First released on the band's self-titled debut album in late 1979, the song features punk-inspired music and aggressive lyrics.

"Precious" was the first song that Hynde, bassist Pete Farndon, and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott played with the newly-recruited drummer Martin Chambers at their initial rehearsal.

"[4] Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised James Honeyman-Scott's "phased, treated guitar" playing for how it supplements the "pounding rhythm.

"[5] Music critic Simon Reynolds described the lyrics as a "strafing stream of syllables" mixing "speed rap, jive talk, baby babble," and the song as "punk scat, all hiccoughs, vocal tics, gasps and feral growls, weirdly poised between love and hate, oral sensuality and staccato, stabbing aggression.

"[4] Rolling Stone critic Bud Scoppa noted that Hynde swallowed the words "I had to" during the song's recording, making the phrase somewhat inaudible.

"[8] Rolling Stone critic Ken Tucker noted that he gets "startled and shivery when Hynde rejects a would-be lothario" with this line.

A medley of "Precious" with "Brass in Pocket" and "Mystery Achievement" reached number 28 on the Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.