From the Mars Hotel came less than one year after their previous album, Wake of the Flood, and was the last before the band's then-indefinite hiatus from live touring which began in October 1974.

However, "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain" were both written and sung by bassist Phil Lesh with the assistance of poet Bobby Petersen.

"U.S. Blues" had started life as "Wave That Flag" in February 1973 before being dropped and heavily rewritten; however, "Scarlet Begonias" had been introduced only in the month prior to recording.

Though Garcia had played pedal steel for the band, John McFee (of Clover) guests on the instrument for "Pride of Cucamonga".

Electronic composer Ned Lagin (who frequently sat in during the group's live performances between 1970 and 1975) played synthesizer on "Unbroken Chain".

The real Mars Hotel was a derelict flophouse, at 192 Fourth Street, that had been the temporary residence of Jack Kerouac[5] and was previously used as a location in David Bowie's promotional film for "The Jean Genie".

[6][7][8] It was demolished during the Yerba Buena redevelopment – footage of which is seen in The Grateful Dead Movie – and is now the site of the Moscone West Exhibition Hall.

In response, and to help consumers recognize higher-quality, official pressings, the word "authentic" was embossed in a vertical column on the left margin of the cover.The working title for the album was "Ugly Roomers".

"[9] After another title change to From the Mars Hotel, the punning spelling "Ugly Rumors" was retained in stylized Aztecan text on the front cover, as rotated mirror writing.

The rear cover depicts the band as the "ugly roomers", in the guise of cartoon characters lounging in a room in outer space, watching television.

It also includes a live concert recorded on May 12, 1974, at the University of Nevada, Reno (missing only the opening song, "Promised Land").

[14] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote of the album: "Brighter and more uptempo than Wake of the Flood (which is not to claim it's 'high energy'), with almost as many memorable tunes as American Beauty.

[19] While studying law at St John's College, Oxford, in the 1970s, Tony Blair (UK prime minister 1997–2007) helped found the rock band Ugly Rumours, as a singer-guitarist.

The group was named after the mirror writing on the front cover of From the Mars Hotel,[20][21] using British English spelling for the word "rumors".