Stereogum called it "as auspicious as punk debuts come", further noting that on the album, "most of the Fugazi elements were in place from the jump, albeit in a somewhat less-developed form.

"[13] In a 5-star review for Allmusic, Andy Kellman called the album "timeless" and wrote that "the importance of this record can perhaps be more suitably measured by the number of people who remember the first time they heard it.

Furious, intelligent, artful, and entirely musical, it's a baker's dozen of cannon shots to the gut -- not just a batch of emotionally visceral and defiant songs recorded by angry young men, but something greater.

"[4] Consequence of Sound called it "a solid classic, instantly grabbing the ear with a timeless quality that you just don’t find every day.

13 Songs, for instance, has sold over three million copies -- all without radio singles, music videos, or any of the tools of corporate publicity that help musicians reach that stratospheric level of success.

"[19] According to Conrad Keely of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, the album along with Unwound's Fake Train "epitomized America's disaffected, self-hating white middle-class guilt victims screaming about the fact that they have nothing to do with their time other than be bored, nothing to speak out against other than their own ennui and unwarranted discontent.