After having tried other popular genres, the band had been preparing to make their debut as performers of dance music and wanted the public to associate them with the young crowd who met at the Blitz every Tuesday.

By shaping their image around an exclusive club scene, Spandau Ballet piqued the interest of a television documentary filmmaker who then wanted to film the band in concert as part of presenting their story.

The song had gained such popularity on that one station that the labels in the running all agreed that the one the band chose to sign with would pay for the session time needed to record it right away and start working on their first album.

The fact that they had little money to spend on the music video for "To Cut a Long Story Short" did not prevent the band from wearing historical military outfits.

The contract also gave control over all aspects of how their music was presented, which allowed them to get help from the creative regulars from the Blitz who specialized in such things as graphic design, hair and costumes.

The tactics that put Spandau Ballet in the public eye with the song were more about recognizing the cultural shift that these young people represented than they were about just having a hit record.

[7] The band worked on what their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp referred to as "white European disco music"[8] and presented it to their manager, Steve Dagger,[9] who explained that they needed to get ready for their debut quickly because of the growing competition to be the breakout artist amongst their peers.

"[11] Kemp concurred that the band was confident that they were ready to make their debut the first time they played the song[12] in which the singer begins providing details regarding certain undesirable circumstances but concludes with, "To cut a long story short, I lost my mind".

On BBC Radio 4's Mastertapes series in 2013, Kemp said, "The lyrics to those kind of songs, I mean, I suppose they owed something to Bowie's famous cut-ups, you know, slightly esoteric, this grand landscape that we're all living on.

"[12] The Gentry's first Blitz-style concert was a private show for a small group of people[14] from the club[15] in November 1979,[16] and that resulted in the selection of the new band name, Spandau Ballet,[17] and an invitation to perform at the Blitz Christmas party[18] on 5 December.

"[32] On the fortieth anniversary of the song's release, Spandau Ballet producer Richard James Burgess recalled, "Labels were at a fever pitch trying to sign the group.

[43] Burgess later described the limitations he and Kemp were dealing with at the time: "Tubby and Perry were not working with high technology in Jamaica, and our trick-bag was still light even as the eighties dawned.

"[48] Kemp described its brashness in his autobiography, writing, "'To Cut a Long Story Short' was taut, succinct, rude and uncompromising, with an all-in-at-once intro that sounded as though the door of the Blitz had been kicked open.

Another part of Spandau Ballet's deal with Chrysalis was that the band would have control over every aspect of how their music was marketed, including artwork, videos and the selection of songs to be released as singles,[51] and they found most of their support team at the club.

[52] Blitz regular[53] and Camberwell College of Arts graphics student Graham Smith came up with the design for the sleeve of their first single as well as the album they had begun, Journeys to Glory, and the other songs from it that were also released in the 7- and 12-inch formats: "The Freeze", "Muscle Bound" and "Glow".

"[54] Mark Cooper of Record Mirror was not impressed by the media exposure that Spandau Ballet had received by the time "To Cut A Long Story Short" was available for review.

His major points of criticism were directed at elements of the song that underscored why he felt the band was overblown: "Their debut single features a cute synthesiser riff that pretends to be profound and is pure pop with a vocal that verges on the operatic."

"[58] In an otherwise scathing review of the band's December 1980 concert at London's LGBT nightclub Heaven, Richard Williams of The Times credited the song with having "a hook line reminiscent of the better psychedelic records".

"[61] In retrospective reviews on AllMusic, Dave Thompson included "To Cut a Long Story Short" on a list of Spandau Ballet songs that were "utterly convincing white boy Funk";[62] Ned Raggett interpreted it as a "rent-boy scenario" in singling it out as one of their better early tracks;[63] and Stewart Mason described it as minimalist "spiky synth-pop" with a style reminiscent of early Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark material and featuring a "dirty, overdriven synth sound and a stomping Gary Glitter-like backbeat".

[84] Kemp felt their first video was "an opportunity to capture some of the flavour of who we were" and explained the band wore Culloden and Edwardian Scottish military regalia,[80] which included a few tartan items.

"[80] The band chose similar garb for their debut on Top of the Pops,[86] and Kemp marveled, "It was a look as yet unseen on this great British institution but would soon be copied on a thousand dance floors around the world."

[89] Former Depeche Mode keyboardist and songwriter Vince Clarke told Rolling Stone magazine in 2000 that "To Cut a Long Story Short" inspired him to write 1981's "Just Can't Get Enough".

"[90] In 2009, former Evening Standard and music magazine journalist David Johnson gave a historical account of the rise of the band in an article titled "Spandau Ballet, the Blitz kids and the birth of the New Romantics".

He wrote, "Within weeks of Spandau's hit ["To Cut a Long Story Short"], Britain's clubbing grapevine put yet more clubland bands into the charts, many unveiled by sharp young managers the same age as the talent.