Blackstar
by David Bowie
  • Record Label: Columbia
  • Release Date: Jan 8, 2016
User Score
8.8

Universal acclaim- based on 745 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 691 out of 745
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 745
  3. Negative: 36 out of 745
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  1. nofilla
    Jan 22, 2016
    3
    Sometimes I think artists come out with albums and just because they're famous means we have to like it. U2 for example...awesome band until pop...every since than they're albums have gotten worse and worse. Look at the strokes...freaking phenomenal band until the last few albums. Unfortunately, this has happened to David Bowie in my opinion as well. Yes, he is a freaking awesome rock starSometimes I think artists come out with albums and just because they're famous means we have to like it. U2 for example...awesome band until pop...every since than they're albums have gotten worse and worse. Look at the strokes...freaking phenomenal band until the last few albums. Unfortunately, this has happened to David Bowie in my opinion as well. Yes, he is a freaking awesome rock star who led the way to countless acts. Yes, his albums are always obscure but yet relatable at the same time. I always thought Outside was one of his best albums ever but it was seemingly hidden from peoples view and most of the critics didn't get it.
    Now I feel like I don't get Blackstar...like the critics didn't get Outside. Like another reviewer stated, if this came out from an unknown act it would have been forgotten before it was released. I love David Bowie but Blackstar was not his life defying composition.    … Expand
  2. antmolly1995
    Jan 10, 2016
    2
    The trouble with artists as revered as Bowie is that they are lionized to such a degree that many critics and fans alike lap up anything they offer and ask for more.

    This is a virtually unlistenable album masquerading as high art.
  3. MnM
    Jan 9, 2016
    0
    A nearly unlistenable, cacophonic piece of garbage. If Bowie's name wasn't attached to it, the release would have been forgotten the minute it was released.
  4. Diosa
    Apr 26, 2016
    0
    I know this wont be popular (so I wont be reading any comments) but I listened to this before he died and thought it was awful. And I havent changed my mind now that he is dead. Sounds like a self-indulgent noise to me and probably he was trying to find a way of coming to terms with dying and fine if that's what he wanted to do and people are buying it and like it. But we are all entitledI know this wont be popular (so I wont be reading any comments) but I listened to this before he died and thought it was awful. And I havent changed my mind now that he is dead. Sounds like a self-indulgent noise to me and probably he was trying to find a way of coming to terms with dying and fine if that's what he wanted to do and people are buying it and like it. But we are all entitled to our opinions.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Best Album of 2016
14
#14 Most Discussed Album of 2016
21
#21 Most Shared Album of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 43
  3. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. Magnet
    Mar 30, 2016
    100
    Kudos to producer Tony Visconti and the tight jazz team around them for making Blackstar dynamic. If Bowie indeed knew time was tight and death’s release was imminent, this treatise to magic and loss is a gorgeous way to say goodbye. [No. 129, p.52]
  2. The Wire
    Feb 18, 2016
    80
    It is a fine, unnerving album. [Mar 2016, p.45]
  3. The Skinny
    Jan 26, 2016
    80
    Blackstar is an absorbing (if consciously arty and perhaps a shade self-indulgent) listen.
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