Robbie Williams + Aliens. They go together. Naturally.

About a year ago, Robbie Williams, former Brit-pop sensation – as part of Take That and then as a solo artist – announced that he was going to quit the music business and become a ufologist. This is not breaking news, I am aware. But it has been kicking around in my brain for a long time, for many reasons. Reading the article about Williams in the South China Morning Post, I really wasn’t all that surprised. It seemed logical enough, I mean his career was sort of at a standstill and aliens are always a good sell. In fact, alien fascination is awesome: the pervasiveness and consistency with which it has persevered throughout time really sets it apart from most other completely freakish and should be socially unacceptable behaviors. [The same could be said of Brit-pop love, and so we arrive at the obvious connection.]

Pop culture, aliens, belief systems, interconnectedness/entanglement, music (kind of), science fiction, government conspiracies, geography…  This love connection has the potential to break the bank. The possibilities get me all excited.

I must confess to a more than average interest in other people’s interests in aliens. I hope that makes sense. If find that people’s feelings towards aliens are indicative about a lot of things in their personalities. For example, accepting that the unknown = nonexistent causes a lot of problems in my mental framework. Beyond arrogance, it seems ignorant. Conversely the dependence on the idea that a super-race of beings exists somewhere just beyond our grasp of comprehension also seems to speak to more troubling notions about life as we know it. Mostly, I find that the comfort that people take in their beliefs (aliens or otherwise) is amazing.

During the two years, give or take, that I spent doing research and field work for my graduate thesis I was introduced to an entire subculture of belief tempered with paranoia and libertarianism that I believe can only be found in landscapes like the one I was investigating: vast, sparsely populated, barren, harsh, uninviting… the desert. As alien a landscape as we are able to comprehend, the desert seems to represent all that goes against human instinct. Not surprisingly, it has been the deserts, and regions of similar distinction, in which the most outrageous crimes against the environment have been perpetrated. I was researching Area 51 and the significance of it’s location, secrecy and mythology. What I found was a community of people, not geographically but ideologically connected, who fundamentally believe that not only is “the truth out there,” but that a lot of people know about it and they are only keeping mum to maintain control over a society that would not know how to otherwise handle the information.

But why? Why do they so firmly plant their feet in this unsubstantiated quagmire of speculation and almost certain ridicule? All kinds of theories are available on this. Last May, the Vatican even issued a statement saying that it is okay to believe in aliens. They did this to bolster their position that even aliens are God’s creatures. So that is one reason why. Lots of the people I met over the course of my research had this sort of sequential logic whereby the government had lied about [insert government scandal here] and therefore they LIE. There is also a sort of inverse reasoning that suggests that if there is no reasonable explanation there must be an unreasonable one. Like Occam’s Razor in reverse. I suppose there is some validity to each perspective.

So, when Williams went to the source last spring, and headed to the UFO Convention held in Laughlin, Nevada, I was intrigued. For the uninitiated, Laughlin is… umm… worth skipping. And conventions in Laughlin, when Vegas is right nextdoor are of a certain type for sure. Williams was a hit in Laughlin though, and even sporting a pretty “different” look, people still seemed enamored of him. There appears to be strong crossover between fans of boy bands and alien abductees. Make your own inferences here. But Robbie seemed to understand that to get in touch with his fellow believers he was going to have to head to the desert.

Robbie went from this:                                                                   To this:

And his fans went from this:                                                         To this:

Largely out of the alien-induced limelight since the convention and the media fall-out it generated for him last spring, Williams was in the news again in September as his alleged alien infatuation got him dumped by his girlfriend. While that seems an entirely scenario, the ‘news’ story went on to say that Williams is a very likely point of contact for extra-terrestrials because: “He is the first celebrity I know of to actually go out there and actively hunt for alien life forms. He’s unusually pro-active, even putting his musical career on hold. And he is more likely to make contact because of where he is spiritually — he takes it to the max.” I shit you not. Then this past February, Robbie bought a house mansion in Wiltshire, England, an area famous for crop circles and supposedly intersected by ‘ley lines’ – invisible energy routes believed to attract aliens. I’d say that’s seven million pounds well-spent. He has also hooked up with Peter Andre, better known as the husband husband husband of Jordan, to hunt for aliens. Interesting company, I guess he won’t have to look all that far…

Further, it would appear that Williams is not the only one who has seen the potential in alien association. I have no idea what his political leanings are, but I am guessing Williams would consider supporting the Tories David Cameron who has promised that he will release any secret files pertaining to UFOs and aliens should he become the Prime Minister. Perhaps Gordon Brown should follow suit and people will forget about some of his other promises.

David Sedaris says believing in something is different than having an interest in it because it implies that there is some sort of master plan [yeah, he was talking about television, but there is another great connection - tv and aliens.] Robbie Williams believes he has been contacted not once, not twice, but three times by aliens. He is not just interested in the phenomenon, he believes. And I suppose that is what it all comes down to: belief. I believe I have a pretty good idea about what goes on within the confines of Area 51 and I believe that there is a lot we do not understand in the world, in the government, in space, in the brain. The sum of this mental equation will not necessarily lead me to Laughlin for the next meeting of the minds out there, but it will certainly keep me contemplating the connections that exist all over the place; things like Robbie Williams and aliens, for example. Honestly, the connection between aliens and pop stars does not seem all that tenuous [remember where the Men in Black get their info - the hot sheets --->]

In the end, for Robbie Williams to give up all that was his success as a pop star and head into the world of alien abductions and UFO’s sort of fits. As he said, he is sort of trading in the world of tabloid press for the world of, well, tabloid press. His response? “Even if it is all made up, it’s better made-up stuff than what the tabloids are writing [about me]. It’s more interesting.” And he may have a point.

~ by Amanda on July 7, 2009.