Its title was borrowed from the 1943 book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Doolittle Raid pilot Captain Ted W. Lawson, adapted into a film of the same name in 1944.

According to Rocket from the Tombs bassist Craig Bell, the genesis of the song was a riff written by guitarists Gene "Cheetah" O'Connor and Peter Laughner, with frontman David Thomas penning the lyrics.

[1] Writing in the book Rip It Up and Start Again, critic Simon Reynolds called it "almost prog in its structural strangeness", with its intro "like some loping, rhythmically sprained hybrid of Black Sabbath and reggae".

Herman found Ravenstine's synthesizer playing underappreciated, calling his style different from other bands of the era that used synths in that it "pushed the energy level higher" rather than adding ambience to the mix.

[6] Ravenstine, who became an airline pilot after leaving Pere Ubu in the 1980s, used the synthesizer to emulate the sound of radial engines used in planes during World War II, as well as the static-laden radio transmission at the end.

He held a romantic notion of excess stock of the single trickling into thrift stores, where it would be rediscovered by a curious teenager impressed by the music and the would-be ephemerality of the band.

[2] Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that the song's "lurching guitar riffs and cacophonous noise are a perfect match for singer David Thomas' apocalyptic visions".

[14] Music writer Steve Taylor called the 1975 Rocket from the Tombs recording of "30 Seconds" "addictive", comparing it to Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive".