Los Angeles was reviewed very positively from its first release.
Ken Tucker wrote in
Rolling Stone that it "is a powerful, upsetting work that concludes with a confrontation of the band's own rampaging bitterness and confusion."
Robert Christgau of
The Village Voice wrote that their outlook and songs "make a smart argument for a desperately stupid scene."
Los Angeles Times critic
Robert Hilburn named it one of the ten best albums released between 1977 and 1987. Subsequently,
Los Angeles was ranked No. 24 on
Rolling Stones 1989 list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s, and
Pitchfork ranked it 91st on its 2002 list of the decade's top 100 albums. The former also ranked it No. 286 on its list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003, dropping it to No. 287 in the 2012 update of the list, and to No. 320 in the 2020 update. In 2012,
Slant Magazine placed
Los Angeles at No. 98 on its list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. The title track was included in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "
500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". ==In pop culture==