Made using a reel-to-reel tape recorder,[3] "The Flying Saucer" has been described as a "two-part sound collage",[2] and is conceptually an audio adaptation of Orson Welles' radio drama The War of the Worlds (1938), eschewing the seriousness of the radio show for comedy by "[interspersing] popular song lyrics into the audio broadcast.

In order of occurrence: While noting it as a novelty record, author Paul Carr highlighted the significance of "The Flying Saucer" in technological terms, writing: "Like Buchanan and Goodman, composers such as Pierre Schaeffer (Orphée 53, 1953), Pierre Boulez (Études 1 Sur un Son, 1951) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (Konkrete Etüde, 1952) also began using tape manipulation in the early 1950s when working in the genre of musique concrète.

The two men were also criticized in media of the era, with an anonymous source telling Billboard, "If we can't stop this nothing is safe in our business.

The comedians made fun of their own predicament by issuing a follow-up song, "Buchanan and Goodman on Trial" (Luniverse 102), which just missed the Billboard Top Forty, peaking at #42.

[5] Although Buchanan later left the partnership, Goodman continued releasing break-in records in the same pattern, with spoof interviewers responded to with song lyrics and refrains.

[4] In 1957, The Billboard noted that sales of the Penguins' "Earth Angel" and Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" -- both of whom had been excerpted on "The Flying Saucer" -- had increased in wake of the success of the pastiche.

"[4] Dave Banks cites "The Flying Saucer" as the first acknowledged example of a mashup, in which "an artist or producer might combine two or more existing songs.

[5] Steinski, later to become "a pivotal figure in the history of sampling", described "The Flying Saucer" as a formative influence, stating: "I still remember hearing it and thinking: What the hell is this?

But today an artist like Drake can poach the intro to a Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds song and turn it into a pop hit of his own.