奇葩合唱团

The Only Ones are an English rock band formed in London in 1976, whose original band members are Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie, they first disbanded in 1982. They were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the musical territory amidst punk, power pop and hard rock, with noticeable influences from psychedelia.

The Only Ones reformed in 2007 after their biggest hit "Another Girl, Another Planet" experienced a resurgence of public interest. The band completed a comeback UK tour in June 2007, and continued touring throughout 2008 and 2009. New material was recorded in 2009 and played live, but was never released. In 2023, they reformed for the first time in nine years to play concerts in London, and Hebden Bridge.

History

The Only Ones were originally formed in August 1976 in South London by Peter Perrett. Perrett had been recording demos since 1972, and in late 1975 he was looking for a bassist. He was introduced to John Perry as a possible candidate, but Perry wanted to concentrate on playing guitar instead. By August 1976, Perry and Perrett had found drummer Mike Kellie, formerly of Spooky Tooth, and bassist Alan Mair, who previously had huge success with the Scottish beat band the Beatstalkers. Their first single, "Lovers of Today", self-released on the Vengeance record label, was immediately made "record of the week" by three of the four main music papers. A year later they signed a recording contract with CBS. Their next single "Another Girl, Another Planet" became a popular and influential song, and remains the band's best-known song. It is often featured on various musical box-sets featuring a punk rock or new wave theme. After its inclusion on the compilation album The Sound of the Suburbs (1991), it was re-released as a single and reached no. 57 in the UK Singles Chart.

The Only Ones released their eponymous debut studio album The Only Ones in April 1978, produced by the band themselves, with the assistance of Robert Ash. It was well received by both reviewers and fans, albeit it is their lowest charting album, peaking at No. 56 on the UK Albums Chart. Steve Lillywhite who had started his career the year before the album was released, was credited for various engineering on the album. Lillywhite would later go on to become a Grammy Award-winning record producer. Mick Gallagher, known for his work with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, provided keyboards on the album.

The band's follow-up studio album, Even Serpents Shine, was released the following year in March 1979, and was produced by Perrett and Mair. It features John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards, who is best known for his work with the Who. The album charted higher than their debut but was still not a Top 40 hit however, peaking just outside at No. 42 in the UK.

In 1980, they released their third and final studio album, Baby's Got a Gun, which was produced by Colin Thurston, best known for his work with Duran Duran, Talk Talk, the Human League, Kajagoogoo, and Bow Wow Wow.

Guesting on the album would be Penetration's lead vocalist Pauline Murray, who sang a duet with Peter Perrett on the Johnny Duncan cover song "Fools", and also provided backing vocals for "Me and My Shadow". The studio album marked the only time that the band had released a cover version with the aforementioned "Fools", which was later released as a single, and Baby's Got a Gun also marked the only time that a guitarist other than the band members Perrett and Perry had been credited, with Barrie Evans providing rhythm guitar, in addition to playing percussion. Koulla Kakoulli who had sung backing vocals on the band's first two studio albums also returns, making her the only unofficial member of the band to be on all of their studio albums.

Baby's Got a Gun peaked at No. 37 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their best selling studio album.

In the summer of 1980, they were the opening act for the Who on their tour of the United States, and in 1982 the band officially disbanded.

In June 1984, the rarities compilation album Remains was released by Closer Records. The collection combines pre-Only Ones recordings from November 1975 with Only Ones demos, many from August 1976. The 1975 titles — "Watch You Drown", "My Rejection", "Don't Hold Your Breath" and "I Only Wanna Be Your Friend" — also feature the contributions of Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook, Gordon Edwards, drummer Alan Platt, and John Perry playing bass guitar. These demos pre-date the recording of the first Only Ones single, "Lovers of Today". Subsequent tracks all feature the regular Only Ones line-up.

In subsequent years, the Only Ones retained a following and their posthumously released records – live performances, BBC Television and radio shows, and compilation albums – now outnumber their studio albums. Unusually, the Only Ones' discs were never deleted from the CBS catalogue and remain in-print.