According to "Rolling Stone", "Marquee Moon" is a post-punk album, while Jason Heller from "The A.V. Club" described it as "elegantly jagged" art punk. Robert Christgau regarded it as more of a rock record because of Television's formal and technical abilities as musicians: "It wasn't punk. Its intensity wasn't manic; it didn't come in spurts." As Tom Moon observed, Verlaine's singing avoids the "cursory punk snarl" while the band's music demonstrates "extended instrumental sections, impenetrable moods" (as on "Torn Curtain") and historical rock influences like Chuck Berry and the early music of the Rolling Stones (as on "Friction").