Ashes To Ashes (track)
by David Bowie
Year: 1980
From the album Scary Monsters (track #4)
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Ashes To Ashes appears on the following album(s) by David Bowie:
- Scary Monsters (track #4) (this album) (1980)
- Changesbowie (track #13) (compilation) (1990)
- Sound + Vision (track #46) (compilation) (1989)
- The Singles Collection (track #25) (compilation) (1993)
- A Reality Tour (track #18) (2010)
- The Best Of David Bowie 1980/1987 (track #2) (compilation) (2007)
- Changestwobowie (track #5) (compilation) (1981)
- Fame And Fashion (track #12) (compilation) (1984)
- Legacy (track #21) (compilation) (2016)
- The Collaborator - The Legendary Broadcasts (track #46) (compilation) (2016)
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Ashes To Ashes 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 track. | Show all 561 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/11/2026 23:57 |  Musicbuff123 | 857 | 71/100 |
| ! | 08/03/2026 14:28 | Leginlists | 615 | 84/100 |
| ! | 07/31/2026 18:41 | Christian889 | 229 | 94/100 |
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 tracks can have several thousand ratings)
This track is rated in the top 1% of all tracks on BestEverAlbums.com. This track has a Bayesian average rating of 91.8/100, a mean average of 91.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.1/100. The standard deviation for this track is 11.4.
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Ashes To Ashes comments
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Grzywa 01/13/2016 09:30 | #156422
Such a perfect song. My favourite of Bowie's. It's got everything there: new wave sound, sinister junkie funk sound, on to a classic doo-wop chord progression inspired chorus. And those lyrics... "I never done good things/I never done bad things" is my personal highlight. Plus he ruins the dthen decade old statue of heroic Major Tom. 100/100.
Entirely agree with Grzywa. My all time fav lyrics: "My mama says to get things done ..."
DeusExMackia TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/08/2022 10:49 | #291141
I hate to use such overused hyperbole, but there really is nothing else quite like this that I've ever come across. truly some of his best songwriting, which really is saying something. So clean yet so freakish, letting its darker underbelly shine through the façade in just the right way. After a decade of personas, to release such a jarring, wild song about coming to terms with being someone else hits in a way that nothing else does. Absolutely incredible. (Edited)
One of my favorites songs by Bowie
Goliath 03/06/2021 12:28 | #267010
Haunting track from Bowie, one of his best.
