It was released as a single from their 1988 album Starfish, and the songwriting credits are given to all four members of the band.

Marty Willson-Piper, Peter Koppes, Richard Ploog, and Steve Kilbey were all credited with writing the song.

In the sleevenotes for the 2010 CD reissue of Starfish, Willson-Piper described the process; "sometimes a song can be mainly one person's idea augmented by everyone else.

[4] Musically, the song, as Stewart Mason of AllMusic described, is based on a "nagging stop-start guitar riff that continues, almost unchanged, throughout the entire song, building a palpable tension through the verses that is only partially alleviated by Steve Kilbey's sneering chorus".

Willson-Piper recalled, "I wrote the riff in a rehearsal room somewhere in Sydney; it just fell out of my guitar like a diamond".

[3] Mason continues, "The rattling rhythm section only adds to the effect, with Richard Ploog's kinetic hi-hat work driving the beat".

Ned Raggett of AllMusic compared it to "the sheer punch of Heyday's most frenetic moments with a slightly more restrained but still strong, smart performance."