Soon after its release "Generation Terrorists" was greeted with a favourable reception from magazines such as "Kerrang!" and RAW, along with a number 15 placing in the "NME" Albums of the Year list for 1992. Andy Gill, music critic for "The Independent", highlighted in a review of the album's 2012 reissue that the music was "derided as sub-Clash" in other contemporary appraisals, but remarked that it "now has an astringent edge". The album's length and lack of "quality control" were common criticisms. Richey Edwards said that "everybody knows the first album would have been better if we'd left out all the crap." The underproduction of the album was a common cause of complaint among the band's adherents until the superior mix of the Anniversary Edition in 2012.