The Friday song (on a Sunday):  ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ by The Only Ones

When punk struck, half of me was caught in the jazz world. The other half continued exploring contemporary music, but I couldn’t quite commit to the changes of the time. The Sex Pistols were more of sociological than musical interest to me. The Ramones were slaying the three-, or was it two-chord song, but what else? The Clash, then Talking Heads became the bands that mattered to me and as they led the shoots off punk, to post-punk, new wave and even power pop tangents, I realised that this was the music that urged my focus. 

Enter The Only Ones. They could play, they could write and in Peter Perrett, had a singer with a delivery that was part killer, part lover, joker and contemptuous punk. My favourite kind of voice. I’m still such a Perrett fan that his solo albums, particularly his first, How The West Was Won, remain favourites from the last decade. 

A slow burn masterpiece

The Only Ones’ debut album was influenced by the punks before them, and I’d venture the Velvets and even possibly The Doors. They never exploded, so in a way, were a “secret treasure” band. A couple of years later, their first single proper and today’s Friday Song, Another Girl, Another Planet, started a slow burn to masterpiece status, but never quite created the world storm it deserved. It’s produced, it has power, ripping twin guitar chords, a lead guitar solo that just rocks, smashing drums and thumping bass that switches between lines and chords. It even has some backward looping and key to it all, it has Perrett! 

I don’t remember where I was when I first heard Another Girl, Another Planet. Possibly that Cape Town dive club, 1886.  I do remember clearly though, hearing it a couple of years after its release, one night pogoing around with 200 music and dance crazies in alternative music club Scratch in Shortmarket Street, also in downtown Cape Town. I stopped to listen. It was jerky and on that sound system, sounded gigantic! I had to get that debut album. Perrett’s tortured sneer spoke to me; of indifference, play, alienation, sex, politics, drugs, romance, pretty much everything that was swirling around me at the time. 

Whether the lines in Another Girl, “You get under my skin / I don’t find it irritating / You always play to win / But I won’t need rehabilitating” are about a girl, about drugs, or both, or whether the song is more literally about love, loss and space travel, I don’t know, but it remains one of post punk’s and power pop’s most exhilarating three minutes. I listened to its urgently demanding catchiness this week, as I often do, and figured it’s a great song to shake out the cobwebs of the week and enjoy a happy weekend.

Listen to Another Girl, Another Planet on Spotify here and on Apple Music here.

I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on markgrosin@gmail.com.

For more of Mark’s excellent picks, go here.

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