4 Otherworldly Songs About Space

Rock stars have long been fascinated by life beyond Earth. It’s in the job title. Entire albums have been named for cosmic journeys like Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon and Air’s Moon Safari. And plenty of songs, too, fit the bill. Wang Chung has “Space Junk” and Beach House has “Space Song”. Also, Tyler Childers and The Verve each have their own “Space And Time”, and The Killer’s synth-rocker “Spaceman” compares intruding fame to alien abduction.

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There’s a lot out there. But the following songs about space will really make you float away.

“Space Oddity” by David Bowie, ‘David Bowie (Space Oddity)’ (1969)

Before David Bowie invented Ziggy Stardust, he foreshadowed what an alien rockstar might sound like on “Space Oddity”. Bowie humanizes a lonely astronaut named Major Tom in a psychedelic folk song about connection. It’s one thing to feel alienated on Earth. But to be alone in space, diligently working on high-tech machines in the black abyss of an ever-expanding universe, is another kind of human estrangement. Behind Bowie’s vocals, Ground Control counts down to liftoff. The single was slow to catch on, but “Space Oddity” eventually became Bowie’s first hit. The man born David Jones abruptly shot to stardom.

“Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” by Spiritualized, ‘Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space’ (1997)

In 1977, the Voyager spacecraft included two golden records to showcase earthly life and culture to (potential) extraterrestrial life. Fast-forward to 1997 to hear how this might be received by alien future fans. Spiritualized borrowed from Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love” to create the space rock group’s signature song. It sounds like a transmission from another dimension. Perhaps similar to how unknown life forms might receive the music of earthlings.

“Do You Realize??” by The Flaming Lips, ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ (2002)

There’s a profound beauty in The Flaming Lips’ cosmic love song. It could be any one of us singing to each other. At the risk of falling into a dorm room discussion about “the vastness of the universe, bro,” this song speaks to how very small we all are. How lucky are we to have been born. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins once said the number of unborn souls outnumbers the grains of sand in the Sahara. Maybe that’s why the band added the additional question mark to its title, to further punctuate the sentiment.

“Subterranean Homesick Alien” by Radiohead, ‘OK Computer’ (1997)

Radiohead’s masterpiece arrived under the tumult of rapid changes in technology and how an increasingly interconnected world became socially disconnected. In a play on Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, Thom Yorke writes about aliens hovering above and filming “all these weird creatures who lock up their spirits.” When OK Computer arrived, it sounded like the future. It may have been a dystopian outlook, but Yorke’s prescience proved to be spot on.

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