The band began work on Optimo in late 1982, recording it in a studio on the top floor of Radio City Music Hall.

[1] Bassist Richard McGuire did the cover artwork, which consists of red, yellow, and black whorls.

[8] The song uses a "tightly coiled" bassline and displays "quintessential Lower East Side tension and paranoia".

Thinking of it as a dance song, he gauged people's reaction after giving it to his brother Bill to play at the Anvil.

[11] "Cavern" found popularity among nightclubs and hip hop musicians after DJ John Benitez used the song to close his sets at The Funhouse.

[12] McGuire gave a copy of the EP to Larry Levan at the Paradise Garage, where the band performed several times.

[14] Sugarhill Records' house band replayed the music with traditional instruments, using the bassline and bridge from "Cavern".

[5] "Cavern" was included in the soundtrack for Edo Bertoglio's Downtown 81, which depicted Manhattan bands in the early 1980s,[21] and Spike Lee used it as the theme song for his 2002 drama 25th Hour.