The lyrics of "Warm Leatherette" reference J. G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel Crash, which had heavily influenced Daniel Miller.

Miller took the record to a few independent music shops, including Rough Trade in London, where it would be played to customers.

However, since it was "Warm Leatherette" that gained more public attention,[3] it was featured as the lead song on subsequent single re-releases.

[5] The single was an early example of industrial and synth-pop music, emerging on a wave of numerous electronic pop experiments of the late 1970s in the UK.

[6][7] It has since been described as having "revolutionised electronic music with its punk aesthetic, stark sound and dark subject matter"[2] "Warm Leatherette" is considered to be a seminal track that influenced the emerging synth-pop of the 1980s[8] and has been covered by numerous artists,[4] including Grace Jones and Duran Duran, who performed it on a 2007 tour.