Formed after the break-up of Screeching Weasel, the band sought to write more Ramones-inspired music and the album was released on June 7, 1995, through Lookout Records with the catalog number LK 120.

Shortly after the recording of Screeching Weasel's seventh studio album How to Make Enemies and Irritate People in June 1994, the group decided to break up and close down their post office box.

Riverdales was recorded in January 1995 at Sonic Iguana Studios in Lafayette, Indiana, with producer and engineer Mass Giorgini.

Foster later called Billie Joe Armstrong, vocalist-guitarist for the punk rock band Green Day, in February and asked him to mix the album.

[3] Despite positive reception, critic Mike DaRonco of AllMusic gave Riverdales a mostly negative review, rating the album 2 out of 5 stars and calling the record "boring".

[3] According to Foster, the band achieved huge success in South Florida[2] and got "booed a couple times" in cities such as Philadelphia.

The bonus tracks include the previously unreleased album outtakes "Two-Headed Girl" and "I Won't Forget You", the b-sides "I'm a Vegetable" (from the "Fun Tonight" single) and "No Sense" (from the "Blood on the Ice" single), and 8 live tracks recorded at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands on August 27, 1995, opening for Green Day.