Compared to its predecessor, Is This Real?, which was composed mostly of raw, sleek and relatively traditional songs, Youth of America featured much longer and more complex compositions; the title track alone clocks in at over 10 minutes.

[4] The Quietus noted the album's genre as post-punk[5] and further described its style as "a six track set of lowly garage rock which traverses the cosmos irrespective.

[4] Milo Miles of The Boston Phoenix had mixed feelings about the album's tracks: "The side-long epic 'Youth of America' sags over the long haul, since no amount of innocent determination could keep such a ream of guitar psychodoodles free from Ted Nugent blots.

"[15] In its retrospective review, Consequence of Sound wrote, "(f)rom its style of production and songwriting to its driving, angular guitar work coupled with anthemic hooks, Youth of America is as strong and fresh-sounding today as it was 30 years ago".

Along with other Wipers records, Youth of America has since come to be acknowledged as an important album in the development of American underground and independent rock movements of the early 1980s.