Naked

Talking Heads – Naked: B-Side Breakdown 78 (C+) from 8 critic reviews.

Album cover for Naked by Talking Heads
Released March 15, 1988
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Talking Heads

Naked

78
B-Side BreakdownGrade C+ · 8 critics · 63% approval
B-Side Breakdown78Grade: C+
Approval63%5 of 8 critics scored it 75 or higher
DivisivenessDividedHow close the scores are: most critics land within 32 points of each other

Based on 8 reviews from outlets we track. Scores run 60 to 100.

By the numbers: Talking Heads's best-reviewed album here since Speaking in Tongues (1983). Scores ran from 60 (AllMusic) to 100 (Los Angeles Times).

020406080100Uncut: 60Mojo: 60AllMusic: 60Rolling Stone: 80Spin Alternative Record Guide: 80Robert Christgau: 88NME: 97Los Angeles Times: 100 Breakdown 78
Los Angeles Times via Wikipediaby Chris Willman 4/4 100
NME via Wikipediaby Gavin Martin 9.68/10 97
Robert Christgau via Wikipediaby Robert Christgau B+ 88
Rolling Stone via Wikipediaby Anthony DeCurtis 4/5 80
Spin Alternative Record Guide via Wikipediaby Jeff Salamon 8/10 80
Uncut via Wikipediaby Andy Gill 6/10 60
Mojo via Wikipediaby Keith Cameron 3/5 60
AllMusic via Wikipediaby Michael Hastings 3/5 60

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How the Breakdown works

Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.

A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.

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