Killing Joke
by Killing Joke

Killing Joke by Killing Joke
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-10-05
Overall rank: 2,415th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 226 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1980 (47th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (365th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,415th)

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Killing Joke bestography

Killing Joke is ranked as the best album by Killing Joke.

Killing Joke album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (2,415th)
Killing Joke
Lower ranked (2,611th) »
Night Time

(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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Killing Joke track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Killing Joke rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,415th | 1980s rank: 365th | 1980 rank: 47th

Killing Joke collection

Killing Joke ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 226 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 226 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
35/100
 
5 days ago Pavloss  Ratings distribution  38050/100
 
40/100
 
04/15/2026 16:00 wizardalien  Ratings distribution  81748/100
 
100/100
 
03/25/2026 11:21 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  3,38983/100
 
75/100
 
03/17/2026 01:33 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  9,58570/100
 
100/100
 
03/06/2026 14:41 CrazyDiamond84  Ratings distribution  9161/100

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 76.8/100, a mean average of 75.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.3.

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Killing Joke comments

Showing all 6 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:  
40/100
From 04/15/2026 16:00 | #313941
A solid debut but nothing really stands out. Enjoyed the instrumentals but none of the tracks really excited. Requiem was my favourite track.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 11/04/2021 18:30 | #275861
really interesting driving punk rock prog
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 12/16/2018 17:30 | #227300
Disagree with the notion of this being overrated, if anything, its severely underrated! Great bass and drum grooves, jangly and jagged guitars, late 70s post-punk vocal delivery, borderline post-hardcore at times, punky yet melodic. I'm hearing Cure, Gang Of Four, Wire, and Television influences off the bat... With only 2 comments and 133 ratings (before mine) and ranked at 43rd of 1980, 324th of the 80s, and 1999th all time respectively, this album is highly underrated in my opinion.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/10/2016 13:34 | #172693
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Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -6 votes (0 helpful | 6 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 01/08/2015 06:21 | #131053
This is the ablum that started industrial rock (and from which Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden got their badass sound). That's a pretty monumental achievement. It's rough and brusque, relentlessly so. One of the most underrated works on this site.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 10/25/2014 13:54 | #125310
Legendary album. Inspired a huge number of Post-Punk bands and Heavy Metal bands, especially with songs like "Requiem".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 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. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure
10. Making Movies by Dire Straits
11. Sandinista! by The Clash
12. Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies
13. Pretenders by Pretenders
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18. Ace Of Spades by Motörhead
19. Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
20. Dirty Mind by Prince