Aliens Are Taking Over My Radio Station

On my 2nd radio broadcast, I wanted to do a theme that is near and dear to my heart.

Listen to the full broadcast here, and then check out my fellow Shady Pines Radio DJs here, especially KMSG, who broadcast Off The Record on Fridays and High Voltage on Wednesdays.

Mothership Connection- Parliament Funkadelic

I love Funkadelic, and the P-Funk extended musical universe. I want to do an entire show about them, but I don’t know how to fit it into an hour. Still, I have to honor them.

Aliens, and outer space, have been a consistent theme throughout all of P-Funk. This is for a very simple reason, that George Clinton wanted black people to go to places they’re never seen. Space, being the final frontier, was a place that Clinton wanted representation. If Uhara from Star Trek could do it, why not cool musicians like Clinton and his people?

That’s how we get this happening. The Mothership Connection, the song, the album, the live performances. They got an actual UFO stashing the musicians in there on-stage during the height of their tours. We could get lost in the P-Funk universe and all of its alien-ness, so we’re gonna move on for the sake of time.

Starman- Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars

From one space man, we’re going to play another space man right away.

There’s a common misconception that David Bowie wrote and performed this song. It’s wrong, it’s written and performed by the enigmatic & eccentric Ziggy Stardust, backed up by The Spiders From Mars. It’s a shame he only released one self titled album, because it’s pretty good!

Out of all the songs we feature, this is one of the few were the singer is the alien. Most other songs talk about aliens, and even meet them. This is the only time we get the alien point of view. Even greater, it’s an alien talking about another alien life form. The story of Ziggy Stardust and David Bowie have been explored and discussed for decades now. Among the mythological arc of Ziggy is the identity crisis that Bowie had in performing him. He blurred the lines between himself and his character, losing track of who he was at times.

Sometimes being alienated from yourself is the scarier than a true alien invasion, because it should be in your control.

Childhood’s End- Pink Floyd

The song is named after an Arthur Clarke sci-fi novel. Both songwriter David Gilmour and Arthur Clarke have recognized that the song isn’t an adaptation of the story. The themes kind of connect, but it doesn’t seem to be the aim of the song.

Childhood’s End, the book, is about an alien invasion that, while peaceful, ends up changing humankind. The story starts with a world at war, fighting because of course they are. Aliens take over the world and prevent war. While their reign is peaceful throughout the story, they do change humankind from a community of individuals to a collective hivemind. They basically turn human kind from unique personalities such as you and me into a faceless ant colony.

Childhood’s End, the song, is themed about how humans change from childhood to adulthood. It alludes to the childlike wonder we see in the world, only to have a harsh reality set in when we become burdened with things like bill payments, dead-end jobs, and a lack of time to do fun stuff. As the song ends, they acknowledge that everything is going to end eventually. The song, the album, and even humankind can’t last forever.

Creatives, when confronted with this thought, express it either through apocalyptic themes or by using aliens as an allegory to critique humankind. Still, it makes me comfortable enough to include Childhood’s End in a discussion about alien music.

Have You Seen The Saucers- Jefferson Airplane

It only took me 1 and a half broadcasts before featuring Grace Slick, singer of Airplane, on my show, She’s my favorite female rock singer, and one of my all-time favorite vocalists.

The song comes at the tail end of the Jefferson Airplane era, right before a turn of events that would create Jefferson Starship. Have You Seen The Saucers has the sci-fi theme that would set the tone for Paul Kantner and Grace Slick’s future.

The song itself appeared on the B-side of a single called Mexico, which criticized President Nixon. Saucers sees a probable war allegory, saying that the government is lying to us and is complicit in Earth’s destruction. The song asks us to take care of the planet before we eventually destroy each other, a powerful message for a mid-Cold War America.

Using alien-imagery to explore a political topic is a creative way to express the struggles of their time. I think it works here, as the somber note exists to distill a thought-provoking tone in us. One that we can still relate to in 2022.

The Martian Boogie- Brownsville Station

This is the old-school rock and roll sound that I wish we could hear more of. Raw rock guitars screaming over an up-tempo beat would really help out society.

