In March 1969 the Small Faces officially disbanded, with Steve Marriott going on to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton and Greg Ridley.

Andrew Loog Oldham, Small Faces' manager and proprietor of their record label, then rush-released "Afterglow" - a song which by this point was over a year old - as a final 'farewell' single without the group's permission.

One of the final few tracks the Small Faces completed in September 1968, the hard-rocking sound of "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" strongly indicated the musical direction Marriott would soon continue to pursue with Humble Pie.

Some initial foreign pressings of the single also mistakenly substituted another, even more markedly different version of the song, which is a completely different, much earlier take from June 1968 that features Nicky Hopkins in place of regular keyboardist Ian McLagan.

Marriott was at the time an avid listener to Dr. John the Night Tripper's new 'Gris Gris' LP, and the lyric of 'Wham Bam' openly referenced the phraseology of that album.

Marriott's next band, Humble Pie, continued to perform a portion of 'Wham Bam' live during 1969 and 1970, as part of a lengthy medley built around their cover of Dr. John's 'Walk On Gilded Splinters'.