Editing Wowee Zowee (section)

==Legacy==
{{Album ratings
| subtitle = Retrospective reviews
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic review"/>
| rev2 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="RS guide"/>
| rev3 = ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Spin retro review"/>
| rev4 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Uncut review"/>
}}

''Wowee Zowee'' ruined any opportunity Pavement had to capitalize on the success of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain''.<ref name="Malkmus in 15 songs"/> By June 2009, the album had sold 129,000 copies according to [[Nielsen SoundScan]], a notable drop-off from its predecessor, which had sold 246,000 copies.<ref name="Bryan Charles 141"/> Kannberg acknowledged that the band felt a bit under pressure to release a follow-up to ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'', and that ''Wowee Zowee'' would have been much different if they had given themselves more time to think about it. As a result, Pavement decided to be more patient and work on tidier arrangements for their next studio album, ''[[Brighten the Corners]]'' (1997).<ref name="BAM article"/> Kannberg regards ''Wowee Zowee'' with mixed feelings and considers it his least favorite Pavement record.<ref name="Spiral ranks albums"/> Conversely, when asked about his favorite Pavement album, Malkmus said, "It would be one of the first three ones, but for different reasons."<ref name="Real Malkmus"/> In 1997, Nastanovich stated that ''Wowee Zowee'' is his favorite Pavement record.<ref name="Brighten Up"/>

Retrospectively, ''Wowee Zowee'' has been reappraised in highly positive terms and is frequently viewed by many "diehard" Pavement fans as the band's best work.<ref name="RS guide"/> [[AllMusic]] editor [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] wrote that repeated listenings reveal the album to be "a dense collage of '90s rock & roll that recasts the past and present into one rich, kaleidoscopic, and blissfully cryptic world view".<ref name="AllMusic review"/> Nina Corcoran of ''[[Consequence (publication)|Consequence]]'' said that ''Wowee Zowee'' has become "the beloved oddball in Pavement's discography", and assumed that the band "knew what they were doing all along, even if we were reluctant to believe them at first".<ref name="Anniversary 20"/> In 2006, Matador released ''[[Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition]]'', a compilation containing ''Wowee Zowee'' in its entirety, as well as B-sides, outtakes, radio shots, live songs, and compilation tracks from the same era.<ref name="Sordid Sentinels"/>

According to ''Rolling Stone'' writer [[Rob Sheffield]], ''Wowee Zowee'' has come to be widely viewed as a "masterpiece".<ref name="RS Masterpiece"/> Sheffield explained that people started to appreciate ''Wowee Zowee'' after the band released ''Brighten the Corners'', a radical departure that put the album's eclectic nature into perspective.<ref name="RS Masterpiece"/> He also remarked that the former was overshadowed by other successful Matador releases, such as ''[[Alien Lanes]]'' by [[Guided by Voices]] and ''[[Electr-O-Pura]]'' by [[Yo La Tengo]].<ref name="RS Masterpiece"/> In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the album 265th in its updated list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]—ahead of ''Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain'' and behind Pavement's 1992 debut album, ''[[Slanted and Enchanted]]'', which were ranked 434th and 199th, respectively.<ref name="RS 2020 Top 500"/> Several musicians, including American pianist [[Johnny Iguana]], American multi-instrumentalist [[Jeff Rosenstock]], and Filipino-British singer-songwriter [[Beabadoobee]], cited the album as having a profound impact on them.<ref name="Musicians remember"/>