Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection (Paperback)

by Michael Luckman (Author) "Appearing on the David Letterman show, Elton John said that when he first saw a photograph of Elvis Presley from Heartbreak Hotel on the cover..." (more)
Key Phrases: Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Michael Jackson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Luckman relays some interesting trivia linking rock and UFOs but stretches to make small points. He cites a conversation between Jimi Hendrix and Monika Dannerman about how a person's "spirit could actually leave the body for a period of time" as evidence that "Jimi frequently experienced astral travel." Ohh-kay! Well, Hendrix's extraterrestrial interests are well-known, as are those of Sun Ra and George Clinton, whom Luckman also mentions; but Luckman goes on to say that Carlos Santana, OutKast, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones share them. Heck, even Olivia Newton-John gets Luckman's nod, thanks to her sighting of a shape-shifting UFO "on a desolate road." Fortunately, references to David Bowie's, the Grateful Dead's, and Pink Floyd's extraterrestrial interests are more substantial, and is anyone surprised that Michael Jackson and Elvis each get chapter-length coverage? Another chapter on UFOs at Woodstock, Altamont, and the Isle of Wight festivals amuses, too; but with so many strained and trifling references, the book satisfies desultory reading more than genuine inquiry. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
From Elvis to the Beatles, from Michael Jackson to Marilyn Manson, rock stars claim to have seen, communed with, been inspired by, and sometimes even descended from extraterrestrials. Alien Rock is an irreverent, illuminating, all-access pass to the stars' unearthly encounters--some friendly, some frightening, and some frankly bizarre, including:

• The birth of Elvis was marked by the appearance of a mysterious blue light over his house.

• In August 1974, John Lennon spied a UFO from the window of the penthouse he shared with then-girlfriend, May Pang.

• Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull encountered a luminous cigar-shaped mothership while camping in the English countryside in 1968.

• Jimi Hendrix told a friend, "I am a spiritual messenger, sent here from another place."

Whether you're a UFO skeptic or a true believer, Alien Rock provides a fascinating new perspective on the long, strange trip that is rock 'n' roll history, and suggests that, wherever the road takes us, we may not be traveling alone.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: MTV (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074346673X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743466738
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #321,384 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Close On the Truth, August 4, 2005

By	Path Daddy "P.D." (Austin, Tx) - See all my reviews

I found the book to be very interesting from the standpoint of a connection to the paranormal of most artists, their music, and their life experiences. I did think that the belief of the rock star Jimmy Hendrix was a bit off the mark. Jimmy was on a spiritual path that was leading him to a higher consciousness. Unfortunately for him, he had a manager, at the time, that was heavily into drugs and believed himself to be a representative of a deity. Yes, Jimmy was sent to spread a message...but it was not from an alien. Extraterrestrials and rock stars or artists of any sort do seem to have some sort of connection. This book opens up the possibility that they, the artists, are being used to send a message. It is just for us to figure out what that message is. Read the book and see if you can figure the message out.

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes me back to the days, June 28, 2009

By	L. Alex "Dalaiwmn" (Foster City, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed this book and what it shared ,little known beliefs and attitudes of rock stars. I always knew about Hendrix..........I really liked this book

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking Profiles, July 5, 2006

By	Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I had forgotten that the Canadian comedian Dan Aykroyd is also a rock and roller (of sorts) because nowadays every other word out of his mouth is some sort of testimonial to belief in alien abduction and "The Force Is Out There." A bizarre twist in his career, lasty I remember of him was starring as Jessica Tandy's son in DRIVING MISS DAISY. But apparently she told him of the strange events that had besieged her on the set of COCOON and convinced him that there are alien forces watching us at almost all times but not to worry, they are largely harmless. Michael Luckman interviews Dan for this book, along with a host of other rockers, some of whom, like Jimi Hendrix, were actually taken away from our planet by sources unknown.

Like Dan Aykroyd, Marc Bolan of T.Rex started out as a comedian and gradually became a prophet of the unknown like Nostradamus. It is believed that supernatural forces made him shorter than other human beings so that he was able to pose as a child and evade even the most sophisticated of alien surveillance systems. The same forces for good wrote many of his lyrics, as Luckman demonstrates. He's old enough to remember that "T.Rex" was merely the glam punk abbreviation for Tyrannosaurus Rex, a folk-rock group which sought to reanimate the ancient British legends of Stonehenge, Merlin, Excalibur, and the sleeping spirits. Bolan met a human wizard in a French castle near Marseilles who could levitate them both ten feet into the air, and ate nothing but snails, trying to imitate through immersion the DNA-like structure of spiralling which you can find in the Fibonacci sequence of numbers as well as crawling animals.

In some ways, the French know best. When Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire was looking for some names for his group, which combines old time gospel harmonies with modern percussion and synthesized beats, he turned to the 18th century magicians who thronged the court of Marie Antoinette. Luckman mentions that 74 per cent of Americans believe that they have been aware of alien abductions, but he is strangely silent about some other figures. I dock this book a star (think about our "star" system for measuring excellence for a minute--it's terribly suggestive, ne c'est pas?) for its physical shortcomings, the pages which tend to roll up like dead leaves unless sprayed down with water, and some of the badly reproduced illustrations, such as Giger's depiction of Deborah Harry as a space alien, she looks really bad and definitely not ready for prime time.