Musically, the song was inspired by the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and centres around a guitar riff that Marr wrote during a 1985 soundcheck.

"Bigmouth Strikes Again" was released as the lead single from the album, bypassing Rough Trade's preferred choice, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out".

[2] The lyric was the final one of three written about Morrissey's frustration with the music industry, the previous two being "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" and "Rubber Ring."

Marr later claimed that he had been inspired by the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", stating, "I wanted something that was a rush all the way through, without a distinct middle eight as such.

Initially the band had asked Kirsty MacColl to contribute backing vocals, but Marr found her harmonies "really weird" and they were left off the final recording.

On the 12″ single, the band quoted Oscar Wilde's famous line "Talent borrows, genius steals" on the runout groove.

Another live version, recorded at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California in August 1986, was released in 2017 to promote a collector's edition of The Queen Is Dead.

[15] Paste called it the band's tenth best,[16] while Louder included it in their unranked top ten, writing, "This could be their most iconic song.

Seattle-based, Idaho indie rock/grunge band Treepeople covered "Bigmouth Strikes Again" on their 1992 double EP Something Vicious for Tomorrow/Time Whore, released by an independent Seattle label C/Z Records.

The Treepeople version changes the second line of the first verse from "When I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed" to "When I said I am gonna miss you when you're dead."