[5] Its melody and chord structure shared resemblance with "Little Latin Lupe Lu",[5] which was written by Bill Medley in 1962 and provided a hit for his act the Righteous Brothers the following year,[6] as well as for the Kingsmen in 1964[7] and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966.

[8] "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was thought to be written by Jones about Foley, who sang the backing vocals on Meat Loaf's debut studio album Bat Out of Hell (1977).

Then in the early 1990s, the company Levi's asked the band members' permission to use the song for a jeans commercial for the British audience.

[18] In that same year, Jones told NME' journalist James Brown that he included Big Audio Dynamite II's "Rush" in the single re-release to promote his newer band.

[20] NME journalist Adrian Thrills in 1982 gave the double A-side single release "Straight to Hell"/"Should I Stay or Should I Go" four-and-a-half stars out of five.

Despite "Should I Stay or Should I Go" having received more radio airplay, Thrills stated that the single's other A-side track "Straight to Hell" was "the reaffirmation that there is still life in The Clash.

[25] The video for the song was made by Don Letts, the video consists of the band's USA tour with images of their visit to New York City, where the band were filmed driving to a gig in an open-topped Cadillac for the city, at the concert featured Joe Strummer in sunglasses and a Davy Crockett hat and Mick Jones in a red jumpsuit and beret.

Twitter users accused One Direction's 2012 hit single "Live While We're Young" of copying the song's opening guitar riff.