Casablanca Records released "Beth" in August 1976 as "Destroyer"s fourth single. The album, released on March 4, peaked at #11 on the Billboard 200, but quickly began to decline. Its first two singles, "Shout It Out Loud" and "Flaming Youth", failed to match "Rock and Roll All Nite" - until then the group's most successful song in the United States - and Casablanca Records executives had to choose another song from the album to release as a single. Casablanca president Neil Bogart asked promoter and disc jockey Scott Shannon for his honest opinion on which of "Destroyer"s tracks was a potential hit. To his surprise, Shannon chose "Beth", although Bogart asked him to forget it because he felt the song had only been included as a favor to Peter Criss. In the face of Bogart's refusal, Shannon contacted vice president Larry Harris, who revealed that Bogart disliked "Beth" because it was his ex-wife's name and he felt the lyrics reflected the process of their divorce.