Space Station #5

"Space Station #5," sometimes known as "Space Station Number Five," was co-written by lead guitarist Ronnie Montrose and then lead vocalist Sammy Hagar; the latter has also recorded this track himself. And it has also been covered by Iron Maiden.

Is this a song about living in outer space, or is it about how performing a certain act puts one on Cloud 9? Probably the former, because Hagar has gone on record that he believes he was abducted by aliens as a child. A cynic might suggest he made this claim to hype up sales of his autobiography, but whatever claims Hagar makes about the rock 'n' roll lifestyle in the book, there is no reason to question his sincerity over this one. The belief in alien abductions is extremely common, especially in the United States - surprise, surprise. But just because Hagar or anyone else believes in them sincerely, does not mean they actually happen. The most probable explanation for this bizarre phenomenon is "old hag," or sleep paralysis. This condition is now recognised as being responsible for terrifyingly real hallucinations. In days of yore, sufferers interpreted such hallucinations as demons, trolls, fairies and the like. Few people believe in fairies nowadays, but UFOs and intelligent aliens who may be watching us from afar - or sometimes from not so afar - are a different matter. Whatever, in a March 2011 telephone interview with Eric Spitznagel, Hagar said: "You know how big the universe is? It's freakin' huge! If we're really the only ones out there, that's scarier to me than thinking there are aliens. So, my whole career I've been writing about these kinda things. But they've never been the hits. They've only been the underground songs. If anything in the book has been played down, it's my mystical side, because I don't want to sound like I'm crazy." Hagar's fears are unfounded; he is certainly not the first person to be inspired by sleep paralysis; Whitley Strieber's nocturnal confabulations led to the book Communion which among other things inspired the Laurie Wisefield track "Ships In The Sky."