Peter Perrett (songwriter, vocals, guitar)

This song was triggered by meeting someone who had started hanging around our rehearsal rooms in King’s Cross, London. She was very Felliniesque and looked as if she had stepped out of 8 ½. She was an extremely eccentric character and one day she pulled a knife on another girl who was there. I was fascinated by her, not in a romantic way, but to observe, as a curiosity. At that age, 25, I was still into exploring the world and meeting different people you find fascinating or fall in love with. So in the song I used the analogy of exploring the universe. At the same time, I was exploring other things, but the song is not about drugs.

We started rehearsing it immediately and there was something relentless about it: the pace was incessant and didn’t let up for a minute. Someone once described it as an adrenaline rush from beginning to end. But it was only when we played people the first rough mixes and saw their response that it seemed to stand out from everything else that we’d recorded at the time. To me, it was just one of many songs that I had written: I was equally invested in them all. You don’t think of longevity when you’re 25, you just write a song, record it, play gigs, and look forward to the next thing. If you ever consider what a reaction is going to be, then it becomes premeditated and contrived. It has to be an explosion of instant expression, which this really was.

The label thought it was going to be a hit, but it wasn’t – people have many theories why, such as it having a 32-bar instrumental intro with no vocals. But many years later it gained a new lease of life, gathering momentum after the Only Ones broke up. It was used in several different films, then bands such as Blink-182 started covering it. It was used in a Vodafone advert in 2006 and I got a lot of money for it, about 100 grand, but I was still using drugs at the time and that money probably lasted less than a year.

I don’t think it’s the best song I’ve ever written but it might have been the most complete arrangement, and it’s a real privilege that a song that I wrote 47 years ago has transcended the decades in between. It feels like a lot of modern life has got built-in obsolescence, whether it’s technology, music or other forms of art, and you wonder if any of it will be remembered in the future. I’m flattered people still want to talk about it and it still feels exhilarating when you feel the excitement from the audience when you play it.

Alan Mair (bass guitar)

When Peter brought it into the rehearsal studio, it was just immediately: “Wow! This is a fantastic song.” I knew it was something really special and I truly thought we had a hit on our hands. But it was soon fed back to us that certain radio stations had said they weren’t going to play it because it sounds like a drug song, with drug references. I didn’t see that coming at all, as I didn’t think it was about drugs. I’ve always liked psychedelic music – I just felt that was what it was. When we were touring the album, the crowds would always go wild for it, so even though we weren’t getting very much airplay the more we played it, the more it became apparent that it was a big favourite.

That Vodafone advert really did throw it into people’s lives because it was on all the time, on every network. And that really felt like a success. Suddenly it was like having the hit that we didn’t have in the 70s – it put the band in people’s psyche again. I remember thinking at the time, this is fantastic, wouldn’t it be great if the Only Ones would get back together? So that advert, along with Warren Ellis from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds inviting us to play the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, is the reason we got back together.

It seems to have really connected with younger generations too. When people hear it for the first time, they always think it’s just been released. Recently my 17-year-old goddaughter told me that she was obsessed with the song and all her friends know and love it. That was so sweet. It kind of said it all to me. It’s two generations later and still connecting – isn’t that amazing? I always had such faith in it and it feels like that’s come to fruition.

• Peter Perrett tours the UK from 12 February.