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Timeline

David Bowie

Alien Phenomena

 

"..I've been a well-kept secret for twenty years.

You've only seen the tip of the iceberg..."

 

 

August 1985 - 'Dancing In The Street' single with Mick Jagger.

1985 - The two volumes of 'UFO Photographs Around The World' by Wendelle C.Stevens and August C.Roberts are published this year.

March/April 1986 - 'Absolute Beginners' single.

'Absolute Beginners' film goes on release.

News of The World series printed, based on the book 'Stardust' by Henry Edwards and Tony Zanetta, and written by Roy Stockdill:

"..Everything about Bowie was a gigantic riddle.."

May 1986 - Tony Parsons interviews Nina Hagen, who speaks of spaceships and David Bowie.

Nina Hagen.

Photo: Cindy Palmano

Tony Parsons: " 'One hundred miles in diameter,' Nina exclusively told the reporter. 'And in these are thousands of small ships. Those are the spaceships which we see time and time again hovering over the Earth. On occasions throughout our history, they have landed and mated with Earth women.. That's why we have among us some Star People. And I say: David Bowie is definitely one of them.'

'But I thought David Bowie's father was a Public Relations man from the north of England.'

'If you listen to Bowie's song 'Loving The Alien',' Nina explains patiently like a person who holds the complete knowledge of the universe within them, 'you will realise that he is in reality the son of a Starman and an Earth mother.' "

1986 - Stars as Jareth, King of the Goblins in the film 'Labyrinth.'

'Underground' is a hit single release from the soundtrack.

The single's cover
features a still from the film,

and an owl in flight.

'UFO Crash At Aztec: A Well-Kept Secret' by William S.Steinman and Wendelle C.Stevens is published.

January/February 1987 - American magazine UFO includes a 4-page article 'UFOs in Rock 'n' Roll' by Ricardo Forrest. It begins with a long quote from 'Starman,' going on to discuss (among others) John Lennon; Jimi Hendrix; Creedence Clearwater/John Fogerty; Jefferson Airplane; Klaatu, Nina Hagen. The songs 'Space Oddity' and 'Memory of A Free Festival' are also considered.

March-May 1987 - 'Day In Day Out' single / 'Never Let Me Down' LP.

Exploring The Supernatural magazine includes article by Jenny Randles entitled 'All Spaced Out On Cosmic Rock: UFOs and the Music Business.'

Jenny Randles: "..David Bowie (whose panache for sci-fi is clear from lyrics such as 'Space Oddity' and 'Life On Mars') has even played an alien in the movie The Man Who Fell To Earth. But before he became a superstar, in the sixties when UFOs were.. a very 'hip' topic of discussion, he worked for a small UFO journal and took part in skywatches.."

'Communion' by Whitley Strieber is published.

'Communion' front cover illustration by Ted Jacobs.

Whitley Strieber: "When you read this incredible story, do not be too sceptical: somewhere in your own past there may be some lost hour or strange recollection that means that you also have had this experience. This book is about forming a new relationship with the unknown. Instead of shunning the darkness, we can face straight into it with an open mind. When we do that, the unknown changes. Fearful things become understandable and a truth is suggested: the enigmatic presence of the human mind winks back from the dark."

1987 - 'Glass Spider' world tour. More than 3 million tickets reportedly sold.

Maine Road, Manchester concert -

newspaper photo sent to me by Paul Coote.

Also published during 1987: 'Intruders' by Budd Hopkins (U.S. bestseller concerning alien abduction), 'Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up' by Timothy Good (U.K. bestseller), and 'UFO's and the Complete Evidence from Space' by Daniel Ross.

May 1988 - Evening Standard (May 5th): "DAVID Bowie has been invited to watch the launch of the new space shuttle from NASA's Dallas VIP lounge later this summer. The invite's tagged with an RSVP to a USAF officer attached to the project. His name: Major Tom."

1988 - Whitley Strieber's 'Transformation' is published:

"The visitors are sweeping up from where we buried them under layers of denial and false assurance to deliver what is truly a message from the beyond: There is something more to us and our universe, and it is rich with the potential of the unknown.
They have caused me to slough off my old view of the world like the dismal skin that it was and seek a completely new vision of this magnificent, mysterious and fiercely alive universe."

