#747: Top 11 Rock Songs About Aliens

A sequel to Record Store Tales Part 148:  Navigate the Seas of the Sun

GETTING MORE TALE #747: Top 11 Rock Songs About Aliens

UFOs, life on other planets, first contact…these are subjects rarely explored in lyrics, right? If you start digging, there are actually more songs about it than you know. Make a list of songs about aliens, not human astronauts like “Space Oddity” or “Rocket Man”. (Both great tracks indeed, but not about alien intelligence.)

I also left off “Hanger 18” by Megadeth, even though the video is a landmark for aliens in rock music.  The lyrics deal mostly with Area 51, a military base, with only a few lines about aliens.  “Foreign life forms inventory, suspended state of cryogenics.”

Do you have a favourite alien song? Check out the list below. You’ll find one alien-related subject among them that dominates the rest. Can you guess what it is?

11. Judas Priest – “Abductors”
Key lyric:  “They come at night and they infiltrate you, they paralyse and they mentally rape you.”

When Rob Halford left Priest, Glenn Tipton took over writing the lyrics. Tipton is…well, he’s not a poet. “Abductors” is at the bottom of this list because the words are just a list of metaphors for maiming someone. That the maiming is done in an alien abduction seems secondary.

10. Van Halen – “Love Walks In”
Key lyric: “Some kind of alien, waits for the opening.”

This one has a tenuous connection with aliens at best, but I wanted to include it because it’s such a well known song. Sammy Hagar believes he has been abducted by aliens.  That alone makes this song a significant entry.  The lyric “Contact, asleep or awake,” can easily be interpreted as being about alien contact.

9. Dio – Magica (album)
Key lyric:  “Now we understand. All traces of Magica must be eliminated. Infection. Infection. Delete, delete…”

Ronnie James Dio only lived long enough to make one concept album of a planned trilogy. It was a sci-fi fantasy epic called Magica. The saga takes place on another planet called Blessing, which is visited by alien explorers centuries later. The fantasy elements are dominant, while the alien setting serves more as a bookend.

8. Fu Manchu – “King of the Road”
Key lyric: “Under forty over is UFO, hell bent stacked in rows, the galaxy is lined with hundreds more, small town you bet we’re sure.”

“King of the Road says you move too slow!” goes the panicked chorus.  Fu Manchu’s lyrics are usually vague, and more about setting a scene.  This one involves a chase and a repeat abduction.  “All through my head it’s happenin’ over again.”

7. Bruce Dickinson – “Abduction”
Key lyric:  “Are you the truth to sit in judgement on my sins?  Evil laser gadgets come to penetrate my skin.”

Bruce Dickinson makes the impression of a well-read science fiction fan.  “Abduction” is one of his most blatant lyrics on the subject.  He does a considerably better job of it than Judas Priest.

6. Helix – “Billy Oxygen”
Key lyric: “The ship’s landing gear was down, people started to gather round. The door slowly started to open, people were ready to listen. He said my name is Billy Oxygen, and I am the mission commander.”

Written by guitarist Brent Doerner, this Helix song was a little different than the usual rock fare.  Yes, Helix are known for writing about “Women, Whiskey & Sin”, but sometimes aliens too!  Billy Oxygen is the commander of the ES-335 (actually the model number of a Gibson guitar), and all he really wants to do is get high with some aliens.  Why not?  But he’s only got 14 days to fly!

5. Blue Oyster Cult – “Take Me Away”
Key lyric:  “Strange shapes light up the night, I’ve never seen ’em though I hope I might. Don’t ask if they are real, the men in black, their lips are sealed.”

Blue Oyster Cult get major points for singing about the men in black, long before Will Smith was doing it.  Clearly the B.O.C. guys (or at least Eric Bloom) know their conspiracy theories.  An earlier version with lyrics by Aldo Nova was called “Psycho Ward”.

4. Ace Frehley – “Remember Me”
Key lyric:  “Well I’m staring down from Venus in the dead of night, my mind is thinking back to when the world was right.”

Of course, Ace has quite a few songs about space, but they’re mostly double entendres like “Rocket Ride” (by Kiss).  “Remember Me” is a little more thoughtful.  An alien is watching from nearby Venus, a common theme from the golden age of science fiction.  He laments that Earthlings continue to wage war instead of feeding the starving.  The alien goes to Earth with a message:  make peace, or you’re not gonna last!  Very similar to Klaatu’s message in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

3. Steve Vai – “Little Green Men”
Key Lyric: “You look-a real keen, even though you are green, With those big, large heads, something off of the movie screen.”

