The first song to be attempted was "Killer", which came out of a rehearsal that attempted to join fragments of songs together in a deliberate attempt to create something that would be commercially successful. The track was a composite of a basic song structure written by group leader Peter Hammill in 1968, an old song written by founding member Judge Smith called "A Cloud as Big as a Man's Hand", and a rock riff composed by organist Hugh Banton that he later said was influenced by The Move's "Brontosaurus". The lyrics referred to a shark in the ocean, who becomes lonely through killing everything. "Killer" quickly became a live favourite with fans, and the group's signature track.