Also published this year: Marian Greenberg 'An Extraterrestrial Conspiracy,' Valdamar Valerian 'The Matrix - Understanding Aspects of Covert Interaction with Alien Culture, Technology and Planetary Power Structures,' and Jenny Randles 'Abduction'.

Jenny Randles: "It is interesting to note just how many modern musicians are involved in UFO ideology. Kate Bush writes hits about the paranormal and has been president of a West Country UFO group. David Bowie has even played an alien in the film The Man who Fell to Earth and has written hit tunes about UFOs, such as 'Starman', reflecting quite accurately the problems of abduction ('There's a starman waiting in the sky .... He'd like to come and meet us but he's scared he'll blow our minds'). Bowie once worked for a UFO investigation group and helped put together its magazine..."

Christopher Sandford: "He.. tapped into his life-long fixation with mysticism, astronomy and the supernatural by enthusing about the (supposedly chaotic and apocalyptical) Aquarian Age and the coming of Halley's Comet. Bowie's mother had taught him to be passionate about memory, and he shared with her the ability to experience various fragmentary moments of mental telepathy.

He entertained a visitor to Lausanne by describing a long mind-reading conversation he had just had with Joe in Scotland. Seeing the man smile, Bowie challenged him to concentrate on any five-figure number, which he would in turn call out. At that he went into an apparent coma.

After ten minutes, just when his friend suspected an anarchic hoax, Bowie opened his eyes and spoke in a high, reedy voice. Four of the sequence of five were correct."

Tin Machine are formed with Reeves Gabrels (guitar); Tony Sales (bass guitar), and Hunt Sales (drums).

March 1989 - Offbeat magazine has a 2-page article by an unnamed writer, titled 'Is David Bowie An Alien?':

"..The year was 1972 and Ziggy, sorry Bowie, previewed the album with the single Starman, a cursory tale of aliens waiting in the sky, with the punchline 'They'd like to come and meet us, but they think they'd blow our minds'. Had Bowie been contacted? Were there UFOs in his back garden? The public were soon asking their own questions as a serious blast of promotion thrust Bowie onto TV screens throughout the country, varying from pre-pubescent peak hour to late night rock dinosaur freak out. Bowie looked different, Starman sounded different. Was he sending out a message from another world?"

May/June 1989 - Tin Machine's eponymous first LP is released.

Time magazine: "Tuneful Wonder... In his time, he has assumed many guises: rock star, galactic alien, fashion dandy, androgynous poseur. Now, with former Iggy Poppers Tony and Hunt Sales and guitarist Reeves Gabrels, the multitalented David Bowie has put together a new band called Tin Machine, which will play its first live gig this week at the International Rock Awards in New York City. On its premier album, the songwriter turned social critic grimly assails pop-music idols ('blue-suede tuneless wonders'), lashes out at drug dealers ('may razors slash your main line'), and warns of a 'psycho-time-bomb planet poised to meet its maker.' Tin Machine's new stuff, Bowie promises, 'will float your guppies to the top of the tank."

1989 - Published this year: Ed Conroy's 'Report on Communion,' Linda Moulton Howe's 'An Alien Harvest - Further Evidence Linking Animal Mutilations And Human Abductions To Alien Life Forms,' and 'UFO Contact from Reticulum' - Lt.Col.Wendelle Stevens (Ret.)'s book concerning the William Herrmann alien/UFO encounters.

Also, Richard Grossinger's 'Waiting For The Martian Express,' in which he mentions 'Memory Of A Free Festival.' And, Jenny Randles' 'Phantoms of The Soap Operas,' in which David Bowie also features, with mention of 'Starman,' 'The Man Who Fell To Earth,' and a premonitory dream a man from Lenton Abbey had that involved a tragedy at a concert.

January 1990 - American magazine UFO Universe (edited by Timothy Green Beckley) includes among their 'Interstellar Communications' a letter from Karen Garza, of Michigan, in which she details a "UFO experience" that "evolved over a 4-day period," during March 1977.
After detailing her 'Day 4' sightings, she comments further:

"A few days after the sighting, I had a premonition about Davie Bowie, who was to appear in concert with his pal Iggy Pop, within 3-weeks. I suddenly just knew that Bowie was going to stop by a little flea-bag of a club, on the east-side of Detroit after his performance. One friend believed me, so after the concert, we made a bee-line for the club. An hour later, Bowie and Iggy waltzed in.

