 " Crash " received mixed reviews from critics . In a review for The New York Times , Kelefa Sanneh noted that the track " successfully conjure [ s ] up the infectious spirit of early Madonna . " David Browne of Entertainment Weekly called the song " a pricey retro fashion blurb " on which Stefani appears as " an old @-@ school , gold @-@ chained rapper " . Krissi Murison of the NME disagreed , calling it one of " the best bits of the decade of decadence " and referring to it as " Salt @-@ N @-@ Pepa 's cartoon rap " . Jason Shawhan of About.com stated that the song 's " great Narada Michael Walden bleepy synth noises [ ... ] pop out of the mix like the car stereo just decided to sing along " , and Jennifer Nine of Yahoo ! Music commented that the track had " icy @-@ cool schoolyard sass " . Eric Greenwood of Drawer B argued that the track " carelessly revisits Stefani 's blatant fondness for 80 's pop , but not even [ ... ] Tony Kanal can save her from lifeless retreads like these . " The Washington Post reviewer Sean Daly compared it to Salt @-@ n @-@ Pepa 's 1987 single " Push It " and added that Stefani " pushes it real good " . PopMatters 's Jason Damas gave it a very strong review , stating that " Stefani nails all the vocal mannerisms " and that Kanal " reveals a major mainstream pop <unk> here , especially in the way he layers the cut [ ... ] with dozens of orchestra hits [ ... ] which have been absent from almost all pop albums for a decade or more now . " Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine gave the song a mixed review , stating that it " features some near @-@ fatal car metaphors " but that Stefani " maintains her signature sass throughout " . 
