They would have been the first band to sign to Creation Records, and the label's first release would have been "Spike Milligan’s Tape Recorder," but Alan McGee had no money to pay for the recording studio so the band stayed with Criminal Damage and released this 7-inch single, described in ZigZag (magazine) as "not only have The Membranes wiped the floor with the opposition, they redesigned the tiles". They were awarded single of the week in all four music papers, and "Spike Milligan" reached number six in the John Peel Festive Fifty.