To this day, I have no idea what prompted the premonition.

It's interesting to note that David Bowie, starred in 'The Hunger', a movie based on the book written by world-famous abductee - Whitley Strieber. I often wonder if Strieber had anything to do with the casting of Bowie in the movie.
Karen Garza. Southfield, MI 48034."

February 1990 - The 'Sound + Vision' world tour is launched.

Summer 1990 - British magazine UFO Brigantia includes an article (3+ pages) by Andy Roberts entitled 'Rock Music and UFOs.' Among the musicians featured are John Lennon; Jimi Hendrix; Neil Young; Poly Styrene; Ian McCulloch; Jefferson Airplane; Shaun Ryder, and David Bowie:

"..Besides John Lennon ('There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised') several other mega-famous musicians have had a flirtation with the subject of UFOs. Who, for instance, among you know that David Bowie was a one time UFO buff, finally achieving his ambition to play an alien in the film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth'. He is quoted by Paul Screeton as saying 'I used to work for two guys who put out a UFO magazine in England about six years ago (1969), and I made sightings six, seven times a night for about a year when I was in the observatory. We had regular cruises that came over. We knew the 6-15pm was coming in and would meet up with another one. And they would be stationary for about half-an-hour, and then after verifying what they had done that day, they'd shoot off.' Yes readers, he really said that, ample fuel to remove those new Kids On The Block records from your children's rooms now - before it's too late!..."

Valdamar Valerian's book 'Matrix II: The Abduction and Manipulation of Humans Using Advanced Technology' is published in America. A small picture of David Bowie figures within a section entitled Replacement of Humans by Synthetic People, on a page with several other well-known people, under the heading 'One Eye Darker Than The Other.'

1990 - William D.Clendenon's 'Mercury: UFO Messenger of The Gods' comes out.

March 1991 - Former goalkeeper, TV sports presenter and Green Party spokesperson, David Icke holds his much-publicised press conference in London. He wears turquoise - saying that it is "the colour of love and wisdom"; warns of impending disasters, and states that he is a son of the Godhead.

May 1991 - British pop magazine Number One has a 2-page feature 'Is There Anybody Out There?' Various "far-seeing stars of planets popdom and filmdom" are asked if there there is alien life. Under David Bowie, the article simply quotes from the chorus of 'Starman.'
(Also, it has 'A Galactic Top 10,' with 'Starman' and 'Life On Mars' at numbers 7 & 8. And, '10 Star Sounding Bands,' with 'Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars' at No.5).

June 1991 - On the 19th, Nicky Campbell's evening show on Radio One - which is listened to by about 5% of Britain's population - features a pre-recorded interview with Timothy Good. The musical selections that are played during the course of the interview include 'Starman' and 'Loving The Alien.' Due to demand by his listeners, a follow-up interview takes place on the 20th.
Nicky Campbell receives more mail after these two shows than he has received after talking to any other guests on his show. At the end of the month, Tim Good's new book 'Alien Liaison' enters the Sunday Times bestsellers at number 5.

September 1991 - 'Tin Machine II' LP released.

1991 - William Cooper's 'Behold A Pale Horse' is published.

April 1992 - He performs at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, Wembley.

Movieline magazine front cover feature.

From the cover.

Virginia Campbell: "..Bowie is the most aerodynamic person I've ever seen up close. He looks designed to swoop where others have not swooped, and not to show up on radar.

I take out my tape recorder, a few pages of notes, and a book of poems I've brought as a present. 'I don't know if you know this poet,' I say. 'He's wonderful but he's not really that well known, which is kind of amazing - being a well-kept secret for 20 years in the age of celebrity isn't easy.' Bowie smiles, thanks me, checks out the book, which he has indeed heard of, and says, 'Well, I've been a well-kept secret for 20 years. You've only seen the tip of the iceberg.' There is not a trace of irony in his voice. It is the voice of a movie star, a voice John Garfield would have killed for, low, edged with a soft rasp that makes you listen. What I hear is a man who is not kidding, but is not dead serious either. A man who is just being a little playful first thing in the morning. The Diamond Dog is throwing the ball for me."