Steve has a few titles about aliens, but some are instrumental. “Little Green Men” is a comical song that quotes the musical theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind!  Thank you, John Williams.

2. Barstool Prophets – “Thrusters”
Key lyric: “Just as I rise to leave, I hear the old familiar sound, of thrusters pounding atmosphere.”

There’s a loner out there in a field looking up at the sky, waiting to see something — anything.  “I have spent many nights, Staring at the sky, All the distant stars that shine, How I’ve longed to make them mine.”  Then he finally hears the sound of the ships returning.  “I knew that they’d come back for me.”

1. Blue Rodeo – “Cynthia”
Key lyric:  “And you stood in their beam of light, and they showed you the bones on the moon, Well I hope I get to go there, With you real soon.”

Here’s a real curve ball for #1.  Did you expect Blue Rodeo to be on the list?

Greg Keelor is in love with Cynthia, who tells him stories of being abducted by aliens.  “So you saw that Fire in the Sky, well I think that’s so cool,” says Greg, referencing the film.  He doesn’t think she’s crazy.  “You are nobody’s fool,” he sings.  “Cynthia” is unusually upbeat and happy song about aliens, though really it’s just about that crush of new love.  Greg’s so head over heels, he’d follow her anywhere.  “Cynthia won’t you take me to Pyramid Lake with you.  We could watch the space ships, Maybe they’d take us on a trip, to that never ending sky.”  Incidentally, Pyramid Lake is near Jasper, Alberta, and lakes are common areas for UFO sightings.  One wonders if “Cynthia” is based on a real person that Greg may have met.

At least six of these songs are about being abducted by aliens, using the word “abducted” in a broad sense, even if the person goes willingly.  “King of the Road” is open to interpretation.  Ace Frehley’s is surprisingly one of the more thoughtful songs, with its classic message of “make love not war” brought by an alien intelligence.

It’s Blue Rodeo who have the best tune about aliens.  By framing it in a love story and using vibrant lyrics, “Cynthia” is the winner.

REVIEW: Judas Priest – Trouble Shooters (1989 CBS cassette)

JUDAS PRIEST – Trouble Shooters (1989 CBS cassette)

Readers understand that I’m pretty anti-cassette.  For most of my life, I had shitty equipment and shitty tapes so my memories of fiddling with tapes are not happy ones.  You do tend to find oddities on cassette that don’t exist on any other media, which is one reason I’ll always need a tape deck.

Here’s one from my personal collection that I bought in early 1990.

Bob Schipper knew my favourite band in 1989/1990 was the mighty Priest.  He told me of a cassette I didn’t have called Trouble Shooters.  The one detail I can’t recall is what store he saw it in, but I gave him some money and he got me the tape.

I was disappointed that it was a cheap tape with nothing on the inlay, but I now had a Priest tape I didn’t own before.  I spied the release date:  1989.  It looked odd sitting in my tape cases filed as the “newest” Judas Priest release, with Les Binks on the front cover.  Trouble Shooters was in fact a bargain bin compilation made up of songs from Sin After Sin, Stained Class, Hell Bent for Leather, Point of Entry, British Steel, and Defenders of the Faith.  Another thing that looked strange:  the uber-metal Priest logo on the front.  Turning it up to 11, it’s rendered as the insane-o looking Jüdäs Priést.

The running order on these tapes is usually pretty random, but side one of Trouble Shooters goes down really well.  “Let Us Prey/Call For the Priest” is a pretty cool way to open a tape, with that low hum of instruments before the regal guitarmonies enter.  (Note that the second part of the title isn’t printed anywhere.)  “Let Us Prey” is suited to commence a Priest tape that is heavier than the average.  Its proto-thrash pacing represents Judas Priest at an early peak.  Then, sensibly, Trouble Shooters gets the “hit single” out of the way early, in this case “Living After Midnight”.  Casual music buyers picked up these tapes in discount bins, so you have to put on the hit early; the second slot working best.

