Back in England in 1976, punk rock was starting to emerge and countless bands were beginning to form based on the influence of the time. One of those bands was The Only Ones. However, like many bands of the time, The Only Ones would go on to become one of the criminally underrated bands of the era, only to see major success until long after their time had passed.
If you’re to look at the band’s Wikipedia page, you’ll see rather quickly that their intitial six year existence can be summed up in a small number of sentences. From forming in 1976, the group released a debut, self-titled record in 1978, a second album in 1979, a final album in 1980, supported The Who in the US in the same year, and disbanded in 1982.
However, in the time after they broke up, their single ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ began to gain traction as one of the great unheard singles of days gone by. As time went on, more and more people began to catch onto this humble little tune, with just as many considering it an influence on their musical tastes.
Rather cleverly, the tune is disguised as a love song to a girl, though it was written about heroin, the drug of choice for many in England in this time period. While one may assume the title to assume to a girl being considered ‘out of this world’, a closer inspection shows that the tune is looking at the girl as a metaphor for an analogy for a hit of heroin, with each ‘planet’ disguising hallucinations and highs that come as a result.
Famously, this is one of those songs which see plenty of people use this as a song for their joyous occasions, not realising the sinister undertones hidden beneath the song’s poppy exterior. To be fair though, the way the song is written, it seems to welcome its ability to be used in different scenarios, wanting to be seen as a good song, rather than a ‘love’ song or a ‘drug’ song.
While recent years have seen The Only Ones get back together due to the increasing success of this track, fans are still awaiting a new record. No rush though, it’s only been 37 years by this point. That being said, some fans have speculated that the group have indeed broken up again with no official announcement, potentially halting any plans of new material.
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