Most of the songs on the record were composed and initially rehearsed in a house in the English county of Oxfordshire in the first half of 1979, rented by the band for the purpose of working together secluded from distractions to assemble what was intended to be its third LP.

During this period Generation X was looking for a new sound after the commercial failure of its second LP, Valley of the Dolls at the start of the year, and the new material was written with the intention of getting back to elemental song-writing, with more space musically in song construction.

[2] Billy Idol, the band's frontman/singer, did not enjoy the experience of working in the pastoral surroundings of the Oxfordshire countryside, and was unhappy with the quality of much of the material that it produced.

[7] Idol and James went on in 1980 to relaunch the act under the new name of Gen X, salvaging several songs from the aborted recording sessions at Olympic Studios, and incorporating them into a new long-player release entitled Kiss Me Deadly (1981).

- Sweet Revenge (1998) referencing the subsequent LP Kiss Me Deadly which Idol & James had gone on to produce after he had left the band with a re-branded act and new personnel.