Upon its release in 1988, the song peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 in August 1988, becoming John's highest-charting hit of the 1980s in the US.

[3][4] American magazine Cash Box called "I Don't Wanna Go On with You Like That" "a straight-ahead dance/rocker that gets on a forward track and stays there" with "biting lyrics.

It's a lacklustre ditty that he probably knocked out one lazy afternoon and its only saving grace is the rather extraordinary popping noise that runs all the way through.

"[7] Jerry Smith of Music Week considered the song a "totally irresistible and thumpingly energic track".

The Just Elton and His Piano mix of the song is also available (on the reissued 1998 version of the Reg Strikes Back album).