Actors - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

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	Actors - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by David Bowie, praised as the definitive album of the 1970s by Melody Maker magazine. It peaked at #5 in the United Kingdom and #75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts.

In 1997 Ziggy Stardust was named the 20th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 24, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 48.

Overview

The album presents the story, albeit vaguely, of Ziggy Stardust, a Martian who comes to earth to liberate humanity from banality. Ziggy Stardust is the definitive rock star, sexually promiscuous, wild in drug intake and with a message, ultimately, of peace and love; but he is destroyed by his own excesses of drugs and sex, and torn apart by the fans he inspired. The mythological story cycle of the doomed Messiah endeared itself to fans then and now.

The album was released in the UK on June 6, 1972, and later in the US on September 1, 1972. The single "Starman" was released on April 28, 1972 to promote the album.

The name may come from the singer Iggy Pop or the model Twiggy, both friends of Bowie. Bowie has claimed that it came from a tailor's shop in London called Ziggy's, supposedly because the album was going to be all about clothes. Bowie later told Rolling Stone it was "one of the few Christian names I could find beginning with the letter 'Z'." "Stardust" comes from one of Bowie's labelmates, a country singer named Norman Carl Odom, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. (Bowie covered a Legendary Stardust Cowboy song, "I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship", 30 years later on his critically acclaimed Heathen album.)

The album cover has become an object of veneration for fans (similar to Abbey Road), who make pilgrimages to see the exact spot. The phone box depicted on the back cover was removed in 1998.

The album is considered archetypal glam rock, full of hard rock guitar riffs, catchy choruses and confusing, opiate lyrics. It is both gloomy, as in the first song, "Five Years", where it is revealed that the Earth will be destroyed in five years, and joyous, as in the optimism of Ziggy in "Starman". Though Bowie's previous albums had built him a serious fanbase (particularly the hit song "Space Oddity"), his music was largely inaccessible and avant-garde. Ziggy Stardust was still innovative and pioneering, but was also accessible to people who couldn't hear or understand the significance of Bowie's revolutionary techniques and style. Songs like "Starman", "Suffragette City", "Five Years", "Lady Stardust" and "Ziggy Stardust" are strange mixtures of pop rock and art rock. Mick Ronson's guitar work is especially beloved on this album; on previous Bowie compositions, he had displayed talent and occasional spots of brilliance (e.g., Hunky Dory
's "Queen Bitch") but he shone on this album, playing the chords that (in the story) awakened the consciousness of humanity.

Antecedents and influences

Many of Bowie's songs are homages to his favorite musicians, frequently with chords and styles taken and reinterpreted in a glam rock fashion. "Star" begins similarly to The Who's "Pinball Wizard" (off Tommy), while surf rock (such as The Beach Boys) influenced "Suffragette City". Most of the other songs are pure glam rock, influenced by Labelle, T. Rex, Gary Glitter, Ray Davies, Alice Cooper, Queen, The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, among others.

Many of the songs on this album show Bowie's predilection for inserting powerful exhalations, usually nothing more than a "ha" or "ah" shouted with great intensity. One more complex (and memorable) example is on "Suffragette City" where the most memorable line, the frantically shouted "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" was an improvised replacement for "one more time". Similarly simple two-syllable phrases provide the spine for "Suffragette City" ("hey man"), "Hang Onto Yourself" ("come on"), and "Five Years" ("five years"). Of particular note is the last, "Five Years", the album's opener, where the title is hoarsely shouted repeatedly, each time more and more powerful as though Bowie was having a breakdown in the studio. "Star" is a memorably pure rock and roll song, describing the beauty of being a rock star; it is Ziggy's dream, ending with the prophetic "watch me now". "Starman", the album's single, has been described as a cross between mod and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Jim Bickhart, Phonograph Record Magazine (July 1972)) with an exhilarating chorus of Ziggy sending a message to Earthlings via the radio, warning them that he will come to liberate their minds if they are ready for it. "Soul Love" is notable for Bowie's pioneering and original use of a jazzy saxophone.

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