It was released on 18 March 2003 by record label Merge in the US and Cherry Red in the UK.

Buzzcocks has received a mixed-to-favourable response from critics.

AllMusic opined, "If Buzzcocks doesn't reinvent this band, it does give their approach a bit of an overhaul, and the results make for an album which holds onto their strengths while lending a more mature perspective to their work; hard to imagine Rancid having anything this interesting up their sleeve twenty-seven years down the line from their first recording.

"[2] Entertainment Weekly's review was favourable, writing "it's nice to hear that middle age hasn't diminished the songwriting skills of original 'Cocks Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle.

"[5] Stylus Magazine, on the other hand, gave the album their lowest possible score of F, opining that the album sounds like "third-generation Green Day".