"Another Girl, Another Planet" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Only Ones The Only Ones were an English rock band formed in London in 1976, whose original band members are Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie, they first disbanded in 1982. They were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the mus ...

. It is the second track on their debut studio album, ''

The Only Ones The Only Ones were an English rock band formed in London in 1976, whose original band members are Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie, they first disbanded in 1982. They were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the mus ...

'', released in 1978. The song is the band's most successful and has since been covered by several other performers.

Recording

It was recorded on a

16-track Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking or tracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a ...

analogue

Studer Studer is a designer and manufacturer of professional audio equipment for recording studios and broadcasters. The company was founded in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1948 by Willi Studer. It initially became known in the 1950s for its professiona ...

tape machine An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...

and an ex-

Steve Marriott Stephen Peter Marriott (30 January 1947 – 20 April 1991) was an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He co-founded and played in the rock bands Small Faces and Humble Pie, in a career spanning over two decades. Marriott was inducted pos ...

Helios mixing console at Escape Studios, a residential facility in

Egerton, Kent Egerton is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is on the Greensand Ridge 9 miles (14.4 km) north of Ashford and stretches three miles south into a lower plain towards the West Stour. The parish i ...

, England, by engineer and producer

John Burns John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...

, assisted by

Jennifer Maidman Jennifer Maidman (formerly Ian Maidman, born 24 January 1958) is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actor and author who has collaborated extensively with many internationally well known groups and artists. Her work appears on hu ...

, and later worked on and mixed at Basing Street Studios by Robert Ash.

Chart performance

The track was not a chart

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

upon its initial release in 1978. Its first chart appearance was 7 June 1981at No. 44, for one week, on the New Zealand chart. It was re-released in the UK in January 1992, backed with "

Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. A cult classic, it is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film. It was directed by Howard Deutch, produc ...

" by

the Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk sc ...

to promote the compilation album, ''Sound of the Suburbs'', and appeared in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for two weeks, peaking at No. 57.

Recognition

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

describes it as "Arguably, the greatest rock single ever recorded". The song was placed at number 18 in John Peel's all-time

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

millennium edition. Playing it in 1980's Festive Fifty, he introduced it as an "artful little caprice". In March 2005, '' Q'' magazine placed the song at number 83 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song is widely believed to be about heroin "A fantastic song with an amazing guitar line," enthused

Tim Wheeler Timothy James Arthur Wheeler (born 4 January 1977) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician for the alternative rock band Ash. He has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as " Oh Yeah", "Shining Light", " Girl from Mars" ...

of Northern Irish rock band

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

. "It took me a long time to figure out that it's about drugs – not a girl from another planet – and that space travel is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

for being high. It was Peter Perrett's heroin-heavy drawl that eventually gave it away." In an interview in 2015 Perrett declared that the song has been actually inspired by a girl and that it is not about heroin, nevertheless admitting that he always enjoyed "writing ambiguous lyrics that could be taken on two or three different levels".

In popular culture

The song's title was used as the name of a 1992 American independent movie directed by

Michael Almereyda Michael Almereyda (born April 7, 1960) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Early work Almereyda studied art history at Harvard but dropped out after three years to pursue filmmaking. He acquired a Hollywood agent on ...

, though the song does not appear in the film. It does appear, though, in six films and their soundtracks: ''

That Summer! ''That Summer!'' is a 1979 British drama film directed by Harley Cokeliss and starring Ray Winstone, Tony London, Emily Moore and Julie Shipley. It was Ray Winstone's theatrical film debut, playing the character Steve Brodie. Plot It is the sto ...

'' (1979), '' Different for Girls'' (1996), '' Me Without You'' (2001), '' D.E.B.S.'' (2004), ''Paul'' (2011), and ''

Her Smell ''Her Smell'' is a 2018 American drama film written, co-produced and directed by Alex Ross Perry. It stars Elisabeth Moss, Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Dylan Gelula, Virginia Madsen and Amber Heard ...

'' (2018).

Cover versions

Blink-182

Blink-182 Blink-182 (stylized as blink-182) is an American rock band formed in Poway, California in 1992. Their current lineup consists of bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though their sound has ...

recorded a cover of this song for the opening track of Travis Barker's MTV reality show ''

Meet the Barkers ''Meet the Barkers'' is a reality television series which aired on MTV. The series followed the everyday life of married couple, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler, as well as Moakler and Barker's two children, Alabama Luella Bark ...

''. It was later released in 2005 as the closing track on their ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' album.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1978 singles 1978 songs The Only Ones songs Columbia Records singles Blink-182 songs Songs containing the I–V-vi-IV progression