No matter where in the United States one might be from, everybody knows about the infamous Roswell, New Mexico incident that occurred in 1947 on this very day. It was a culture-changing moment and the basis of plenty of conspiracy theories and debate about the existence of aliens. And, in the years since the incident occurred, plenty of famous songs have been penned about extraterrestrials and little green men.
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According to the city’s Roswell Daily Record, a number of people reported witnessing an unidentified flying object crash into a local ranch. Later, the US Air Force would explain that the UFO in question was simply a weather balloon. After some investigation, the Record reported that the object was actually a weather balloon.
However, the incident had already spurred a whole cultural movement to find out the truth about what happened that day. Plenty of people still believe that a government cover-up occurred. Naturally, so much speculation led to plenty of writing material for musicians in the coming decades.
The Legend of Roswell Inspired Countless Songs About Alien Creatures and Extraterrestrials
One of the first songs about aliens to follow the Roswell debacle was the 1947 Buchanan Brothers’ tune, “(When You See) Those Flying Saucers”, which was released about a week after the Roswell incident. There’s also the 1956 tune “The Flying Saucer” by Goodman and Buchanan.
Following the popularization of the Roswell incident in popular culture, tons of famous songs about aliens and creatures from other planets were released, either directly or indirectly. The 1972 glam rock hit “Starman” by David Bowie is the most obvious example.
There’s also the 1969 rock tune “It Came Out Of The Sky” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and the rock and roll tune from 1958, “The Purple People Eater”, by Sheb Wooley. And in more recent years, songs like the alt-jazz 1997 tune “Subterranean Homesick Alien” by Radiohead and the 1991 thrash metal song “Hangar 18” by Megadeth have hit the airwaves. There are countless more, too.
While few of these musicians have explicitly said that they were directly inspired by the Roswell incident, the incident inspired popular culture as a whole for several decades. Even today, Roswell as a town has evolved into a tourist destination hotspot all about aliens. Whether or not you believe in aliens yourself, it’s impossible to argue that the Roswell incident didn’t inspire countless musicians, filmmakers, and amateur conspiracy theorists. In a way, the Roswell “aliens” are as American as apple pie.
Photo by Richard Creamer/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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