The album name was formulated in the wake of the September 11 attacks, front man Flynn Gower explained that the name was derived from a social commentator in the United States that was describing "what people once considered ‘normal’ in terms of lifestyle.

The single itself was distributed to radio stations, street team members, as well as directly to some attendees of the Big Day Out '04 launch ceremony in Sydney, Australia at Utopia Records on April 9, 2005.

Flynn Gower described the lyrics as " recurring ideas of anger, alienation, isolation, dissension, disillusionment and disempowerment" as well as the feeling of exclusion from "the decision-making process" on both the local and national level.

Commenting on the protest theme, art director Daniel Parkinson stated "we decided on a clean stark look, using Times New Roman Font like a newspaper" in addition to "some strange 'anomaly' objects" portrayed as black balls floating above the desert floor.

She described some of the rhymes as "a touch too obvious" while "[pushing] a simplistic melody...longer than it deserves", but assures "enough unexpected turns and blistering riffs" to conclude that "Cog are at their best concocting these apocalyptic epics".