It features an angular guitar riff played by Jonny Greenwood, inspired by the band Magazine.

[8] "Just" begins with a strummed guitar, which the critic Mac Randall likened to the 1991 Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

[10] In the solo, he uses a DigiTech Whammy pedal to pitch-shift his guitar into a high, piercing frequency.

[11] In the "Just" music video, a man lies in the middle of the pavement, attracting attention from passersby.

[12] In August 1995, Jordan Paramor from Smash Hits gave "Just" four out of five, writing: "Their songs are tricky 'cos you always think they're a tad dull the first time you hear them 'cos nothing really seems to happen, but give them a chance and they soon blow your trews off!

[15] In 2020, the Guardian named it the 32nd-greatest Radiohead song, writing: "Hailstorm distortion meets perky hooks, wily vocals and ... an absurd pageant of guitar chords.

Mark Ronson and Alex Greenwald covered "Just" for the Radiohead tribute album Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads.

[29] Ronson re-released the cover in February 2008 as the fourth single from his second album, Version, now credited as featuring Alex Greenwald's band Phantom Planet.