The album was produced in one week by Martin Rushent and was a snapshot of the band's live set at the time.

The first 10,000 copies of the original vinyl release included a free 7-inch single, containing "Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live) and "Choosey Susie".

[6] The album launch party was held in the Water Rat pub on the King's Road in World's End, Chelsea.

The song was notably featured in the opening scene of Jonathan Glazer's 2000 film Sexy Beast.

It features Eric Clarke, a Welsh coal miner friend of manager Dai Davies, on saxophone.

[16] The song references an episode of the 1975 post-apocalyptic BBC TV drama Survivors titled "Lights of London", where the protagonists leave the safety of a farming community to head for the city, which they find can only be entered through a rat-infested sewer.