In 2005, Blink-182 recorded “Another Girl, Another Planet,” and released it as the closing track on their Greatest Hits album. At the time, Blink drummer Travis Barker was also using the song as the opening of his MTV reality series Meet the Barkers.
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Blink-182’s power-popped version of “Another Girl, Another Planet” was generally faithful to the original, written nearly three decades earlier and released by British rockers The Only Ones.
Peter Perrett and The Only Ones
Nearly 30 years before Blink-182 decided to cover it, “Another Girl, Another Planet” was written by singer Peter Perrett, and released on The Only Ones’ eponymous 1978 debut.
“Another Girl, Another Planet” is the story of a woman who drives a guy mad, and makes him feel like he’s on another planet.
You get under my skin
I don’t find it irritating
You always play to win
But I won’t need rehabilitating
I think I’m on another world with you
With you
I’m on another planet with you
With you
Heroin
Despite some interpretations of the song, “Another Girl, Another Planet” was not about heroin, according to Perrett, which he started experimenting with at the time.
I always flirt with death
I look ill but I don’t care about it
I can face your threats
And stand up straight and tall and shout about it
I think I’m on another world with you
With you
I’m on another planet with you
With you
“Everyone thinks that they have it under control and they’re stronger than the idiots who fall prey to it,” shared Perrett of addiction in 2017. “I always enjoyed writing ambiguous lyrics that could be taken on two or three different levels. … It’s like ‘Love Is The Drug’ or ‘Addicted To Love.’ I put in drug-related imagery, but it wasn’t about drugs. At that time I was more addicted to sex and infatuation than I was to drugs.”
A Yugoslavian Girl
Perrett, who wrote the song in 1977 before the band started recording their debut, said the song was specifically about a girl he had met from Yugoslavia.
“It was inspired by this girl from Yugoslavia,” said Perrett. “I didn’t go out with her, but she was like a total space cadet, which when I was really young I found interesting. She was just a bit weird. She’d say crazy things, and it just got me thinking that every girl has something different to offer. It would have been written on my Guild acoustic. I think any good song should sound all right on an acoustic guitar.”
Before The Only Ones
Before forming The Only Ones in South London in 1976, along with Mike Kellie, Alan Mair, and John Perry, Perrett was making music with England’s Glory. He released two compilations of the band’s music decades later in 1989 and 2005.
Another Song …
Despite a continued infatuation with the song by fans and other artists, Perrett admitted that “Another Girl, Another Planet” isn’t his favorite song that he has written. “It’s not the song that I think is my best,” revealed Perrett of The Only Ones’ most well-known hit.
Along with Blink-182’s rendition, “Another Girl, Another Planet” has also been covered by The Replacements, Belle & Sebastian, Pete Doherty, and even The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain (take a listen, HERE).
… Another Time
For many years after The Only Ones broke up in 1982, Perrett retreated from music and public life. He later formed the short-lived The One in 1994 and released two EPs with the band before its demise in 1999.
In 2007, The Only Ones reunited and were invited by Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) to play at All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. The band continued touring through 2009 and even recorded new material, which has never been released.
Perrett, Today
Perrett released his debut solo album, How the West Was One, in 2017 and follow-up, Humanworld, in 2019 and has enjoyed playing with his two musician sons. In a 2020 interview, Perrett also shared that he has been sober since 2015.
“A lot of people find they have depression in sobriety, so they have to find a new habit that makes them happy,” shared Perrett. “I have this hobby called music that makes me happier than drugs ever did.”
(Photo by Jerod Harris/WireImage)
