By the end of 1996, the formerly underground swing revival began drawing mainstream recognition in wake of the success of bands such as the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the hit film Swingers.

As a result, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, who were at that time primarily associated with the West Coast ska punk scene, began attracting a separate but sizable following for the prominent swing influences in their music.

Lyrically, the song's narrative is loosely based around the Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots of the 1940s, a series of racially-motivated assaults by American servicemen upon Mexican-American youths.

[9] As swing music began gaining mainstream commercial momentum by late 1997, Mojo chose to issue "Zoot Suit Riot" as a single and distribute it among modern rock radio stations.

The Daddies, who were in preparation over recording a new studio album, ardently protested this move under the belief that a swing song would never receive airplay on mainstream radio and were concerned over losing money from its marketing.

[10][11] Mojo nevertheless persisted and "Zoot Suit Riot" soon found regular rotation on several major stations, notably Los Angeles' KROQ-FM, helping boost the single onto Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart and launch the Daddies into temporary mainstream notoriety.

The video depicts the band and a zoot suited Steve Perry performing the song to a group of swing dancers and punk rockers in a smoky lounge, intercut with various shots of surrealist and occult imagery.

[13] In early 1998, as "Zoot Suit Riot" began climbing up the charts and the Daddies were gaining mainstream visibility, Mojo requested that a newer music video be filmed.