Released in March 1966, the single reached number five in the UK and was later included on the compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy in 1971.

[7] Cashbox described the song as a "pulsating, fast-moving blues-drenched woeser which concerns a guy who’s miserable ’cause he’s only a stand-in for the fella his girl really wants.

That was our first number four [crowd laughs]...[14]In 1976, radio pirates interrupted BBC programmes in the south and southwest of England by overpowering a feeder station in Wrotham.

[16][better source needed] The Ramones recorded "Substitute" for their 1992 covers album Acid Eaters, with Pete Townsend on backing vocals.

A video accompanying the song was shot in which The Cramps vocalist Lux Interior and Lemmy Kilmister, among others, make appearances.