Different World got a mixed reception from the press (put down in Kerrang!, hailed in Metal Hammer) and sold poorly. "Yet another technically sound but artistically bland recording from Uriah Heep" (according to AllMusic) failed to chart and marked the end of the band's contract with Legacy Records.

David Byron was sacked from the band in July 1976, after the final show of a Spanish tour. "He'd always got drunk after the show but it had never got to the point where it would jeopardize the show itself. The performance had always been first and foremost with David. It was when the show started to come second that the problems began", Hensley remembered. "The distance between David and the rest had grown to unworkable proportions", according to Blows.

The band formed as Spice. They changed their name to Uriah Heep after a character in Charles Dickens' novel, "David Copperfield".