 The album's iTunes review echoed this praise by deeming it and "Heartbeat" power ballads that are "unacknowledged precursors to the hair metal sound that would come to dominate Los Angeles in the ‘80s".Despite this, Doherty argued that it is not representative of The Runaways' style because it "lacks their spirit and rough around the edges approach".Written by Fowley, West, and former bassist (and future Bangle) Michael "Micki" Steele, "Born to Be Bad" is very slow in tempo and also features "unusually mellow" lead vocals from Jett for part of the song.