I remember hearing a little bit about rocker Sammy Hagar since he quit Van Halen, reunited with the band, and then quit it again. He has some kind of very lucrative tequila company in Mexico called Cabo Wabo along with a chain of clubs and restaurants with the same name. Apparently all those years of hard partying had their effect on him, though, because he told MTV that he really believes he was abducted by aliens. He went into it in detail and claims that they “downloaded” something from his brain at a time when there was no such thing as downloading, cell phones or Internet. Hagar is promoting a new memoir he has out called Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.

Why would people think you’re crazy? Because of your opinions or your experiences?
My opinions are way out there. But yeah, definitely a few of my experiences, too. I can’t even go there. [Laughs.] I tried to keep my opinions out of this book, even about the Van Halen years. My opinions are not important, and they might come across as jaded. My opinions about the UFO stuff, well, I could write a whole book just devoted to that. I love it, man. I’m into it deep.

It sounds like you really want to talk about this stuff. So why aren’t there more UFO stories in Red?
Joel Selvin, the guy who did all the interviews for this book and really made it happen, he talked me out of it. He’d be like, “Aw, people don’t want to hear that shit.” He’s always been a wise-ass. He’s a prick, and he’s very blunt, and he was great for me, because he really kept me under control.

Okay, let’s just cut to the chase. I’m just going to come out and ask it. Have you ever been abducted by aliens?
I think I have.

What? Really? I was kidding. You seriously believe that?
[Laughs.] Now you’re making me sound like a crazy person.

How is that crazy? I wasn’t there, I don’t know what happened to you.
Remember the story in the book, where I have a dream about being contacted by aliens in the foothills above Fontana?

Yeah, yeah, I’ve got the page right here. “I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection.” You’re telling me that wasn’t a dream?
That’s right. It was real. [Aliens] were plugged into me. It was a download situation. This was long before computers or any kind of wireless. There weren’t even wireless telephones. Looking back now, it was like, “F&@%, they downloaded something into me!” Or they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment. “See what this guy knows.”

And this actually happened?
That happened. That friggin’ happened, I’ll tell you right now. Another thing happened when I was about four that I didn’t put into the book. One time I saw what I considered to be, well, at the time I thought it was a car with no wheels. We lived out in the country and I saw this thing floating across a field, creating this big dust storm. I threw rocks at it and shit. And I don’t know what happened after that.

You blacked out?
I guess. I just have no memory of it. And that wasn’t a dream. It was during daylight.

I can understand your apprehension. Alien abduction is a tough sell.
Especially back a few decades ago, when this stuff happened to me. I couldn’t talk about it because I didn’t know how to explain it. I didn’t understand the technology. But now I’m pretty sure it was a wireless situation. Either a download or upload. They were tapped into my brain and the knowledge was transferred back and forth. I could see them and everything while it was happening. There was a visual involved, almost like … I don’t know. [Laughs.] Don’t get me going!

[From MTVhive.com]

All I can say are that the guy’s debauchery is well documented and obviously made him have vivid hallucinations. I know that there are plenty of people who claim to have been abducted by aliens, but that doesn’t make it in any way plausible.

Sammy Hagar is shown on 3/13/11 promoting his book. He looks like a lot of fun. Credit: WENN.com