“For What It’s Worth” was written by Stephen Stills in late 1966 after witnessing the unrest surrounding the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles, where clashes had broken out between young protesters and police over new restrictions on nightlife around clubs such as Pandora’s Box. Released as a single in December 1966, the song quickly became Buffalo Springfield’s breakthrough hit reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1967. Although it is often remembered today as a Vietnam-era protest anthem, the song was not originally written about the war. Its tense, understated lyrics instead captured the atmosphere of confusion, suspicion and generational conflict in America at the time, which is precisely why it later came to symbolize the wider turbulence of the late 1960s.

“Our House” was released in November 1982 as the lead single from The Rise & Fall and became Madness' biggest international hit. It reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and, in 1983, became the band's biggest American success by reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also won Best Pop Song at the 1983 Ivor Novello Awards. The Rise & Fall was not released in the United States at the time, instead, “Our House” was included on the American compilation Madness in 1983, helping introduce the band to a much wider US audience. The song grew out of Chas Smash's idea that the band members should write songs about their different family backgrounds. While the others did not pursue the idea, Smash turned his own experience of family life into a warm and nostalgic portrait of a busy working-class household.