"tv party" is driven by chuck dukowski's bass line and features henry rollins on lead vocals and bellowed backing vocals from band members. the song is light in comparison to other songs from the band's "damaged" era. black flag guitarist greg ginn has stated that after "rollins joined the band, we couldn't do songs with a sense of humor anymore; he got into the serious way-out poet thing." rollins described the song as satire, stating "it's about people who stay inside their house and live in a tv kinda world. and this has a very direct effect on us." ginn echoed rollins's interpretation, stating "it's basically a satire of people watching tv and partying at home, which is a sickness which is very prevalent in la."