After the disappointing sales of their 1989 self-titled debut album, Blue Murder entered a long period of inactivity.

According to bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice, vocalist-guitarist John Sykes was deeply affected by the record's commercial failure.

[1][4] Appice eventually left Blue Murder in December 1990 and was briefly replaced by former Yngwie Malmsteen drummer Anders Johansson.

[1][4] Sykes also recruited former Baton Rouge vocalist Kelly Keeling to the band as a second guitarist, but he left a day before shooting the music video for "We All Fall Down".

[22][23] It reached number six in Japan,[24] but failed to chart elsewhere, which Sykes blamed on the label, who he felt "didn't do anything" to promote the record.

[17][18] Donald DiIorio, writing for the Herald News, commended Sykes for not chasing then-current musical trends, instead sticking to "good, old-fashioned hard rock".

[12] Save for two tracks ("We All Fall Down" and "Itchycoo Park"), Metal Hammer's Jörg Staude gave the album a negative review, describing the lyrics as "embarrassing" and the choruses "run-of-the-mill".

[20] Don Kaye, writing for Kerrang!, equally gave cudos to a few of the tracks, but concluded his review by stating: "In an era where both musicians and fans like it lean and mean, Blue Murder's lumbering style is already hopelessly outdated.