 41/55 | 1 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1983 Pt 2 | 1/5 | - |
| 2026 | culwin | Top 67 Music Albums of 1983 | 63/67 | 0 |
| 2026 |  meccalecca | Top 49 Music Albums of 1983 | 31/49 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 1983 | 77/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | JamesMowbray | Top 99 Music Albums of 1983 | 9/99 | 5 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 61 Music Albums of 1983 | 30/61 | 3 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1983 | 65/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 27 Music Albums of 1983 | 21/27 | 1 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 99 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 217 | |||
Confusion Is Sex collection
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Confusion Is Sex ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 179 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/25/2026 14:30 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 06/22/2026 21:49 | bjorndedrij | 178 | 55/100 |
| ! | 06/20/2026 14:23 |  DommeDamian | 7,879 | 48/100 |
Rating metrics:
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 70.7/100, a mean average of 69.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 70.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.2.
Confusion Is Sex favourites
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Confusion Is Sex forum mentions
Mercury 03/21/2023 18:43 in Greatest Metal According to Gowi/LedZep/Repo/Rocky and I!
Romanelli 06/05/2022 15:19 in Albums You Added To Your Collection Today
neilgee 05/02/2022 20:14 in What album are you listening to right now?View all forum mentions
Confusion Is Sex comments
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Awesome album but it takes more than a few listens to click. It's a solid debut album but it only hints at how great they would become
Best Tracks: Shaking Hell, Inhuman, Confusion Is Next
Difficult debut, but love the lo-fi charm. Kind of a bad move putting a live cover of I wanna be your dog right in the middle of the album but there are some good songs. Protect me you is the best song here
teague TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/27/2021 22:21 | #266761 | TOP COMMENT
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As far as debut albums go, this is pretty great. Confusion Is Sex is a lot more aggressive and noisy than the later Sonic Youth efforts I've come to know and love.
Norman Bates 06/26/2013 14:24 | #79891 | TOP COMMENT
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Three good tracks: "Shaking Hell", "Inhuman", "Confusion Is Next". Beyond that it's a difficult listen, even for a Sonic Youth enthusiast as I.
Startling and adventurous, but disorganized. I love the krautrock ethos, but on this record, it seems to lack any clarity or direction.
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