In The Flat Field
by Bauhaus

Album
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In The Flat Field by Bauhaus
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-11-03
Overall rank: 1,221st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 300 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1980 (31st)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (195th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,221st)

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Bauhaus bestography

In The Flat Field is ranked as the best album by Bauhaus.

Bauhaus album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (1,221st)
In The Flat Field Lower ranked (2,964th) »
Burning From The Inside

(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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In The Flat Field track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Double Dare
Average Rating: 80 (73 votes)Comments: View 1
2.
In The Flat Field
Average Rating: 84 (79 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
God In An Alcove
Average Rating: 79 (65 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Dive
Average Rating: 77 (61 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Spy In The Cab
Average Rating: 78 (63 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Small Talk Stinks
Average Rating: 72 (59 votes)Comments: View 0
7.
St. Vitus Dance
Average Rating: 75 (63 votes)Comments: View 1
8.
Stigmata Martyr
Average Rating: 80 (65 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
Nerves
Average Rating: 79 (63 votes)Comments: View 1

In The Flat Field rankings

In The Flat Field rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,221st | 1980s rank: 195th | 1980 rank: 31st  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)

In The Flat Field collection

In The Flat Field ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 300 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 300 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !		08/11/2026 22:43 serpico  Ratings distribution  90685/100
 
50/100
 !		06/19/2026 09:28 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,69948/100
 
80/100
 !		06/11/2026 15:30 Leonard  Ratings distribution  6,62570/100

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 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.3/100, a mean average of 76.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.6.


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In The Flat Field favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 46 members

DonPlankie
rfowler
NickF
Repo
Robmc70
matterhornrider
Gammarus1979
mash
telegram
LordZeppelin

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 41 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/23/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5413): By telegram
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by telegram () 1. by (1972) 2. by (1967) 3. (1980) 4. by (1979) 5. by (2006) 8. (1999) 9. by (1988) 10. by (2004) 11. by (1979) 12. by by (1969) 14. by (2020) 15. by by (2008) 17. by by by (1979) 21. by (1998) 22. by (1983) 23. by (2013) 25. by…”
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From BrunoDMartins 09/20/2025 18:37 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
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From LittleM1971 08/29/2025 22:11 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum post →

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In The Flat Field comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 10 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:  
5/100
From 05/03/2023 05:27 | #296551
1st Gothic rock was Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath in 1970.
Gothic rock is The Cure.
This album is more Avantgarde Punk or Trash-Rock (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
40/100
From 01/03/2023 17:24 | #292481
I really can't stand this sh*t. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 01/25/2022 04:37 | #280046
so haunting
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/05/2019 02:58 | #234521 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Striking debut album from an influential band. The sound is omnious and hypnotic. Best tracks for me are Double Dare, The Title Track and Stigmata Martyr.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 12/03/2015 06:10 | #153841 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Like all Bauhaus albums (imho), the songs are hit or miss. "Stigmata Martyr" is an untouchable gother-than-sin masterpiece, and "In the Flat Field" and "Double Dare" are up there too. But then there are tracks like "Dive" that you just have to suffer through. I admire Bauhaus for their adventurousness, but they're at their best when their funkier ambitions slip into background.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of  1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure