Critic's Review
Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
The Muffs' lone Sub Pop single captures the group at its fiercest, with an aggressive, punky guitar riff that perfectly complements Kim Shattuck's unguarded lyrics and primal-scream vocals -- though on paper its themes of unrequited love suggest girl group classics of a bygone era. In practice, "I Need You" is pure catharsis, ripped clean of even the merest fraction of demure, doe-eyed romanticism. The flip side's cover of the Zeros' "Beat Your Heart Out" retains the tuff-grrrl snarl of "I Need You," but adds a healthy dollop of the bubblegum-punk infectiousness that defines the Muffs' later work.
