Commercially, the track was presented with the slogan, "Hard dance with attitude"[2] and is built around a repeated vocal sample from "You're No Good for Me", a song released by American singer Kelly Charles in 1987.

[5] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton noted that it "uses a previously successful formula of combining their mix of hardcore rave beats with an annoyingly commercial sampled hook."

"[11] Brad Beatnik from the Record Mirror Dance Update wrote, "The first Prodigy release for more than a year sees them working up a typically frenetic hard groove with a neat wobbly bassline and standard 'no good for me' vocals."

[14] Gareth Grundy from Select stated that Liam Howlett's "jungle and hardcore roots are still present, but he injects some space and gracious melody between the coruscating rhythm.

[16] Richard Proplesch from St. Petersburg Times viewed it as "an energetic remake" of the Kelly Charles' song, that "suffers from an overabundance of nonsensical electronic percussion fills and counter rhythms instead of letting the groove grow naturally.

Filmed in a disused, underground cellar below Spitalfields market in the East End of London, the video features characters dancing to the song whilst the band members prowl around moodily.

After Howlett breaks down a plaster wall with a sledgehammer, group member Keith Flint is seen in a straitjacket, eventually being locked into a Plexiglas box-prison which begins to fill with smoke.

"No Good (Start the Dance)" received heavy rotation on MTV Europe,[20] power play on France's MCM[21] and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA in August 1994.

In 2013, Dutch house DJ and producer Fedde le Grand and Canadian electronic music duo Sultan & Ned Shepard released a remake of the hit on Spinnin' Records.