Marriage to Iman Abdul Majid in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Public ceremony follows in Florence, Italy - covered by Hello! magazine.

Photo sent to me by Paul Coote.

1992 - Among this year's published books is the original hardback edition of Jacques Vallee's 'Forbidden Science: Journals 1957-1969,' and Karla Turner's 'Into The Fringe: A True Story of Alien Abduction.'

'UFOs Among The Stars' by Timothy Green Beckley is published. The author refers to meeting with David Bowie during the seventies:

" 'I'm very much interested in science-fiction,' Bowie admitted during a chat held in the RCA recording studios in Manhattan. 'I've always been fascinated with the idea that life might exist elsewhere in the universe, and the possibility that space beings might be traveling to Earth.'
There are those among Bowie's many followers who contend that his music contains a deep, symbolic message, and that the talented rock star has actually experienced some sort of contact with otherworldly beings."

January 1993 - At the Wembley Conference Centre, London, 'The First International Conference That Exposes A Global Deception' is held over two days.
Speakers include: Dr.Robert Strecker, David Summers, Eustace Mullins, Vladimir Terziski, and William Cooper.

March 1993 - A discussion with Brett Anderson and Steve Sutherland is printed in NME.

David Bowie: "...At times it rather reminds me of the South Seas tribe that saw an aeroplane in their forest hoping for that god to come back again. They had the shape of the aeroplane absolutely perfect but had no idea what it was. Y'know, sometimes I felt a lot of what I did was rather like that. I built models of things of the things I didn't fully understand..."

April 1993 - 'Black Tie White Noise' LP is released.

Cover of 'Black Tie, White Noise.'

August 1993 - The regular feature 'Kindred Spirits,' in Telegraph Magazine covers "UFO spotters." Included are Muhammed Ali; Claudia Weill; William Shatner; David Jacobs; Earl of Haddington; The Krankies; Jimmy Carter; Michael Bentine, and David Bowie:

" 'I've always been fascinated with the possibility that space beings might be travelling to earth,' says the singer. As a teenager he edited a UFO magazine and says he often saw battalions of alien craft: 'They came over so regularly that we used to time them.' "

September 1993 - The pilot episode of 'The X-Files' is transmitted in America.

1993 - 'Backstage Passes: Life On The Wild Side With David Bowie' by Angela Bowie/Patrick Carr is published. The book gives a fuller (and perhaps more accurate) account of the1974 alien spacecraft crash events.

Angela Bowie: "..while we were in our hotel room in Detroit, we saw an afternoon TV news flash to the effect that a UFO had crashed in the area with four aliens aboard...more news at six.

We tuned in again at six - of course we did, along with everybody in the state - and learned more, but not much more. The news crew confirmed the landing, yet avoided being specific about its location and presented what little information they had with great caution, as if doing their best to downplay the sensational and possibly panic-causing information they were supplying, straight-faced and soberly, to their public. These were the station's regular newscasters, reputable and popular, with everything to lose by creating a hoax and nothing but brief notoriety to gain.

That, however, is what we were told when the eleven-o'clock news came around: The prime-time news crew had perpetrated an irresponsible and inexcusable hoax, and had therefore been dismissed from their jobs. No UFOs had landed; no aliens were in custody, dead or alive; the United States Air Force had positively not engaged or intercepted any craft whatsoever in the skies above Michigan; and that, officially and absolutely, was that...

...It so happened that.. Alan Yentob was along with us on the trip, making the film that would become 'Cracked Actor', and he had his VCR hooked up to the television set in our hotel room when the afternoon news flash first caught our attention. So we'd taped the whole six-o'clock and eleven-o'clock news shows. There was no denying that the broadcasts had happened...

Angela Bowie.

...The broadcasts at least. In David's opinion, and mine too, what had just occurred was indeed a warp in the usual business of business-as-usual.

David believed very strongly that aliens were active above our planet, and so did (do) I...

There was a lot of that kind of stuff in those days. Some interesting, even mind-blowing things happened, events and signs and phenomena worthy of the deepest thought and most intensive investigation..."


