"NME" listed "Generation Terrorists" as the 18th greatest debut album from the last 50 years, describing the record as "angry as it was bright, the Manics blowtorched their manifesto in pulverising punk guitar squeals." In a 2012 "In Depth" feature, Dom Gourlay of Drowned in Sound declared "Generation Terrorists" to be the most important debut of the 1990s. In a February 2011 issue of "Q" it was voted by readers at #77 in "The 250 Best Album's of Q's Lifetime" featuring albums between 1986 and 2011. The same magazine gave the record the award for Classic album in the Q Awards in 2012.