Heroin (track)
by The Velvet Underground & Nico
Year: 1967
From the album The Velvet Underground & Nico (track #7)
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Heroin appears on the following album(s) by The Velvet Underground & Nico:
- The Velvet Underground & Nico (track #7) (this album) (1967)
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Heroin 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.
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Showing latest 3 ratings for this track. | Show all 1,113 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/18/2026 08:12 | Johnnyo | 45,678 | 80/100 |
| ! | 05/23/2026 23:03 | seaniedimes_ | 838 | 78/100 |
| ! | 05/18/2026 20:45 | NickD89 | 7,105 | 72/100 |
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 93.0/100, a mean average of 91.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 93.2/100. The standard deviation for this track is 13.4.
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Heroin comments
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LAF2 04/16/2015 01:24 | #139615
A few nights ago, I was lying in bed and listening to this and had one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.
When listening to Heroin, I usually choose to focus on either John Cale's viola or Maureen Tucker's drums.
This night, I decided to go with the drums.
In a daze at about 1:00 in the morning, I was about to drift into sleep. My eyes were drooping, my breath slowing, and my perception dwindling. Suddenly, my mind, for lack of a better word, synchronized Tucker's tribal pounding with my own heartbeat.
Suddenly, my arms began to tremor and my mind was flooded with flashes of images. I had an out-of-body experience and saw myself in a messy apartment strewn with clothes, sheets, and papers. There was an open window, the only source of light in the dim apartment, that sat right in front of a man sitting on the filthy carpet. The man was me. Wind that had funneled through the narrow streets outside found its way in, blowing the drapes toward me, beckoning me, but the other me who was sitting on the floor in the apartment between myself and the window, seemed unaware, enveloped in his own thoughts and completely unaware of his surroundings.
As I continued to listen to the song, images kept flittering underneath my eyelids. I became aware that I was seeing urban decay as I walked the streets of a nameless city. I then was in the middle of the ocean, underneath blue skies, feeling the salt and water droplets from the ocean slowly coating my skin as I sailed into the wind to who knows where.
I escaped.
Between all these flashes, I kept seeing myself sitting in that apartment, reveling in my solitude and dissatisfaction with life, thinking of ending things.
Suddenly, with Cale's viola still screeching, Tucker's drumming stops around 6:20 into the song, and I am jolted awake and quickly sit upright in my bed, mesmerized by what just happened.
I don't know exactly what happened that night, or what the other me did in that apartment, but that night, for the briefest of moments, I finally escaped. (Edited)
Grouse 07/26/2018 14:44 | #218810
Heroin is probably the best song about any drug, why? Well becuase this song explains the feeling of the drug. It does that with the lyrics, the sound of Lou Reeds voice and the tempo and intensity of the music. This song is just, wonderfull. (Edited)
How can you describe the rush of a drug (or any ecstatic "high") both in lyrics and music? Well this is it. Perfect in every way! (Edited)
Trickington 07/22/2012 15:41 | #47043
The lyrics are stunning, same with the tempo changes. The only thing I hate about the song is the annoying loud buzz of violins in the background. I think it would've been better if they made them quieter. They do add to the atmosphere of chaos, but they're just a bit too loud.
I've never done heroin, and I have no intentions to ever touch it. However, this song gives you a good image of what heroin would be like for the user-both during the experience and the chaos and terror that a users life may be fraught with if they developed a dependency. It truly is one of the finest songs in history. (Edited)
