Further chart movement was prevented by "Say It Isn't So" by Daryl Hall and John Oates and "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.

[3] Cash Box said the song "stealthily stalks along on Simon Le Bon's clenched vocals, but more cautiously [than 'Hungry Like the Wolf'] in the night-time nightmare world depicted in these lyrics.

"[4] The B-side to "Union of the Snake" was the atmospheric piece "Secret Oktober", a collaboration between keyboardist Nick Rhodes and Le Bon.

So Rhodes, Le Bon and producer Sadkin set out to work on "Secret Oktober" at 301 Studios in Sydney, Australia (where the Seven and the Ragged Tiger album was being completed); it had been written, recorded and mixed within the 24-hour period they had to meet the deadline.

In 2018, the song was covered by Camila Mendes, Asha Bromfield and Hayley Law in the episode "Chapter Twenty-Four: The Wrestler" from the second season of the television series Riverdale.