Rock critic and sociologist Simon Frith described File Under Popular as "A stirringly aggressive antidote to contemporary pop cynicism.

Three of the essays dwell specifically on individual musicians and groups, namely Sun Ra, The Residents, Phil Ochs and Elvis Presley, but their stories are told within the context of the evolution of music.

These articles were later reworked by Cutler into a single essay entitled "Skill", which was included in the 1996 expanded Japanese edition of File Under Popular.

File Under Popular was originally intended for publication in 1984 in what was then Czechoslovakia at the instigation of Josef Vlcek of the Prague-based non-profit arts organisation, Jazzová Sekce-Artforum.

Cutler placed the following dedicatory in File Under Popular: "Since Jazzová & Josef remain the sine qua non of its publication, it must be to them & to their work, that this book is respectfully dedicated.