Other tracks were recorded at Johnson's residence at the Martin Apartments and with friend Pat Maley in a recital hall at Evergreen State College.

He explained that Japan was "the last place on earth where it's still cool to be American", and that this would make it easy to "become teen idols ovenight".

Sage used a Neumann tube microphone to record the vocals on reel-to-reel tape using a four-track machine borrowed from another college student.

[22][nb 4] When they were in Japan, Beat happening recorded the tracks "Don't Mix the Colors", "The Fall", "Honey Pot", "In My Memory" and "Youth" using superior boombox models that were unavailable in the US.

[24][nb 5] He borrowed equipment for the session using a media loan, and moved the gear from the college's library to a recital hall on campus.

He lost the master reel before he was able to edit the recording, meaning the version on the finished album has been equalized for balance but has not been fully mixed.

[29] Maley was displeased when the band arrived with Sage, having been under the impression he would be in charge of producing and engineering the session at his studio.

[31] AllMusic reviewer Nitsuh Abebe described the sound of Beat Happening as "indie pop in its purest form: fuzzy bedroom recordings of simplistic, cutesy songs, with intentionally innocent and juvenile lyrics, which Calvin Johnson belts out with one of the most endearingly bad voices in music history".

[32] Pitchfork contributor Quinn Moreland commented the album's material switches between "barely-there lo-fi ballads and ’60s jangle-pop ditties".

Parker said while The Cramps "embrace a more overt darkness and sexuality in their sinister psychobilly songs, Beat Happening frequently traffics in double-entendres, and both bands thrive on simple, distorted guitar lines",[34] He also said the sequencing of side one "embodies an Olympian egalitarianism"; Johnson and Lewis alternate as lead vocalist on the tracks.

[37] According to Parker, after 20 seconds, Beat Happening distinctly "delineate their practice of challenging conventions and reevaluating the world" in the lyrics, and continue this sentiment in "Bad Seeds".

[39] Journalist and musician Alan Larsen of K Records act Some Velvet Sidewalk[40] said the song's narrator laments typical masculine roles into which young males fit.

"[42] "I Spy" is bookended by "I Let Him Get to Me" and "Run Down the Stairs", tracks Parker felt highlighted the jangly guitar parts and consistent snare hits, with Lewis talking about relationships.

"[50] In the lyrics, Johnson has difficulty talking to his lover while the pair feed a pet rabbit,[33] described by Azerrad as a juxtaposition of "childhood imagery with some seriously grown-up romantic alienation".

[48] According to Parker, the closing song, a live version of "Bad Seeds", "ambles through some rough spots, and the guitar's tuning is noticeably flat.

Parker wrote the band use both the country and the room they were in to make an "artifact from the Japan trip that captures genuine fun with friends".

[62] Parker said the innocence of the artwork displays Beat Happening's "music and characterizes its creator, the community in which they live, and the principles by which they act".

[64] The four songs the band recorded with Sage during the December 1983 session and the live version of "Run Down the Stairs" were released on Beat Happening's 1984 debut, eponymous, cassette Extended Play (EP), which was limited to 100 copies.

Johnson booked the trip through the Independent Living Contract at Evergreen as a school credit, planning to spend his time there writing for a zine.

[nb 7] K-Disc mastered the album and cut the lacquers needed to press it, which was done by Bill Smith Custom Records, and Stoughton Printing made the cardboard jackets.

[72] Johnson sequenced the album's track listing; Maley said he was enthusiastic when he learned each side lasted under ten minutes.

[70] Publicity surrounding the album meant the band were able to sell around 300 records of the initial 700-print run to members of the local community, such as family and friends.

Nonetheless, the release boosted the band's spirits and exposed them to like-minded British groups like the Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub and the Pastels.

[98] He added Johnson "swings his hips with an awkward deep baritone" before switching with Lewis for her songs, and summarized the band as a "positive force; sincere and willing to take risks, they show that it's just as radical to openly like someone as it is brutalize and degrade them through cheap sensationalism.

"[89] Journalist Simon Reynolds, writing in the November 15, 1986, issue of Melody Maker, discussed aspects of the album's importance, saying: "There's a delicate poise between pastiche and underlying seriousness here, that's delicious, almost camp".

Author Dave Thompson, in his book Alternative Rock (2000), wrote the band's mission was to create "records which retained the freshness of the ideas that spawned the songs in the first place.

"[97] Moreland called the album "a declaration of their undefined, instinctive, and fearless nature",[33] while Ira Robbins of Trouser Press said it is a "fresh breeze of one-take pop ingenuity" complete with tracks that are "remorselessly amateurish but loaded with charm and invention".

[100] Abebe said while the band's subsequent releases show a marked improvement in song and production quality, their self-titled album is "as twee and charming as this type of music can get".

[97] Reviewing the same version, Jason Ankeny of AllMusic said the album's audio quality is "often poor, but the kinetic energy of the early sessions is palpable, and the wide-eyed charm of gems ... is undeniable".

[106] Additional covers have been released; "Our Secret" by The Postal Service,[107] "Bad Seeds" by Barcelona Pavilion,[108] and others by Ben Gibbard and Teenage Fanclub.