The group connected with Marshall Jefferson, then working for Trax Records, who released the popular house music song "Move Your Body".

Jefferson assisted with the recording by slowing down the beats per minute and suggesting a vocal change on the B-side "Your Only Friend".

Following its release in 1987, its popularity expanded outside Chicago and it became a foundational acid house track in the United Kingdom.

[1] Pierre became interested in music through listening to the Hot Mix 5 radio show, in particular the episodes hosted by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk.

[2][3] Jones was predominantly making break-dancing music, but changed styles after Spanky took him to a club called the Muzic Box, where DJ Ron Hardy performed.

[1] Jones described it as being "baptized into real house music by going there, I'd never seen anyone yell for a DJ before Ron Hardy.

"[1] As Phuture, Jones, Earl Smith Jr. (known as "Spanky"), and Herbert Jackson began to experiment, but were not satisfied with any of the basslines they developed.

[5] When experimenting with the machine, Jones recalled that he "wanted to make something that sounded like things I'd hear in the Music Box, or I heard Farley play on the radio" and that "when we made 'Acid Tracks', that was an accident.

[5] The track became a regular feature in Hardy's DJ sets, with fans resorting to bootlegging it on microcassette recorders.

"[9] The group was in front of a stage where Marshall was performing "Move Your Body", trying to pass him the note.

[5] Jefferson had recently taken over A&R at Trax Records following Vince Lawrence's departure,[10] and agreed to mix the track, suggesting them to slow it from the original c. 130 beats per minute to about 120 bpm.

[5] Although the group initially resisted, Jefferson reassured then that if a DJ wanted to play it faster, they could speed up the record.

[3] Jones slowed it to 120 bpm and later claimed that Jefferson's contributions were limited to "setting levels and stuff.

[3] Marshall also suggested changes to the track "Your Only Friend", having Spanky do the vocals instead of Jones, and added a harmonizer to make his voice deeper.

[8] Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, authors of Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, wrote that this scene had many listeners "ignorant of any distinctions", leading to acid house becoming a shorthand for any house music and techno becoming a blanket term in Britain for new electronic dance music.

"[17] Later reception included author Micah Salkind saying that "Acid Tracks" became "[o]ne of Trax Records's most iconic releases",[10] while John Bush of AllMusic gave the song a four-and-a-half star rating out of five, describing it as an "incredibly raw cut ...

Still, the superb acid squelch, ripe for the picking by DJs across the world, continued to impress long after the first hundred or so 'covers' and answer records flooded the dance racks.