Sullivan nonetheless called it "a rock'n'roll classic". In a contemporary review, Edmund O. Ward of Rolling Stone called it "loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish", while conceding that he "kind of liked it". 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. In retrospect, Will Hodgkinson called The Stooges "charged and brutal garage-rock", and Pitchfork critic Joe Tangari said it was one of the essential forerunners to the punk rock movement of the 1970s. It and the Stooges' next two albums were later deemed "proto-punk landmarks", according to Mojo journalist Manish Agarwal. Daryl Easlea, writing for BBC Music, called the album "rock at its most primordial. ... [the] album is the original punk rock rush on record, a long-held well-kept secret by those in the know." Mark Deming of AllMusic commented, "Part of the fun of The Stooges is, then as now, the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once." In 2003, the album was placed at number 185 on Rolling Stones list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the rating in its 2012 revised list, and dropping to number 488 in its 2020 list. The magazine also included "1969" in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". Seth Jacobson, writing in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, said that the album was "a collection of brilliant curios, which were neither full-on garage rock, nor out-and-out dirge." In 2005, Q magazine placed "I Wanna Be Your Dog" at number 13 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks". Reissues On August 16, 2005, Elektra and Rhino Records jointly re-issued the album as a specially-priced double CD, with a remastered version of the album on disc one and alternate takes on disc two. On May 7, 2010, Rhino again released the album in their "Handmade" series as a collector's package including two CDs, a 7" record and a 7"x7"-sized booklet. The first disc features the main songs, the single version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog", and all original John Cale mixes of the eight songs. The second disc, and both sides of the 7" single, contain the previously unissued "Asthma Attack", a staple of the group's early live