While still maintaining the epic arena rock sense of scale and drama which the band had developed since the mid-1980s, Street Fighting Years also moved away from the American soul and gospel influences of its predecessor in favour of soundtrack atmospherics and a new incorporation of acoustic and Celtic/folk music-related ingredients including fretless bass, slide guitar and accordion.

The lyrics built on the more political themes which the band had introduced with "Ghost Dancing", moving away from the impressionistic or spiritual concerns of earlier 1980s Simple Minds songs and covering topics including the Poll Tax, the Soweto townships, the Berlin Wall and the stationing of nuclear submarines on the Scottish coast.

Keyboard player/composer/founder member Mick MacNeil has subsequently mentioned that "Jim (Kerr) had already started talking about making changes" and the lack of equality and unity within the band's ranks soon became evident.

Despite having made significant contributions (including introducing the band to double bass on the title track and writing the ballad "Let It All Come Down"), John Giblin left Simple Minds in July 1988, halfway through the Street Fighting Years sessions.

Despite Kerr's initial misgivings about potentially producing a "mawkish, tokenistic and trite" adaptation, he became very proud of the song after its subsequent success as a single: "Am I still glad I did it?’,... too right I am.

Initially intimidated by Reed's reputation as "the world's biggest curmudgeon", the band agreed to the suggestion, with Horn making the actual approach.

Simple Minds released on 6 March 2020 a 4-CD Super Deluxe box set edition of Street Fighting Years on UMC / Virgin Domestic, including the original album remastered at Abbey Road Studios, a CD of B-sides, edits and 12″ remixes, a 2-CD unissued Verona live show from 1989 plus brand new book including a new interview with Trevor Horn.

[7][8][9][10] Street Fighting Years received sharply divided reviews, with initial critical opinion being mostly favourable in the UK but less so in the US, where the album was much less of a commercial success.

[16] In his written commentary for the sleeve notes in the band's compilation album Glittering Prize 81/92, Brian Hogg described Street Fighting Years as arguably "the group's most controversial release.

"[17] Jim Kerr remembered the album thus: "Every song seemed to be about conflict, and it describes this age of chaos, the battle to try and remain intact with all this hurricane around us.

"[17] In Britain, the album received glowing praise, including a rare five-star rating, from Q magazine; David Sinclair wrote that they had finally produced a record to justify their reputation, and praising the album's mostly quiet dynamic: "Even when the music takes off into the vast dramatic sweeps that will roll like huge breakers to the back of the stadiums of Europe this summer, there is little that could fairly be described as bluster.

"[18] Although he went on to criticize the tracks "Soul Crying Out", "Take a Step Back", "Kick It In", and "Biko" as "flatulent bluster", Gittins nonetheless concluded that the album's "expansive, flushed music" was "huge, but it's rarely hollow.

"[18] Mike Soutar, meanwhile, wrote in Smash Hits that the album was "packed with the kind of crowd-rousing flag hoisting anthems that everyone expects from the Minds", but thought the song's individual lengths meant that while they would "probably sound epic played live, they'll probably drive you quite mad in the comfort of your own bedroom.

"[11] He also opined that the album's production was too clean, describing it as "so studio smooth that every song – whether it's a chugging, multi-layered call to arms ("Take a Step Back") or a floating, ambient meditation ("Let It All Come Down") – virtually slides out of the speakers.

"[11] CMJ took a more positive view, admitting that Street Fighting Years "lacks the inspirational anthems of the Sparkle in the Rain era" but "focuses attention on the passion of the lyrics, which have a political awareness and social consciousness that keeps those spots where the music falls short up on a high level.

Martin C. Strong, writing in The Essential Rock Discography, remarked that reviewers "didn't really stick the knife in until the release of the overblown "Belfast Child", a U.K. No.

The accompanying album, Street Fighting Years (1989) brought more of the same, although it cemented Simple Minds' position among the coffee table elite.

"[14] Meanwhile, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, Tom Demalon described Street Fighting Years as "an artistic and elegant album that might lack immediate choruses but draws in the listener" and containing "some truly lovely moments".

[3] A review of the Themes box-set released in June 2008 from Q magazine discussed, "if at times the preciousness of the later work sets the teeth on edge, the sheer musical skill and undoubted power of the band makes up for it", praising the "brilliant atmosphere Simple Minds made their own.