Mars were a New York City No Wave band formed by vocalist Sumner Crane in 1975. He was joined by China Burg (née Constance Burg; a.k.a Lucy Hamilton) (guitar, vocals), Mark Cunningham (bass), and Nancy Arlen (drums), and briefly by Rudolph Grey. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars. They played a mixture of angular compositions and freeform ambient noise jams, featuring surrealist lyrics and non-standard drumming; all the members were said to be completely untrained in music before forming the band. Some of the lyrics to one-minute song "Puerto Rican Ghost" are: "CASUAL T/ Talk to me talk to me/ I hate you perfectly perfect perfection/ XYZ."

["Puerto Rican Ghost" full mp3: http://www.convolution7.ws/mp3/PRghost.mp3]

Critic Stella Doon wrote in 1977: "To the uninitiated, Mars may sound like listening to a laundromat magnified. That's because every instrument is making a sound, but who is making which sound? Instead of one direct sound or beat the music travels in at least 3 different directions, speeds of rhythm making a totally orbital sound, one that never really enters the ear instead spinning around the head. At times it sounds like tortured children singing in 7 different tongues."

Best known in noise circles as the one band on Brian Eno’s No New York compilation that had no musical experience whatsoever, Mars first appeared on the New York noise radar in 1977. Originally called “China”, and formed in 1975, the band that would become Mars would play only a handful of shows in their short career and would be limited to a handful of recorded tracks. The band was headed for split up in 1978 — regardless of their appearance on No New York — but managed to stay togeth