Linda Moulton Howe's second book 'Glimpses of Other Realities: Volume 1' is published.

February 1994 - Nicky Campbell interviews Whitley Strieber on his Radio One FM afternoon show. 'Loving The Alien' is one of the two records played in between discussion.

April 1994 - The Sun newspaper Bizarre column, written by Andy Coulson, includes this item:

"Bowie Space Odyssey... DAVID BOWIE has booked a seat on the first commercial flight to the moon. He has put down a £10,000 deposit to secure his place on the 500,000-mile trip which would take place before the end of the decade. Bowie, 46, who wrote the classic hit Space Oddity, says he always wanted to be an astronaut as a child."

Summer/Autumn 1994 - Contributes 'We Saw The Minotaur,' a series of pictures, to the exhibition 'Little Pieces From Big Stars.' This exhibition is in aid of the charity 'War Child,' and is made up of artwork by well-known musicians.

1994 - Published this year: 'The Robots' Rebellion' by David Icke.

March 1995 - Horus House Press, Inc. publish an English language edition of Irene Granchi's 'UFOs and Abductions in Brazil.'

April 1995 - First solo art exhibition held at Kate Chertavian Gallery, London.

July 1995 - The Guardian 2 has a front cover feature about the Roswell spacecraft crash, and the alien autopsy film. The cover has a bold drawing of a "small grey" alien, with the heading "Hello, earthlings." The more prominent of the two articles is accompanied by two stills from the alien autopsy film above and to the right of the heading "Space Oddity."

The Guardian 2,

July 25th 1995.

August 1995 - News Of The World's Sunday magazine has two articles together over two pages: 'The Real X-Files' on the Rendlesham Forest events, and 'Have Aliens landed?' on the alien autopsy film:

"..British video producer Ray Santilli found it while in the U.S. to buy old footage of Fifties pop stars. An elderly cameraman sold him film of high school rock shows featuring Elvis - then offered him footage from the famous Roswell incident."

The cover of Sunday features Paul Gascoigne, with, in the bottom left corner a small picture of the autopsy alien, with above it the text 'THE REAL X-FILES' and below it 'THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.'

Sunday,

August 20th 1995.

Three days later, this piece can be found in The Times:

The writer, Joe Joseph, includes another David Bowie reference in his report:

On the following evening, in Britain, Channel Four's 'Sci-Fi Weekend' begins.
A trailer shown highlights the documentary 'Secret History: The Roswell Incident'; but also features David Bowie twice - once in alien mode from 'The Man Who Fell To Earth.'

At 12.05 a.m., on August 28th, 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' is shown by Channel Four.
At 9 p.m., 'Secret History: The Roswell Incident' goes out; while, concurrently, a new series of 'The X-Files' begins on BBC 2.

August 29th - During a phone-in with Steve Allen, on London Talkback Radio, a caller referring to the previous evening's alien autopsy screening (on 'Secret History') mentions the song 'Starman.'
Steve Allen suggests that the removal of the alien's eye covering during the autopsy had been derived from the 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' bathroom scene in which David Bowie, as Thomas Jerome Newton, removes his 'human' eye covering.

Alien autopsy film still.

September 1995 - David Icke's '...and the truth shall set you free' is published.

The Sunday Telegraph Review prints 'Before and After' piece. It , includes the quote from 20 years previously, in which he refers to his UFO sightings.

'1.Outside' LP released.

'1.Outside.'

October 1995 - Vox magazine has a front cover interview.
There's also half a page about a show at the Edinburgh Festival entitled 'I Was An Alien Sex God (Confessions of A Bowie Maniac)', which is being put on by a man named John Constable.

The following question is asked on a Sunday evening London Talkback radio quiz, which comprises questions based on the British Sunday newspapers of that day.

Question: Which pop star saw so many UFOs as a child, that he produced a magazine about them?

Answer: David Bowie.

November 1995 - Colour centrespread in Daily Mirror features photographs of Labour leader Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, along with David Bowie and Iman. They were photographed by Mark Allan, after a Wembley Arena concert.

Tony Blair -

photographed as British Prime Minister.

Tony Blair: "I have always liked David Bowie and it was great to meet him. I really enjoyed the concert. It showed he can still perform with the best of them."

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