I love how casual the singer is about his alien encounter. He just wanted a burger, and met an alien. The voice is very non-chalant about, “oh that’s kind of neat, I’ve never met a martian before”. The whole time, the shredding guitar and the musical side effects are blowing every way but forward. There are very few dull moments in this song, but if you just heard the isolated vocals you would have no idea that it’s the case.

Come Sail Away- Styx

Somehow I went my whole childhood not realizing this was a song about aliens.

“Gathering of angels appeared above my head”, “Climbing aboard out starship, we’re headed for the skies”. A 12 year old me just thought that they were going on a neat little adventure. As I grow up, I’ve seen the Childhood’s End theme in it. There’s a nostalgia for a younger simpler time, and sees an adulthood on Earth whose promises are not as simple, nor debateably as fun.

Nope, they’re stowing away with aliens because they’re a little bored with Earth.

Honestly, I get that. We’ve seen aliens as allegories for Earth’s problems caused by the conflicts of humankind. While Airplane, for instance, argued that we need to turn around and take care of the planet, Styx is fine with jumping ship and hoping that the next planet will be better for us.

Starship Trooper- Yes

It is so on-brand for Yes, in their prime, to make a space alien anthem. Even better that it’s among their multi-movement masterpieces. All 9.5 minutes of the song keep you engaged.

Each section was written by a different band member. Jon Anderson wrote the first section (Life Seeker), whose lyrics use alien descriptions and imagery as a search for God. It describes a spirituality similar to Airplane’s Saucers, but frames it as an appraisal of Mother Earth. The Disillusion section speaks closer to Airplane’s critique of how we treat this same Mother Earth. Bassist Chris Squire wrote it for another song, but retooled it to fit in this song. Würm was written by guitarist Steve Howe, envisioned as an ever-building solo.

I chose this song over Arriving UFO, another alien anthem by Yes, because I think the spirituality and alien life connection is more fascinating. Starman does this as well, and I guess the biggest difference is that Ziggy is more up front about it (and speaks of the Starman as someone who has met him before).

I Ran (So Far Away)- A Flock Of Seagulls

Out of all the wild words and lyrics on this entire broadcast, this song has my favorite. It’s actually one of my favorite lyrics of any song ever.

“The Cloud is moving near us now, AURORA BOREALIS COMES IN VIEEEEEW, AURORA COMES IN VIEW”

On one hand, it’s a great indicator that this journey we’re going on is already in the skies, and it’s not turning back. I also think that Aurora Borealis, AKA The Northern Lights, are absolutely beautiful to look at. I’m glad that A Flock Of Seagulls reminds me of it. On the other hand, I think I like the lyric because it’s funny to say. My simple sense of humor loves little things like this. Referencing a visual natural phenomenon with cheesy 1980’s synths in the background is very up my alley.

Still, the whole song chronicles the abduction. The rest of A Flock Of Seagulls deals with spacial themes. The beginning of the 1980s with its love of synthesizers was a perfect time for it. I’m so glad we live in the universe where this song exists.

Blue (Da Be De)- Eiffel 65

Ok, so I may be stretching for songs by the time I get here. However, given the music video that accompanies this song, I believe it fits. Blue is about the life of a blue alien who lives on a planet, where everything is blue. I don’t care that it’s dumb, and that the lyrics border between very wierd and very bad. The song is carried by the main piano riff, and the Europop house beat that supports it.

But, think about it, we don’t really know what an alien is. The concept of alien life gives creative artists across the world an infinite amount of material to work with. Aliens can stand as a representation or a reflection of our own culture. Aliens can also be goofy and wierd, in ways that we can’t make sense out of. Why not allow a blue alien to live on a blue world doing blue things.

The Final Countdown- Europe

This song needs no introduction, so instead it’s our closer. It’s a cheesy alien abduction anthem. It’s synth riff is immortalized on Earth. It sees humanity jump ship off Earth, getting ready to become aliens on another planet that isn’t ours. Maybe it’s Venus, and maybe they’ve seen us.

I can think of no better song to end a story about aliens in music than The Final Countdown.