The band produced the album themselves along with their manager, Bob Brown. Several outside tunes were included on the album. One of these tunes was "Do You Believe in Love", written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It was released as the album's first single and became the band's breakthrough hit, reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The follow-up single, "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do", reached the top 40; while the third single, "Workin' for a Livin'", peaked at number 41.
"Tattoo (Giving It All Up for Love)" is a cover of a Phil Lynott song. Lynott was the singer and bassist for the hard rock group Thin Lizzy, and Huey Lewis had played harmonica on Lynott's first two solo albums, as well as Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album. "Buzz Buzz Buzz" is a cover of a song from 1957 by The Hollywood Flames. "The Only One" was based on a real classmate in Lewis' junior high school who met an end similar to the person in the song.[6][7] "He was a very cool kid" said Lewis.[6] "Janey" in the song was also based on the classmate's girlfriend, though her name was changed and Lewis does not know of her true fate after her boyfriend's death.[6]
