[9][10] It is a concept album focused on the media coverage of a hoax formulated by the band claiming that "Christianity Is Stupid" from their previous album, Escape from Noise, had inspired David Brom to murder his family in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as other moral panics related to popular music.

The concept, and some of the sampled material, came from a San Francisco television news program that was duped by a media hoax perpetrated by Negativland while promoting its previous album, Escape from Noise.

Estus Pirkle (further samples from If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?, as used on "Christianity Is Stupid"), "Spring Rain" by Bebu Silvetti, Lenny Bruce, an interview with Charles Manson, and "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles (in reference to the Helter Skelter theory of the Tate–LaBianca murders).

[13] Parts of the "Perfect Cut" tracks on Side 2 draw from samples of "The Winning Score", a 1977 presentation by TM Century, producers of radio jingles and imaging.

Trouser Press wrote that "as inspired propagandists coming to terms with an ability to manipulate the truth, Negativland shifted their mindfuck campaign to a higher plane with Helter Stupid.