Lead singer Shirley Manson elaborated on the song's dreamy verse structure versus the confrontational chorus: "[It's about] the schizophrenia that exists when you try to reconcile your desires and demons with the need to fit in.

The group recorded all of the material for the second album through a 48-track digital system direct to hard drives utilizing a 24-bit Pro Tools rig.

[12] The sample didn't work with what the band had already recorded so Manson re-sang the lines to fit the key and tempo of the song.

The band used a number of pitch-shifting and time-stretching plugins and matched them with an orchestral swell in an ascending chromatic scale sampled from a classical music album.

[28] In Australia and New Zealand, "Push It" was released by White Label Records on April 20, 1998, on two CDs, in the same combination as Europe had received.

[4] Almo's campaign for "Push It" centered around breaking the single at alternative radio, as the format had strongly supported the band before.

[4] In its first week, "Push It" became the #1 Most Added record on the alternative format[8] and debuted in mid-April as the highest new entry on Modern Rock at number 25.

[35] The following chart saw "Push It" rocket into the Modern Rock top 10 at number eight with an "Airpower" status (meaning the song had registered over 900 detections for the first time).

[36] Almo released a limited edition pressing of "Push It" on CD to record stores in both the States and Canada on April 21.

[43] Almo serviced remixes of "Push It" by New York City producer Victor Calderone to DJs; the song debuted on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in mid-July at number 44.

[45] Capitalizing on the song's gain in popularity in nightclubs, the label commercially issued a double A-side 12-inch vinyl of Calderone remixes of "Push It" backed with mixes of "I Think I'm Paranoid" by The Crystal Method,[46] on October 20.

In 2007, Chris Sheldon remixed a rock version of "Push It" which was playlisted by XFM prior to the release of Absolute Garbage.

[51] Garbage had been established on their first album as an act who regularly released special editions of their singles; their first six singles had each seen a specially packed 7-inch vinyl format released in embossed aluminium, rubber, hologram die-cut rain-effect card, perspex, cloth and with a lenticular image mounted on ripple-effect card respectively.

Mushroom kept in mind that they had lost money on the pressing of every single 7-inch they released;[52] Garbage were also aware of the potential trap of repeating themselves on their second album.

[13] When Mushroom made inquiries during the design stage, they discovered that record stores refused to rack them because they were not used to stocking singles in Snap-Pack boxes.

Craig Maclean of The Face wrote, ""Push It" is vintage Garbage: sultry, unharried vocals from Shirley, a galloping mix of buzzsawing guitars, a mash of samples, rumbling rhythms, an elegant discordancy... it is the album-closing song The Prodigy's cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire" should have been: barely-controlled pop-mayhem".

[55] Garbage were impressed enough by Giacobbe's show reel, in particular his previous video for Death in Vegas ("Dirt") to assign the fledgling director the project.

[58] Vig considered that the first version "came out very flat and with not particularly flattering lighting, because almost every frame he tweaks out in the computer, so there's a lot of post-production stuff to give it that old Twilight Zone look, or Technicolor, 1970s Starsky and Hutch look.

[59] One of the props on the first day, a stuffed deer mounted on wheels, broke loose and caused a minor car accident.

[59] The "Push It" storyline begins (although the video may be an example of nonlinear narrative) with Manson shopping alongside a partner, a rotoscoped "fuzzy" man, in a supermarket.

The triplets arrive at Manson's house and give her the briefcase before attacking her new partner, a René Magritte-esque man with a lightbulb in place of his head.

Throughout the duration of the video, footage of various non-related characters is shown: a masked female and a stuffed deer, two humanoid aliens conjoined by a glowing head-growth, two toddlers riding adults piggyback as the adults wildly thrash, two Asian businessmen fighting, a Navy Officer contortionist who alludes to a foot fetish, a naked woman emerging from glowing hospital bath and a little girl surrounded by four members of SWAT raising a toast just before an explosion behind the camera.