The album is an elaboration of concepts first introduced by the band on the aforementioned track from their preceding LP, The Raven. Hugh Cornwell, former singer-songwriter and guitarist with the group, has stated his belief that the album is the pinnacle of The Stranglers' artistic and creative output, and he cites it as his favourite album by the band.[2] The Stranglers' bassist, Jean Jacques Burnel, regards the album as often techno in essence,[3] though The Meninblack predates the emergence of that genre by some years.
The single releases from the album were "Thrown Away" (UK chart position 42) and "Just Like Nothing On Earth".[4]
The album sold around 50,000 copies, peaking at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart; it spent five weeks in the listings.[4] Parts of the distinctive opening instrumental "Waltzinblack" were later used as the theme music for Keith Floyd's BBC TV series, Floyd on Food. The Stranglers developed a tradition of opening their live performances with recorded excerpts of "Waltzinblack".
In a 2015 interview on British TV, Burnel stated that the band experimented with heroin in order to help their creative process and this album was the result