The album has been likened to "a psychiatrist's notebook detailing the growing hostility lying just below the shiny surface of mid-'80s North American society.

Kerr's buzz-saw guitar tone and energetic stage presence brought a new dimension to the band.

Craig Bougie, their future live sound engineer for nearly two decades, worked with the band in the studio for the first time.

The band toured extensively in support of it, and caught the attention of Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and the Alternative Tentacles record label in 1986.

Alternative Tentacles ultimately issued Sex Mad in the United States and Europe, the former of which featured a reworked track listing.