"[2] Not every critic was so favorable, however; for example, Robert Christgau gave it a "neither" rating, which corresponds to an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two.

"[5] Another less-than-favorable review came from Chris Heim, who described it as "a mix of forced humor and bare-faced commercial lunging at today's star-making grunge audience.

"[6] Patrick Schabe wrote in 2006 that the album, because it was "in many ways a more mature and superior rock album" than its predecessor, Cereal Killers, "alienated fans who were drawn to the goof-ball humor" of Cereal Killers.

[7] Ira Robbins agreed that it was Too Much Joy's most mature album, writing that compared to their previous work, it was "marginally more serious, placing as much emphasis on straightforward melodicism and sly style-mongering as chucklehead topical indulgences.

"[8] Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post wrote that the most memorable song on the album was "Donna Everywhere".