I appreciated that they included two songs from Point of Entry as that has always been a personal favourite.  The title track is parsed wrong as “Trouble Shooters” when it should be all one word.  Still a good song, with Priest taking a simple sassy 4/4 time stance.  “Turning Circles” from the same album is lesser known but possesses a slower groove that works just as well as the fast ones.  The secret seems to be Rob Halford, who twists and turns every word for maximum expression.

Side One is granted an epic quality thanks to “The Green Manalishi”, my favourite Priest song of all time and certainly a crowd pleaser too.  (Yeah, yeah, I know it’s a Fleetwood Mac cover.)  You just can’t find a better closer for a Side One anywhere else in the Priest canon.

Continuing the excellent sequencing is a song heralding the arrivals of “Metal Gods” on Side Two.  Then “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”, the most recent song from 1984’s Defenders of the Faith.  Nothing from Turbo or Ram It Down.  I wonder if there were rules about what could and couldn’t go on these budget compilations.  Maybe they were limited to music five years old or more.  Back to the tape, “Some Heads” follows a similar sonic mood as “Metal Gods”, though the production is less sleek and more muddled.  It’s still apocalyptic metal for breakfast.

Finally it’s back to the start with a couple epics from the early days.  For me, I think I would have ended the tape on “Sinner”, but it comes before “Saints In Hell” here.  Much like “Let Us Prey” on Side One, these songs show off the early savage side of Judas Priest, ripping meat from the bone raw and ugly.  It’s barbaric metal with sharply precise moves.

I don’t know why I hung on to this tape when so many of them ended up in a Thunder Bay landfill.  I’m glad I did:  this was a fun cassette to review.

3.5/5 stars

 

VHS Archives #64: Kingdom Come interview (1989)

Michael Williams hosted the Pepsi Power Hour this time and got to interview Lenny Wolf and James Kottak of Kingdom Come.  He asks them about working with Bob Rock, their upcoming tour, the Zeppelin comparisons and all the stuff you want to know about.  Lenny also brings up Stone Fury.  Includes “The Making of the Making of” the video for “Do You Like It”.

Check out Lenny and James with Michael Williams on MuchMusic.

REVIEW: Stryper – Live at the Whiskey (2014 Japanese import)

STRYPER – Live at the Whiskey (2014 Avalon Japan)

Stryper kill it live.  This is evident right from the starter’s gun on the band’s 2014 album Live at the Whiskey.  Pulling no punches, they tear immediately into the Priest-like “Legacy” from the acclaimed No More Hell to Pay.  Anybody who showed up that night expecting frills and lace hasn’t been paying attention.

Another newbie, “Marching into Battle”, which sounds as if it could have rolled off the same assembly line as Soldiers Under Command, wields riffs like swords.  Vocal sweetening is unfortunately obvious.  Most fans would prefer to hear bum notes or missed words over two Michael Sweets singing at once.

The first oldie is a goodie for sure:  “You Know What to Do”, followed immediately by “Loud N’ Clear”, both from the original Yellow and Black Attack.  As if trying to cram all their best early hooks into this one segment of the show, the trinity of “Reach Out”, “Calling to You” and  “Free” are rolled out one by one.  Robert Sweet (Stryper’s “visual timekeeper”) is far heavier live, imbuing the songs with more tonnage.

Heavier metal returns on “More Than a Man” which could have been Iron Maiden if the lyrics weren’t about receiving Jesus in your heart.  After “The Rock That Makes Me Roll”, Stryper returned to their present day with the awesome “No More Hell to Pay”, riffy and slow, like soaring Dio-era Sabbath. “If the dawn reveals the end of days, I’ll follow You till there’s no more hell to pay.” It’s a catchier chorus than it reads, and it’s followed by “Jesus is Just Alright With Me” which is basically all chorus and guitar solo!

Stryper didn’t ignore their most pop album, 1988’s In God We Trust.  The hit single “Always There For You” is stripped bare of its keyboards and re-arranged for blowing speakers.  Even Against the Law, from a brief period when Stryper dropped religion from their lyrics, is visited.  “One For All” was one of the heavier tracks from that great LP, and the lyrics maintain a positive outlook.  Focus then returns to the first cluster of albums with “The Way”, “To Hell With the Devil” and of course “Soldiers Under Command”.  No more mistaking the message now!  “Oh, oh, oh, what did you say?  Oh, oh, oh, Christ is the way!”  In the early days, Stryper were far less poetic, but they sure were heavy.

