It was recorded first by the latter for his band Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club in 1979, and later by the former two as the Buggles for their debut album The Age of Plastic.

[3] Both songs were included on the album English Garden, which was also issued under the title Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club.

[12] Lyrically, the song follows a group of soldiers who have already seen their share of the action on their way to their next engagement and war being a dirty business in which it is hard to stay clean.

A mixed review by David Hepworth was published for the single in Smash Hits: "Future Winks" from Cuba (Arlola) is another of those fidgety new records, brimming with cleverness and weighed down with smart-ass humour.

"[15] Jeri Montesano of AllMusic highlighted the song as an album standout by labeling it an AMG Pick Track.

"[18] Krinein magazine's writer L. Vincent described the song as "pop-electronic", along with the album track "I Love You Miss Robot" and the single's own B-side "Technopop".

The video is relatively simplistic when compared to other videos by the band, cutting between shots of various military vehicles driving around a field, with Trevor and Geoff lip syncing the song in the back of a Jeep, and various shots of Geoff playing the 1977 Taito arcade game Missile-X, with Trevor occasionally sat beside him continuing to lip sync.

The event was billed as "The Lost Gig" and took place at Ladbroke Grove's Supperclub, Notting Hill, London, and was a fund raiser with all earnings going to the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability.