YG Entertainment's then-CEO Yang Hyun-suk commented that the song was "the most powerful music you have ever heard before.

"[1] Before its release on June 1 at midnight, the members hosted a live streaming on the app V from the news portal Naver, where they talked about the new songs and answered fans questions.

The Japanese version gained a new music video, that is essentially the same as the Korean original, but edited to be shorter in length.

"[5] Billboard placed the track at the tenth spot in their best BigBang songs list, calling the single "impossible to ignore," stating that, even though "the sudden shift in pacing throughout the single come off as jarring upon first listen," the track's "stuttering rhythm," "chaotic environment" and "frenzied energy" makes the song "all that more compelling.

"[7] The Muse felt that the single "savvily hits every note, including anthemic trap breakdown" describing the song as "literally, lit.

[8] Thump choose it as one of best songs of summer, feeling that the "multi-genre banger" is "fire in any language, in any country.

[16] In the United States, the single held the two top spots on the Billboard US World Digital Songs chart along with "We Like 2 Party", the second time for the group after the previous release M,[17] which led them tying with Psy's record for being the only K-pop act to hold the top two slots on the chart twice.

[19] On the chart's year-end issue, it ranked at number five and was the third best-selling K-pop song in the US, behind only Psy's "Gangnam Style" and 2NE1's "I Am the Best".

Jeff Benjamin from Fuse described it as "an over-the-top affair, with the guys rocking a slew of wild looks, hairdos and fashions in a neon-tinged world,"[3] while Eric Ducker from Rolling Stone claimed that "nothing from [this year] really beats the explosive grandiosity of 'Bang Bang Bang' from genre legends BigBang.

[44] Stereogum hailed it an "insanely epic video," and admired the video's "beautiful, absurd riot of glitter and pink hair and hydraulic low-riders and flamethrowers and tricked-out motorcycles and grenade launchers and studded leather and androgynous models on leashes and anti-aircraft guns and cowboy hats and Buckingham Palace guard hats and assault vehicles being driven like chariots.

[46] Miami New Times wrote that the "bombastic" video highlights "what the Hallyu is all about", featuring "insane costumes, dynamic dancing, and production values that match, even surpass, those of their Western competitors.

The group was criticized for appropriating Native American culture because of the war bonnet, worn only by those who have earned the highest honors in their tribes, Seungri wears in the video.

[44] The Muse described the incident as "another example of K-pop appropriation" stating that "Western culture's various racial stereotypes" are "consumed and blown-out" by the genre "that it almost seems like an avenue in which to decentralize and possibly even defang some of those.

[6] It was also sung by Seoul university students during the 2016 South Korean protests for the resignation of president Park Geun-hye.