Retrospectively, "Keep Yourself Alive" is cited as the highlight of Queen's debut album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that while "Queen" "too often . . . plays like a succession of ideas instead of succinct songs", "is an exception to that rule — the wild, rampaging opener 'Keep Yourself Alive,' one of their very best songs". In 2008, "Rolling Stone Magazine" rated the song 31st on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". The magazine dubbed "Keep Yourself Alive" as "Brian May's statement of purpose: a phalanx of overdubbed guitars crying out in unison, with rhythm and texture from over-the-top effects. . . . an entire album's worth of riffs crammed into a single song."