[7] Following completion towards the end of 1998, the release of The Science of Things was delayed after the band was met with a US$40 million lawsuit from their label Trauma Records, claiming "breach of contract and nondelivery of the album".

[3] Outlined by MTV to temper a "love of experimentation with a healthy dose of hard rock",[3] in December 1999, SPIN opined that The Science of Things featured a sound "bolstered" by sporadic drum-loops and electronic effects, and that the music had the "polish" of the band's 1994 debut album Sixteen Stone, and the "energy" of Razorblade Suitcase.

[8] Gil Kaufman of MTV News commented in October 1999 that The Science of Things was forged around "a vaguely science-fiction" narrative, as well as reflecting what he proclaimed to be Rossdale's "lyrical fascination with doomed relationships and the decay of modern society".

[3] "Spacetravel" was written reflecting Rossdale's feeling of detachment from being in Ireland during Tony Blair's earliest months as Prime Minister of The UK,[7] while "Dead Meat" related to the abusive death of Canadian model Dorothy Stratten in 1980.

[2] In October 1999, Dan Aquilante of New York Post, though remarking upon signs of promise in the single "The Chemicals Between Us",[10] and commenting that the track "English Fire" had potential for live performances, gave the view that the "main problem" with the record was that the songs were not "created equally".