[7] After adding an announcer intro and "live audience" overdubbing, Wand quickly released the album for the Christmas purchasing season,[8] and it first appeared on the Billboard Top LPs on January 18, 1964, eventually peaking at #20 and remaining on the chart for over two years (131 weeks total) until 1966.

Attendees included Scepter-Wand president Florence Greenberg and guests Angie Dickinson, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, the Shirelles, George Maharis, Huntington Hartford, Gardner McKay, and Andy Warhol.

A 1964 French release, En Public - Dansez Le Surf avec The Kingsmen (Disques Vogue LD 655 30), included a mix of tracks from the first two albums.

In 1993 Sundazed and Bear Family reissued the album on CD with bonus tracks "Haunted Castle", "The Krunch", and "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee", and with crowd noise and announcer intro removed.

In 2016 the album was reissued in Japan by Old Days Records with bonus tracks "Little Latin Lupe Lu", "Death of an Angel", and "The Jolly Green Giant".