As is the norm, Japan received a bonus track for their pressing of Live at the Whiskey, and it’s actually a studio song. “All of Me” is the only ballad on the album, a spot-on re-recording from To Hell With the Devil.  Aside from the lower key, it’s almost identical.  One has to assume it’s an also-ran from 2013’s Second Coming album.  Can’t have too many ballads on one album, of course.  Valuable bonus tracks are always appreciated.  This one came as a bit of a surprise.

3.5/5 stars

REVIEW: Stryper – Second Coming (2013 Japanese import)

STRYPER – Second Coming (2013 Avalon Japan)

Re-recordings?  Who needs ’em?  Well, in Stryper’s case, you might!

Let’s be blunt.  There are some 80s bands who sound better today than they did when they were the most popular.  Voices change, skills improve, but production values have also evolved.  Stryper’s early albums were great but they don’t have the gut-punch sonics of Stryper today.  What’s wrong with some older, wiser and heavier versions?  It’s not as if Stryper were foisting these upon the fans instead of writing new music.  They never stopped writing and releasing new albums.  Second Coming is a nice treat, and also a way to get consistent versions of the old songs that can sit on a mix CD with the new ones.

Second Coming begins with the first EP (The Yellow and Black Attack), and the songs “Loud N’ Clear” and “Loving You”.  They’ve never sounded heavier, and Michael Sweet’s voice is still a powerful one.  Shame “You Know What To Do” wasn’t updated as well, since that’s such an awesome song.

Get in line, you soldiers, for up next is “Soldiers Under Command”.  Sure, the voices aren’t as high as they once were, but sometimes an older voice has more character.  That’s certainly the case for Michael Sweet, who is twice the singer now.  “Soldiers” can stand proudly next to the original as a slightly different but no less excellent monument.  There are a generous number of songs (six) from Soldiers Under Command, including a stunning “Reach Out”.

The beloved To Hell With the Devil album gets five more inclusions, including “Free” and “Calling On You”, though not “Honestly”.  Second Coming is light on ballads, with only “First Love” representing them.  In one way it’s cool that Second Coming is kept heavy.  In another, it’s too bad we didn’t get new versions of tracks like “Honestly” or “I Believe in You”.  There is also nothing from In God We Trust or beyond.  (Granted, they already re-recorded that title track on 2005’s Reborn.)  In essence, Second Coming collects some of the best and heaviest material from the first EP and two albums.

And new songs too!  Since their triumphant reunion, Stryper have scarcely slowed down, releasing a constant stream of acclaimed heavy metal albums.  The two new songs here are “Bleeding From the Inside Out” and “Blackened” (not the Metallica song).  The heavy vibe continues.  “Bleeding” has a solid, groovy riff and an adventurous arrangement including piano and patented harmonies.    “Blackened” just slams.  Robert Sweet’s one of the hardest hitting drummers out there, and that’s what he does on “Blackened”.  Tim Gaines gets a bass groove going off that and it’s a slamdance from there.  Count on melodies, solos and harmonies to help soften those jagged guitars.

Japan always gets the bonus tracks, and they got a good one this time.  Second Coming needed more ballads; Stryper’s success always had a foot in ballads.  “Together As One” is the added bonus track, a simple version with Michael accompanied by piano and strings.  Lucky, lucky Japan!

4/5 stars

REVIEW: Stryper – The Roxx Regime Demos (2007, 2019 vinyl edition)

Stay tuned this week for a slew of Stryper — every album this week is an edition with bonus tracks!

STRYPER – The Roxx Regime Demos (2007, 2019 coloured vinyl reissue)

Before we get to Stryper, you know what I’m sick of?  Vinyl reissues.  Charge me $30 or $40 bucks for some coloured version of a record I’ve bought three times already?  I could walk into any store and walk out with a dozen coloured vinyl reissues of stuff I have on CD.  Who cares anymore?

Stryper cares.*

Original CD cover

In 2007, Stryper released and album of their earliest demos when they were known as Roxx Regime.  (Fun fact:  they released it on July 7 2007, or 777.)  The album had eight songs, some of which made it onto later albums like The Yellow and Black Attack and To Hell With the Devil.  When they issued the album on vinyl this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stryper.com, they did it right:  three bonus tracks included!  They also gave it a new cover.

