Aliens Ate My Buick

Aliens Ate My Buick
Studio album by Thomas Dolby
Released	25 April 1988 (1988-04-25) [1]
Studio	Soundcastle (Los Angeles) Smoketree (Los Angeles)
Genre	New wave funk
Length	44:52
Label	EMI Manhattan
Producer	Thomas Dolby Bill Bottrell
Thomas Dolby chronology
The Flat Earth (1984) Aliens Ate My Buick (1988) Astronauts & Heretics (1992)
Singles from Aliens Ate My Buick
"Airhead" Released: 28 March 1988 (1988-03-28) [2] "Hot Sauce" Released: 3 January 1989 (1989-01-03) [3] [4] "My Brain Is Like a Sieve" Released: 29 August 1989 (1989-08-29) [5] [6]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]

Aliens Ate My Buick is the third studio album by English new wave/synth-pop musician Thomas Dolby, released on 25 April 1988.

Reception

The album peaked at number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. The lead single from the album, "Airhead", peaked at number 53. Second and third singles, "Hot Sauce" and "My Brain Is Like a Sieve", peaked at number 80 and number 89, respectively. In the US, the album peaked at number 70. In Canada the album reached number 76. ^[9]

Dolby has said in interviews that he believes the album's commercial failure was due to his change in musical direction, evident on the album.^{[ citation needed ]}

Track listing

All songs by Thomas Dolby, unless otherwise indicated.

1. "The Key to Her Ferrari" – 4:39
2. "Airhead" (Dolby, Grant Morris) – 5:07
3. "Hot Sauce" (George Clinton) – 5:03
4. "Pulp Culture" – 5:35
5. "My Brain Is Like a Sieve" – 4:52
6. "The Ability to Swing" (Dolby, Matthew Seligman) – 4:30
7. "Budapest by Blimp" – 8:40
8. "May the Cube Be with You" – 6:49 (CD/cassette bonus track)

Personnel

• Thomas Dolby – vocals, keyboards

The Lost Toy People

• Larry Treadwell – guitar
• Mike Kapitan – synthesizer
• Terry Jackson – bass
• David Owens – drums
• Laura Creamer – vocals, percussion

Additional musicians

• Robin Leach – voiceover (track 1)
• Ed Asner – voiceover (track 5)
• Edie Lehmann – backing vocals (track 1)
• Donny Geraldo – backing vocals (track 1)
• Mendy Lee – backing vocals (track 1)
• Bruce Woolley – backing vocals (track 2)
• Colin Crabtree – backing vocals (track 2)
• Rose Banks Stone – backing vocals (track 3–5)
• Jean Johnson McRath – backing vocals (tracks 3–5)
• Lesley Fairbairn – backing vocals (track 7)
• Bill Watrous – trombone
• Arno Lucas – congas, timbales
• Bill Bottrell – spaghetti western guitar (track 3)
• Csilla Kecskesi – Hungarian aria (track 7)
• Erica Kiss – Hungarian translation (track 7)
• Gueysel Tejada – domestic cleaning and outburst (track 3)

Technical

• Thomas Dolby – co-producer, arrangements
• Bill Bottrell – co-producer, engineer
• The Lost Toy People – arrangements
• Steve Vance – artwork, typography
• Leslie Burke – front cover and inner sleeve photography
• Dennis Keeley – back cover photography
• Kathleen Beller – front cover model
• Mike Tacci – second engineer
• Daryl Koutnik – second engineer

References

1. "News - The Aliens Have Landed". Record Mirror . 16 April 1988. p. 4. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via Flickr.
2. "News - Airhead Dolby". Record Mirror . 26 March 1988. p. 4. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via Flickr.
3. "New Singles" (PDF). Music Week . 24 December 1988. p. 58. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via World Radio History.
4. "[promotional advertisement]". Record Mirror . 7 January 1989. p. 39. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via Flickr.
5. "New Singles" (PDF). Music Week . 26 August 1989. p. 38. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via World Radio History.
6. "Brain Box". Record Mirror . 26 August 1989. p. 8. Retrieved 5 January 2026– via Flickr.
7. AllMusic review
8. Rolling Stone review
9. "RPM Top 100 Albums - July 30, 1988" (PDF).