[1] Having returned from the US in late 1976, Slade found the UK music business much changed from when they had left in 1975 to try and crack the American market.

Upon their return, the band began recording their new album Whatever Happened to Slade, and in January 1977, "Gypsy Roadhog" was released as the lead single.

In a 1986 fan club interview, Lea recalled that the BBC demanded Slade alter the words for the performance of the song on the show.

[8] Upon its release, Barbara Carthorse of Record Mirror awarded "Gypsy Roadhog" a three out of five rating and wrote, "Slade return to the fold and just as if there had been no musical progression in the last two years.

"[9] New Musical Express said the song makes "all the right sounds and even has a toe tapping beat", but failed to live up to the band's previous work.

[12] Brian Kelly of the Skelmersdale Reporter gave the song a rating of 3 out of 10 and was negative in his review, remarking that the "belted-out piece of horrible noise sounds like it took about as long to record as it probably did to write – about five minutes".