The album spawned three singles: "Legal Tender", "Whammy Kiss", and "Song for a Future Generation".

in early 1982, during a visit to Compass Point Studios, where the band commenced re-recordings of three unreleased songs: "Butterbean", "Big Bird", and "Queen of Las Vegas".

[2] All three tracks were originally intended to be included on their previous release, Mesopotamia (1982), but none were completed, due to pressure and time constraints from Warner Bros. and their manager Gary Kurfirst.

[4] Remarking on the band's new focus on electronic instrumentation, singer/instrumentalist Kate Pierson later called the recording "a transitional album.

"[5] Additionally, Pierson stated that drummer Strickland "didn't want to play drums anymore, so Whammy!

was a commercial success, spawning the hit singles "Legal Tender", "Whammy Kiss", and "Song for a Future Generation".

Praise was given to the drum machines and synthesizers, which created upbeat and highly danceable songs,[16] as well as the tight lyrics and over the top vocals.

[4] Rolling Stone's Christopher Connelly, while referring to Mesopotamia as "underrated", was pleased with the band's return to their trademark style, and felt that even with the addition of Devo-style keyboards, producer Steven Stanley had "kept the band's basic strengths intact: breakneck tempos, deliciously uninhibited singing and an earnest enthusiasm for some of the universe's less-celebrated pleasures".

While remarking that the entirety of side two is "a waste", he concluded, "What is important is that this band is having fun again - and in this age of dopey novelty songs and cheesy dance tracks, nobody does it better.