Reviews for
Join the Army were mostly positive.
AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia gave it three stars out of five and called it "a transitional album in the transformation of the band's sound from
hardcore punk to
thrash metal".
Join the Army was also the first Suicidal Tendencies album to enter the
Billboard 200; it peaked at No. 100, and remained on the chart for thirteen weeks. "Possessed to Skate" preceded the album's release as a
single, which also had a
music video created for it. The video featured
old school skateboarding tricks, and as such is considered a classic visual
period piece of
skateboarding. The success of
Join the Army garnered attention from major labels, including
Epic Records, with whom Suicidal Tendencies would eventually sign in 1988. "War Inside My Head" is featured in the game
Guitar Hero: Metallica. "Possessed to Skate" is featured in the game
Skate 2. "Suicidal Maniac" was covered by
Hatebreed on their 2009 release
For the Lions. Over the years and with the involvement several line-ups, Suicidal Tendencies have recorded new versions of 10 of the 13 songs originally included in
Join the Army, including two different new versions of two of those tracks: "War Inside My Head" and "A Little Each Day" (
Still Cyco After All These Years); "Join the Army" and "Go Skate! (Possessed to Skate '97)" (
Prime Cuts); "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right" (
Year of the Cycos); "Suicidal Maniac", "Possessed to Skate", "The Prisoner", "I Feel Your Pain... And I Survive", "Join the ST Army", "No Name, No Words", and "Born to Be Cyco" (
No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family). ==Track listing==