The release features "Waiting Room" which is often seen as the band's most well-known song, notorious for "the attention-getting drop into silence that occurs at the 22-second mark," as well as for its "relentless ska/reggae-inflected drive",[8] and "Suggestion", a "Meters-meets-Ruts thrust.

"[8] The band's entry in the Trouser Press record guide, written by Ian McCaleb, Ira Robbins and Mike Fournier, calls the EP an "impressive debut" which "blends a classic DC-core sensibility with a mature, objective outlook and crisply produced mid-tempo songs that are dynamic, aggressive and accessible."

They write that MacKaye and Picciotto "trade raw emotionalism for an introspective, almost poetic vision, using abstractions in strongly structured compositions like “Bulldog Front” and “Give Me the Cure,” a contemplation on death.

[7] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked the EP at #45 on their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s", with Evan Rytlewski writing that while the band "would go on to release hours of the most inventive post-hardcore ever, [...] they never recorded anything else so instantly gratifying.

"[12] The Get Up Kids singer and guitarist Jim Suptic has described the first time he listened to the EP as a "a clouds-parting moment" and has stated that the album is responsible for his interest in hardcore and punk rock.