While criticised at the time of release and afterward for being a song that glorifies debauchery, the lyrics (and video), just as Coleridge's poem, were about the dangers of mindless indulgence.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood would not release another record for seventeen months, and they would fail to emulate their past chart success upon their return.

The spoken-word introductions to both 12-inch mixes are adapted from Walter Kaufmann's 1967 translation of Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy.

The recitation on the first 12-inch/cassette single ("Real Altered") is by Gary Taylor, whilst that on the second 12-inch ("Fruitness") is by actor Geoffrey Palmer.

Not only that, but the subtitle used to identify different mixes was identical on both record labels, with only the matrix number on the run out groove giving the game away.

It features the group stealing a car whilst Holly is flying in a helicopter chasing them, going to a carnival and encountering all manner of deceptively "pleasureable" activities.

that this situation may relate to Johnson's successful but acrimonious court case against ZTT in 1989, which freed him (and effectively the other group members) from their contract with the label.