Its commentary relates to how oblivious most of us are to the world around us e.g. "the Martians could land in the car park and no one would care" but in its last line before the chorus becomes suddenly cynical..."they'll burn down the Synagogues at six o'clock and we'll all go along like before," which is a reference to Kristallnacht.
It reached number 6 in the UK Albums Chart and featured one of the band's most famous songs, "Nothing Ever Happens", which reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart.