In 1983, former group member Nash the Slash proposed a future double bill tour with FM, as the two artists seemed to share a common audience. FM's best known previous album was Black Noise which he made with them in 1977. But they had not yet found a replacement for Ben Mink who had replaced Nash in 1977, and then left the group in 1983. Nash resolved the problem by rejoining the band, although work on a new album, even in its demo phase, did not begin until May 1984.Con-Test has the same band line-up as Black Noise.

FM's former record company, Passport Records, ceased operations in 1984. Nash had been signed to Quality Records as a solo artist in 1983, and was about to release his solo album American Band-ages, which the proposed double bill tour was to promote. He was able to use his association with Quality to get FM signed to the label as well.

The double bill concept was retained, with Nash playing a solo set as the opening act for most FM concerts from 1983 to 1989.

Former group member Ben Mink also appears on the album, albeit as a guitarist.

The album was titled Con-Test after the group ran a contest to come up with something that "FM" might stand for, and its cover art featured fine print listing several hundred submissions including Fluent Monkeys, Flunk Math, Fashion Magazine, Free Money, Forgiven Mistake, Facing Mecca, False Mammaries, and so on. (One intriguing entry is "Framed Mulroney" which would appear to reference the scandals surrounding then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, however these incidents did not occur until years later.)

Despite the absence of pictorial graphics, the cover art was credited to surrealist painter Robert Vanderhorst, who has frequently collaborated with Nash the Slash on multi-media presentations from 1978 to the 2000s.

The album was initially available on Quality Records in 1985 (catalogue number SV-2138), but the label ceased operations in 1986, after more than 35 years of business. They had been Canada's biggest domestic label in the 1950s and 1960s.

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