Critical Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Spin | |
Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera ... a kind of thrash Quadrophenia."
Zen Arcade placed eighth in the Village Voice annual Pazz & Jop poll and Robert Christgau declared in his annual review of the poll's results that, while he preferred peers The Replacements' Let It Be, the song "Turn On the News" garnered his nomination for song of the year. The critical praise given to the album garnered attention from major labels, including Warner Bros. Records, with whom Hüsker Dü would eventually sign in 1985.
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