While the band's eponymously titled debut EP, released earlier that year, had been filled with radical leftist lyrics, Dance with Me moved away from politics in favor of horror film- and gothic-inspired subject matter.

[2] This led to a dispute with Posh Boy owner Robbie Fields, who claimed the band had not honored their commitment to record a second EP for his label.

[2] The issue was settled several years later, with the band received back payments of royalties from Posh Boy while the label was able to purchase the master recordings and publishing rights to T.S.O.L.

[5][6] Grisham credited himself as Alex Morgon on the sleeve, following a tradition of using a different pseudonym on each release both to confuse audiences and to hide his true identity from the police.

[8] Lyrically, Dance with Me diverged from the radical leftist political themes of the band's debut EP in favor of horror film- and gothic-inspired topics.

By 1981, [singer Jack Grisham] was smearing makeup on his face to affront the surf punks, and people called it 'goth'.

[5]Photographer Edward Colver, who contributed photos for the album's insert, remarked "Back then, we called it death rock.

"[10] In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Adam Bregman gave the album four stars out of five, calling it "no mere footnote in punk rock history", "slam pit-inducing, infectious stuff", and "loaded with fine numbers": "Other than the Misfits, no band has combined gothy subject matter and punk rock barre chords as well as T.S.O.L., who hit the nail on the head with this classic 1981 recording.

The album inhabits a Halloween fun-house hall of horrors on the title song and "Code Blue", in which Grisham plays a necrophiliac giving a hilarious, if explicit, account of his preferences.

It veers toward film noir for the cloak-and-dagger mystery "Triangle" and encompasses earnest accounts of embattled individualism.

[4]In the wake of the 1990s punk rock revival, Dance with Me was re-released in 1996 with slightly altered artwork through Epitaph Records, who had also released albums by Grisham and guitarist Ron Emory's band The Joykiller.

[11][12][13][14] Dexter Holland and Greg Kriesel of The Offspring were fans of T.S.O.L., and listened to Dance with Me obsessively when they were getting into punk rock.