Bad Moon Rising
by Sonic Youth

Bad Moon Rising by Sonic Youth
Year: 1985
Release date: 1985-03-29
Overall rank: 2,293rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 253 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1985 (27th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (345th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,293rd)

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Sonic Youth bestography

Bad Moon Rising is ranked 7th 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 14,880.

Sonic Youth album bestography « Higher ranked (1,710th)
Washing Machine
This album (2,293rd)
Bad Moon Rising
Lower ranked (2,621st) »
Murray Street

(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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Bad Moon Rising rankings

Bad Moon Rising rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,293rd | 1980s rank: 345th | 1985 rank: 27th  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: 2 hours ago)

Bad Moon Rising collection

Bad Moon Rising ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 253 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 253 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
90/100
 !
4 days ago SomethingSpecial  Ratings distribution  1,78982/100
 
85/100
 !
07/03/2026 01:51 Gussy  Ratings distribution  1,26188/100
 
30/100
 !
06/22/2026 18:26 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,66848/100
 
70/100
 !
03/17/2026 23:11 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,46870/100
 
100/100
 !
02/05/2026 11:31 LoxiasV  Ratings distribution  1790/100

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 73.1/100, a mean average of 72.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.9.


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Bad Moon Rising favourites

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

Bad Moon Rising comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 14 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
80/100
From 11/28/2020 17:27 | #261577
Difficult at times, other times you can hear them coming into their own. Highlights are Death Valley '69, Ghost Bitch
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/16/2020 04:52 | #255658
Admittedly their most inaccessible album, but it still has a lot of great moments.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 04/30/2020 23:58 | #250746
A bit of the avant-garde never hurt anyone. I heard this was an influence on Kevin Shields for his MBV masterpiece. I could see that.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 01/13/2019 04:09 | #229616
Good album.

Favorite tracks: Death Valley '69

B+
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
More than the sum of its parts. Cluttered and awesome. Songs overlap into each other. The guitar work is imaginative, and still so human despite the alien structures of the songs. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 11/03/2017 20:12 | #200510
Best Tracks: Death Valley '69, Brave Men Run (In My Family)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
40/100
One of my least favorite SY releases, there are a few pretty good songs here and there, but overall most of this stuff is pretty boring and forgettable.

Favorite Tracks: Intro/Brave Men Run, I'm Insane, Death Valley '69
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
idk why early sonic youth is so underrated, i find it more amusing than the most famous albums

the mixing of this album is great, though confusing as songs begins one minute into the previous one. the soundscape is genius

love it, my key to be a SY fan
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/17/2014 19:19 | #127252
Got me into Sonic Youth.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
5/100
From 04/25/2014 22:14 | #110082
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -8 votes (0 helpful | 8 unhelpful)

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