[1] In 1990, frontman Mick Head told NME that Shack's second album would be less lyrically serious than Zilch and that the band's influences at the time were The Stone Roses, Flowered Up, and The Charlatans.

[4] Stewart Mason of AllMusic also compared the album's sound to a more acoustic-sounding version of the Stone Roses and The La's, and noted similarities to the genres of jangle pop and Britpop.

[5] The release of Waterpistol was delayed due to several post-recording mishaps, contributing to what critic Dave Simpson of The Guardian called Shack's "classic rock'n'roll hard-luck tale".

[7] The remaining DAT tape masters were accidentally left by producer Chris Allison in his hire car while on vacation in the United States.

[3] In the interim, Shack broke up after its bassist left to join Cast, and Mick sank into a state of depression,[5] heroin addiction,[7] and usage of other drugs including MDMA.

The record sleeve is designed by Stefan Kassel in co-operation with Headcharge Hamburg and features the track list and a photo of a young boy smoking on the cover.

[11] Melody Maker urged readers to buy the record by calling it "beautiful",[12] AllMusic's Stewart Mason wrote, "Waterpistol is one of those rare 'lost' albums that's actually as good or better than the hype suggests.

"[5] Nick Southall of Stylus called the album a collection of "wonderful, uplifting slices of post-Beatles-Anthology-revivalist guitar bliss".