The tracks "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "1969" were released as singles; "1969" was featured on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs" at number 35.

For their first album, the Stooges had intended to record seven songs: "I'm Sick", “Asthma Attack”, "Dance Of The Romance" / “Goodbye Bozos”, No Fun", "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and "1969".

[5] According to Iggy Pop, "'Asthma Attack' was a structured piece of repetitive descending chording that sounded a lot like Pink Floyd psychedelic space rock song "Interstellar Overdrive".

Having assumed that the seven songs as normally performed would cover requirements for the album, the Stooges were told by their record label Elektra that they needed more material.

"Dance Of The Romance" also based upon the Bo Diddley beat, with an additional chord sequence and structured lyric now became revised as "Little Doll".

Lastly, the Pink Floyd psychedelic instrumental song "Interstellar Overdrive" structured piece known as "Asthma Attack" was now jettisoned for a more unstructured free-form freak out piece which was newly improvised yet retained the original song title and was recorded during the original album recording sessions.

[22] Robert Christgau gave it a backhanded compliment in his column for The Village Voice, deeming it "stupid-rock at its best", but did give it a "B+" grade overall.

[20] In retrospect, Will Hodgkinson called The Stooges "charged and brutal garage-rock",[23] and Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari said it was one of the essential forerunners to the punk rock movement of the 1970s.

The second disc, and both sides of the 7" single, contain the previously unissued "Asthma Attack", a staple of the group's early live shows.

[10] On November 8, 2019, Rhino released the 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of the album on digital services and streaming platforms.

This “2019 Remaster” version mirrors the contents of the 2010 double-disc set and includes John Cale's rejected mix of the original album, released at the correct speed for the first time.