Starman< /i> - David Bowie (1972)

DAVID Bowie always looked like a being from outer space, so much so that he even played one in filmmaker Nicolas Roeg's brilliant '76 sci-fi parable The Man Who Fell To Earth. But before that he became Ziggy Stardust, the ultimate rock idol who stars in Bowie's concept album Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders Of Mars. According to a Rolling Stone interview, Bowie explained the album was set five years away from the end of the world, where Ziggy is contacted by "the infinites'' and told to inform the people about the coming of The Starman, who might be able to save the planet. Ziggy pens Starman, a song which is latched onto by the populace as their first sign of hope, and it catapults Ziggy to super-stardom but also dooms him (as depicted in the awesome album closer Rock 'N' Roll Suicide). Starman's alien plot and overtones about the Second Coming Of Christ are backed by one of Bowie's most uplifting choruses and a closing guitar riff that's one of the best pop music has ever heard.

Sasqua tch - Tenacious D (2006)

SONGS about Bigfoot aren't that common, but comedy-rock duo Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) tackled the Sasquatch in their film Pick Of Destiny. The movie was a bit disappointing but this was one of the funnier songs and features the D jamming with the Bigfoot, who plays drums very badly. It should be noted that the song is one of the few that namechecks Star Trek's Leonard "Spock'' Nimoy - who hosted 70s TV series In Search of... which investigated unexplained phenomena - as well as the Sasquatch, so bonus paranormal points there. Tenacious D's love of folklore also popped up in their biggest hit Tribute - a riff on the old pact with the devil tale, as popularised by Charlie Daniels Band's The Devil Went Down To Georgia and the myth of blues legend Robert Johnson, whose story featured in the '86 movie Crossroads.

Lochness - Judas Priest (2005)

WHILE Tenacious D played the paranormal for laughs on Sasquatch, British metal legends Judas Priest kept their tongues far away from the cheeks for their epic ballad Lochness. The end result is somehow strangely reminiscent of mock-metallers Spinal Tap's Stonehenge and almost as hilarious, although unintentionally. Featured on their album Angel Of Retribution - their first in more than a decade to feature original singer Rob Halford - Lochness is the longest Priest song ever, closing the album with 13-plus minutes of killer old-school metal riffs, a wicked guitar solo, and Halford imploring the Loch Ness Monster to "confess your terror of the deep''. Sample lyrics: "A beastly head of onyx with eyes set coals of fire, it's leathered hide glides glistening, ascends the briar, this legend lives through centuries''.