In March 2023, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the song a platinum certification for sales and streams of over 600,000.

Duffy says he found a violin bow lying around the studio and started playing the guitar with it "like Jimmy Page" to amuse singer Ian Astbury, hit every effects pedal he had "to make it sound weirder", and then played the middle section of the song.

[6] After its release in 1985, the single reached number 36 during a six-week run on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart in early 1986.

In 2009, two more previously unreleased versions, a demo and the "Olympic Rough Mix" were included in a 4-disc box set of the Omnibus edition of Love.

John Leland at Spin described it as "one of those inane pieces of pomp pop that—through no fault of the band's — transcends its formidable pretensions to become a whomping dance record.