getting together with my friends and writing that kind of stuff. We just talk about ideas. So many people don't even have a clue why they're doing stuff or they can't tell you. They won't admit it. I really love music and I want to put out stuff that isn't out there. I don't care what people think...if they think it's derivative or invoking a certain time period or what have you. I'm just doing it because it's the music I like. It doesn't exist unless I animate it." Critical reception The album was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its influence and tight sound. AllMusic's Jason Ankeny described the album as "brilliant" and said that "singer Anton Newcombe is half madman and half shaman, and he commands each delirious moment with absolute mastery, emerging not so much a disciple of Mick Jagger but as a serious threat to the throne."" He said that tracks like "Who?," "(David Bowie I Love You) Since I Was Six," and "Straight Up and Down" are "simply amazing, evoking rock's golden age without ever disintegrating into slavish devotion–clearly, the BJM is a group that believes in killing their idols" Skiddle called it a "classic" album. Pitchfork said that, alongside the band's other 1996 albums, Take it from the Man! "essentially mapped out the boundaries of their sound." Jumping Fences ranked the album at number 6 in their list of the top 10 albums of 1996. In 2014, French magazine Rock & Folk included the album in their list of "555 Disques 1954–2014: Soixante Ans de Rock'n'Roll" ("555 Records 1954–2014: Sixty Years of Rock 'n' Roll"). Alongside Thank God for Mental Illness, FasterLouder called it the band's "sublime high watermark." Legacy In 1998, Newcombe stated that Take It from the Man!, alongside Give It Back!, Thank God for Mental Illness and Their Satanic Majesties Second Request were his favorite albums by the band; "I like those four records a lot." Amy Haben of Please Kill Me found similarities with the band's later album Mini Album Thingy Wingy (2015), saying the latter album is "reminiscent of their roots with genius melodies equivalent to 1996's Take It From The Man! only toned down a tad." In 2015, The Village Voice included "Mary, Please" in their list of "Ten Nineties Earworms That Just Get Better with Age," saying the song "isn't quite as dancy as 'Not If