REWIND: Ash - 'Girl From Mars'

Another one from 1995 today I think, since I'm still recalling my memories of that year in my weekly RW/FF With Ben P Scott columns (which can all be read HERE). Getting a 7" copy of this single allowed me to hear Ash for the first time, and it was pretty much purely by chance... "My Dad's club had just had a brand new jukebox installed, which was still using good old vinyl records. When new singles were added, old ones were removed and given to me by my Dad. Needless to say I was more than grateful to have them passed on to me, especially since my Dad would make some unwise choices like replacing a Beatles record with a Celine Dion one, meaning that the Liverpool legends would make another entry into my collection while customers at Bentley's would have to tolerate the wailing Canadian nuisance. Other records that i acquired included 'Love Spreads' by The Stone Roses, Ash's 'Girl From Mars' and a remix of New Order's 'Blue Monday'. In hindsight I'm glad that Dad didn't know much about indie music. Because he hadn't heard these songs, he didn't think they'd be worth including on the jukebox..."

"'Girl from Mars' was the second to be released from the album '1977'. It was released on 31 July 1995, becoming Ash's first Top 40 single, reaching number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and the first single to bring the band to mainstream prominence. The song was written by Tim Wheeler when he was sixteen, and was played by the band on their first Top of the Pops appearance two weeks after their A-level exams. The track has been used by NASA as the hold music on their telephone lines..."