The album title is a play on the term Hi-Fi (high fidelity), and the album art is an illustration of this pun where an act of sexual infidelity is apparently occurring while the man is putting a record LP to play on the hi-fi stereo.
Singles
From the album six songs charted on the Billboard charts, including "Keep On Loving You" which was the band's first Number 1 hit, and "Take It on the Run", which reached No. 5 on the charts. The song "Tough Guys" uses an audio clip from the 1937 Our Gang episode "Hearts Are Thumps".[6]
"Tough Guys" was one of two songs from the album that charted on the BillboardMainstream Rock chart despite not being released as singles. Music critic Robert Christgau called "Tough Guys" his favorite song from the album but suggested that the line "They think they're full of fire/She thinks they're full of shit" would prevent the song from reaching the pop Top 40.[5]
Reissues
On October 25, 2004, the band recorded the songs of this album live from beginning to end for an XM Radio "Then Again Live" special.
On July 19, 2011, Sony Music re-released Hi Infidelity with bonus demo tracks for the album's 30th anniversary.[7] Demo tracks were recorded Live at Crystal Studios, Hollywood, June through August 1980.