Tinsel Town Rebellion was formed out of two albums - Warts and All and Crush All Boxes - that Zappa originally planned to release following the establishment of his home studio, the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen.

Zappa wrote "Easy Meat" in 1970 and the song was a concert staple of the early 1970s Mothers of Invention line-up featuring ex-members of The Turtles: Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan on lead vocals.

The sleeve and interior was designed by Cal Schenkel, and contains a collage of still images from various 1920s, 1930s and 1940s Hollywood films, including Freaks, directed by Tod Browning.

Complaints regarding the significantly inferior sound quality (the album was mastered by Bob Stone) led to a remaster by Spencer Chrislu in 1998.

Allmusic writer Steve Huey praised the album's instrumental work and the reworked versions of older songs, but described the sexually-themed lyrics as "problematic".