"Head Full of Steam" is the second single by Australian indie group The Go-Betweens, from their 1986 studio album, Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express. It was released as a 7" and 12" vinyl single on the Beggars Banquet label in the United Kingdom in May 1986, with "Don't Let Him Come Back" as the B-side. In Australia it was released in 1987 by True Tone Records, with "Little Joe" as the B-Side.

The video was a take-off of Prince's recent video for "Kiss". If featured Forster cavorting in a mid-riff top and flares and McLennan in drag. Forster later wrote that, "This was weird and gave the video an odd edge. I didn't know what Grant was thinking. A team of psychologists at a lakeside retreat outside Vienna would have to work that one out."

Ned Ragett at Allmusic states ""Head Full of Steam" finds the band in relatively jangley mode, the sparkling chime of Robert Forster's and Grant McLennan's guitars almost as close as they ever got to being like the Cocteau Twins. It's an inexact comparison admittedly -- there's not any digital delay soundscapes for a start! -- while the steady, fairly relaxed pace of the song and its melody found the band in easy rather than tense, concerned mode. Forster himself is in fine form vocally, his particular plaintive style just nervously worried enough to convey his unsuccessful-but-he'll-try-anyway pursuit of an unrequited love. Thorn's singing is understated but adds a nice bit of low-key contrast and flair."

In Jason McNeil's review of Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express in Popmatters he states the "lone drawback might be the laissez faire attitude on “Head Full of Steam”, a track whose title misrepresents it totally." Alternately, The Guardian thought, "Its softer, janglepop sound showed that shifting towards simplification could work in their favour."

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