The sociopolitical context of Silent Alarm is key to understanding songs like “Price of Gas”. It was written and released in the early years of the Iraq War, which began in 2003 when the United States invaded the country on the grounds that its leader purportedly had weapons of mass destruction and needed to be prevented from using them. The United Kingdom was one of few countries willing to assist. Critics argued that the war was motivated by imperialistic greed, as Iraq was one of the world’s top oil producers.

“Price of Gas” was recorded in 2004, and January of that year was when the Hutton Enquiry reached its conclusion in the U.K., regarding the government’s fabrication of the existence of WMDs. This only served to give credence to the theory that the invasion of Iraq was oil-motivated.

Essentially, the song argues that we are all fueling destruction and violence while we’re just going about our everyday lives.

“Price of Gas” was mislabelled on the original album pressings as Price of Gasoline.

The marching sound in the song was created by bassist Gordon Moakes walking in the studio with planks of wood strapped to his feet.