The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).

In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, guitarist Jerry Cantrell said of the song; "That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was.

The idea of using a talk box came from producer Dave Jerden, who was driving to the studio one day when Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" started playing on the radio.

[9] It is widely recognized by its distinctive "wordless opening melody, where Layne Staley's peculiar, tensed-throat vocals are matched in unison with an effects-laden guitar" followed by "portentous lines like: 'Feed my eyes, can you sew them shut?

[11]Jerry Cantrell said of the song: But what it's basically about is, is how government and media control the public's perception of events in the world or whatever, and they build you into a box by feeding it to you in your home, ya know.

[12]In a recorded interview with MuchMusic in 1991, Staley stated that the lyrics are loosely based on media censorship, and "I was really really stoned when I wrote it, so it meant something different then", he said laughing.

[1] It is widely considered to be one of Alice in Chains' signature songs, reaching number 18 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart at the time of its release.

[18] Steve Huey of AllMusic called the song "an often overlooked but important building block in grunge's ascent to dominance" and "a meeting of metal theatrics and introspective hopelessness.

The man with his eyes sewn shut was played by a friend of director Paul Rachman, Rezin,[21] who worked in a bar parking lot in Los Angeles called Small's.

Metal artist Chris Senter released a parody titled "Cat in the Box" in March 2015, featuring a music video by animator Joey Siler.

In 2020, music group The Merkins posted a parody of the song on their YouTube channel,[28] featuring singer Joey Siler[29] as Pinhead from the Hellraiser film series.