Five Years (track)
by David Bowie
Year: 1972
From the album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (track #1)
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Five Years appears on the following album(s) by David Bowie:
- The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (track #1) (this album) (1972)
- Bowie At The Beeb (track #25) (2000)
- A Reality Tour (track #28) (2010)
- Stage (track #3) (1978)
- Live Santa Monica '72 (track #7) (1994)
- Live Nassau Coliseum '76 (track #9) (2017)
- The Collaborator - The Legendary Broadcasts (track #13) (compilation) (2016)
- The Collaborator - The Legendary Broadcasts (track #41) (compilation) (2016)
- Welcome To The Blackout (Live London '78) (track #13) (2018)
- Five Years (1969-1973) (track #30) (compilation) (2015)
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Five Years 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 1,022 ratings for this track.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Track ratings | Avg. track rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/20/2026 04:30 |  nextorgd | 340 | 97/100 |
| ! | 08/03/2026 14:24 | Leginlists | 615 | 84/100 |
| ! | 07/24/2026 03:08 | Exist-en-ciel | 170,513 | 71/100 |
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 92.3/100, a mean average of 91.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.4/100. The standard deviation for this track is 11.8.
Five Years favourites
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Five Years comments
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A great track about missing out on life when it is cut short, from the mundane wave, irons and TVs to time spent with a loved one. He tells how different people react and how society breaks down, the climax of the song shows the narrator breaking down as an incoherent string section overwhelms him. The song ends with a drum beat fading out like a beating heart. A beautiful song and a perfect introduction to the album. (Edited)
Truly one of the best opening songs to a album I’ve ever heard, it’s so powerful as it builds up. (Edited)
Awesome opening track to a great album.
Tied with Ashes to Ashes as my favorite Bowie track.
I'm very happy it's rated so highly on this site -- it seems to be overlooked in so many other places. It's probably not objectively better than Life on Mars or Heroes, but I do think it could be his third best track
AAL2014 04/28/2020 16:49 | #250638
This song runs the exhilarating emotional gambit better and more convincingly than a number of entire albums I could reference. Sonic brilliance, an incredible aura, and one of the best Side 1 Track 1s ever. Period. (Edited)
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