Observations placeholder
Hendrix, Jimmy - And the UFO sighting
Identifier
028920
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
A description of the experience
11 pop stars who claim to have seen UFOs
By Jeremy Allen
Wednesday 29th March 2017
Little Johnny Allen Hendrix (his parents would later change his name to James Marshall) insisted on being called Buster for a time, so obsessed was he with Flash Gordon, played by actor Buster Crabbe in the 1936 science fiction film serial.
This fascination with all things space was compounded by a UFO sighting out of his back window in Washington state one night, also witnessed by his brother Leon.
For Hendrix, who grew up in penury, an interest in aliens conflated with a love of a no-holds-barred new musical format called rock 'n' roll would be his means of escape. Before getting his hands on his first six-string, Hendrix apparently took a broom to school pretending it was a guitar, and then spent hours at his desk dreamily doodling UFOs in his school book.
Space-themed anthems like Purple Haze, Third Stone from the Sun and Up from the Skies would help change the course of rock music.