Upon dropping the needle on this lovely clear blue and yellow record, it’s immediately Stryper.  The lineup is the classic:  the Sweet brothers Michael and Robert, Oz Fox, and Tim Gaines.  The Stryper sound was there from the start: shards of metal paired with angelic harmonies and blatantly Christian lyrics.  The recordings are expectedly rougher than the album versions you’re used to, which is one reason people buy these demo albums.

“You Know What to Do” one side one is the track that stands out as special.  The others form a backdrop of yellow and black soundalikes, solid enough but not unique.  There’s also an early ballad called “You Won’t Be Lonely” that is missing the magic of “Honestly” on side two.  Some odd drum fills for a ballad too, and a cowbell too?

“Co’mon Rock” on side two borders on thrash metal, lyrics aside of course.  Bang thy head; it’s a corny ass-kicker.  “Tank” is an interesting drum solo, brief and pounding.  That leads into the first bonus track, an alternate demo of “My Love I’ll Always Show” from side one.  The song has some cool components, but at least Stryper added value to the reissue by offering a second demo of it.  Same with “Loud N Clear”, even rougher than the more polished demo on side one.  The drums sound more like a machine press than a musical instrument!  Then, Lord have mercy, another version of “You Won’t Be Lonely”, including cowbell!

The best track among the Roxx Regime Demos is a nearly perfect version of the hit ballad “Honestly”.  Why did it take three albums for these guys to finally release “Honestly”?  This demo has piano and keyboards but relies mostly on an acoustic arrangement.  It’s more lullaby-like, but still gleams with the class that the final song boasts in droves.  Check out the keyboard solo!

The whole thing amounts to 40 minutes of music including the bonus tracks, so the Anniversary Edition of Roxx Regime is the version that collectors and real fans want to grab.

2.5/5 stars

3/5 stars for the reissue

 

*Maybe they don’t after all.  Shortly after this LP arrived, Stryper announced a CD reissue with the bonus tracks intact.

 

 

NEWS: Iron Mike Sharpe Abdicates Title of Canada’s Greatest Athlete From Beyond the Grave

HAMILTON:  Word has been received from the netherworld that former WWF superstar Iron Mike Sharpe has abdicated his title as Canada’s Greatest Athlete.

Sharpe died in 2016.  The word was received during an unsanctioned seance at the Hamilton Victoria Curling Club in Sharpe’s home town of Hamilton Ontario.

According to witnesses, curling champ Kevin Koe was visiting the area when a Ouija board was found under a pile of brooms.  Koe suggested using the board to contact Canada’s Greatest Athlete, reportedly a great inspiration for the curler.  Within minutes they had Sharpe on the line.

“I am no longer Canada’s Greatest Athlete,” spelled Sharpe from the grave.  “There is another.  Her name is Bonnie Ladano.  She curls like Rachel Homan and Jennifer Jones in one. Her double-raise take out, and tap backs are unrivaled in sport today.  She must be known as Canada’s Greatest Athlete.”

May her sweep always hurry hard.  Bonnie Ladano is Canada’s Greatest Athlete!

NEWS: Canadian Supergroup SNOWSHOE Reunite in the Ring at Deke’s Palace

Previous Snowshoe articles:

NEWS: Canadian Supergroup SHOWSHOE Announce Tour
PRESS RELEASE: Canadian Supergroup SNOWSHOE Call it a Day

VHS Archives #63: David Coverdale tour bus interview 1987

You can tell they’re on a tour bus, because you can hear the rumble of the road.

David talks about perspective, and also takes a rare shot at the “ever popular, ever famous” Deep Purples….

I like to tell this story a lot; you may have heard it before.  When Whitesnake played Toronto on the 1987 tour, my buddy Rob Vuckovich held up a sign that said “PLAY PURPLE”.  David reportedly acknowledged the sign by saying, “We’ll be playing none of that!”

Check out David on the bus in 1987.

Sunday Chuckle: It’s Patrick, he took out life insurance!

Surely, Canadians of a certain age remember this ad from the 1990s! I found this ad on one of my tapes, when I was recording a CBC show called Ear to the Ground. It was a special on Bob Rock’s band Rockhead, that I hope copyright law will allow me to post in full.

Enjoy this routine phone call between Patrick and his parents, about life insurance.