Almost immediately after the single's release, she began to receive serious positive attention from music critics in both the UK and United States.

A month later, Too Pure released her debut studio album Dry, containing both "Dress" and "Sheela-Na-Gig", her second single.

She suffered from what has been described as a nervous breakdown, brought on by a number of factors including exhaustion,[8] poor eating habits, and the break-up of a relationship.

[9][10] Making matters worse, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where she had been accepted for study, refused to hold her place for her any longer.

Harvey, however, repeatedly denied a feminist agenda in her songwriting, stating "I don’t even think of myself as being female half the time.

Harvey chose Chicago musician and sound engineer Steve Albini to record the album.

[16] Harvey had admired Albini's distinctively raw recordings of bands like Pixies, Slint, the Breeders and the Jesus Lizard.

[17] She also gave insight into his recording methods, saying "The way that some people think of producing is to sort of help you to arrange or contributing or playing instruments, he does none of that.

When the photo was delivered to Island Records, Mochnacz was told that the imperfections in the picture (such as the water drops on the wall and the house plant) could be removed.

"[31] Veteran UK disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter John Peel, a supporter of Harvey since the beginning of her career, added "You're initially so taken aback by what you're hearing.

"[32] The San Francisco Chronicle called Harvey "A talent and a singular voice that demands to be heard.

"[33] Evelyn McDonnell of Spin wrote that Harvey made it a point to "confound expectations and stereotypes".

On the positive side, it was written that "Albini deftly balances heavy feedback and distortion with unexpected quiet breaks, making this release more musically diverse – and ultimately more satisfying – than PJ Harvey's debut.

He admitted the album has a "bloodless, abrasive edge" that leaves "absolutely no subtleties in the music", but theorises that Albini's recordings "may be the aural embodiment of the tortured lyrics, and therefore a supremely effective piece of performance art, but it also makes Rid of Me a difficult record to meet halfway.

[41] The following year, Louder Sound's Emma Johnston saw that, in Rid of Me's wake, the genre's "host of uncompromised confessionals" drew inspiration from it.

In 2005, Spin's Caryn Ganz saw that the way for the band Elastica and musician Karen O was paved by the album's "poetically demented blues".

[43] In 2009, BBC Music's Mike Diver wrote of its part in ushering its era's wave of "angst-ridden" women songwriters in.

He saw Jagged Little Pill, the 1995 album by singer Alanis Morissette, bear the imprint of Harvey's "bare-all performances" on Rid of Me.

Reflecting on her band Hole's second studio album Live Through This (1994) in a 2014 Spin interview, musician Courtney Love admitted to seeing Rid of Me as "a far superior record" compared to theirs.

[45] Kurt Cobain was an admirer of the album,[46] and according to Steve Albini, who produced In Utero: "I sent them a copy of Rid of Me.

Maria Mochnacz documented aspects of the tour, and her footage was used to create the long-form video Reeling with PJ Harvey (1994).

For example, she regularly performed a cover version of Willie Dixon's 1961 song "Wang Dang Doodle".

[48] Rid of Me entered the UK Albums Chart at number three and quickly went silver, and enjoyed a top-30 hit in the single "50 ft. Queenie".

It also won considerable critical acclaim and featured in various top ten album-of-the-year lists in respectable press, like The Village Voice, Spin, Melody Maker, Vox and Select.