[8][9] The title is inspired by the 1950 Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice, although Paul Weller said in 2012 that he had not read the book at the time.

Weller has said that "Town Called Malice" was written about his hometown of Woking, inspired by his working-class upbringing there and desire to leave.

[11][12] The Irish Independent described the song, like the band's 1980 single "Going Underground", as a "class-war tirade set to a post-punk northern soul groove".

[2] Greg Freeman of The Guardian described it as featuring a "stomping, Motown-inspired beat" conveying a "sense of pent-up rage and frustrated ambition".

EMI, the Stranglers' label, objected to the sales of both versions of "Town Called Malice" being aggregated, arguing that Jam fans were buying both and thus preventing "Golden Brown" from reaching number one.