Girl from Mars

Released on 31 July 1995, it reached number 11 in the UK. Wheeler told The Guardian he wrote it in his bedroom at his parents' house when he was 17. He had been listening to the Pixies, who were obsessed with science fiction, and the band's rehearsal room had once been his sister's den, where she had written Life on Mars in huge letters on the wall. The line about Henri Winterman cigars comes from a family holiday in France, where he met a group of kids and smoked on a beach. His first solo demo sounded like Teenage Fanclub, mid-tempo and jangly. The band sped it up and it moved closer to the Buzzcocks.

Infectious told them not to record it for Trailer, wanting to hold it back until they had left school and could promote it. It was recorded at Rockfield with Owen Morris, then finished with Phil Thornalley, who also mixed it. McMurray recalled that Morris proposed a trip to a charity shop for women's clothes before the session. The video was directed by Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle on the beach at Camber Sands, and the band played the song on Top of the Pops.

Live

Wheeler said in 2020 that it had been in the set at every gig since. The Guardian named it, with Goldfinger and Oh Yeah, as a stand-out when the band played 1977 in full at the Roundhouse in 2008.