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, and inspired a similarly-titled 1973 documentary by D.A. Pennebaker.

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 and was named the 35th best album ever made by Rolling Stone Magazine on their top 500 albums list.

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 Heddon Street. 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.

In July 2003, for the album's 30th anniversary, select songs were broadcast into deep space using a high-tech laser beam. The event was part of a Cosmic Call laser extravaganza that took place in Roswell, New Mexico. Fans took part in an online survey to choose 4 songs to be broadcast.

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, 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 on to 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 "just watch me now", taken from the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane". "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.

The glam rock sound on Ziggy Stardust comes from early pioneers in the field of gender-bending, heroin-drenched hard rock powered by climactic guitar riffs and bass-heavy beats. Bands like Mott the Hoople (Mott the Hoople - 1969) and T. Rex (Prophets Seers & Sages the Angels of the Ages - 1968) helped to create the sound of glam rock, contributing a heavy metal and folk aspect, respectively, along with Deep Purple's (Deep Purple - 1969) metallic prog rock. Bowie mixed this early combination with the frenetic proto-punk of the Stooges (The Stooges - 1969) and the contemplative, dark and melodic proto-punk of the Velvet Underground (White Light/White Heat - 1967). Dark psychedelia, like the Doors (The Doors - 1967) and early concept albums like Tommy (1969; the Who) influenced the lyrical direction of the album.

The influence of Ziggy Stardust within the history of music

Ziggy Stardust was a monumental album in music history. Its sound has changed the way heavy metal, punk music, hard rock, glam rock, and prog rock sound.

On a more recent note, notorious shock rocker Marilyn Manson openly admits to being heavily inspired by Ziggy Stardust. This is most apparent in the Glitter-Rock opus Mechanical Animals, as the album is, aesthetically, very similar to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. However, the earlier album Antichrist Superstar has a plotline that follows the same pattern as Ziggy (both are "rise and fall" stories), and the songs "Minute of Decay" and "Man That you Fear" both have musical elements similar to Bowie's works.

Moby's 2005 album features a song called "Spiders", which was influenced by Moby's deep love for David Bowie's music. It is thought the title is a reference to this album, and Ziggy's backing band, the Spiders From Mars.

Reggae icon Bob Marley was so taken with the character Bowie created that he nicknamed his son (real name, David), "Ziggy". The name stuck and his son now records under the name Ziggy Marley.

The anarchist punk rock band Crass were so named as a reference to the song "Ziggy Stardust", specifically the line "The kids was (sic) just crass". (Reference; Shibboleth by Penny Rimbaud, AK Press, 1999).

In the song "Ziggy Stardust", reference is made to Ziggy's backup band, the Spiders From Mars. As a result of that reference, Bowie's backup band also became known as the Spiders From Mars.

In 2004 Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou features the character of Pelé dos Santos (played by Seu Jorge), a Brasilian mariner who sits alone with his guitar and plays several songs from "Ziggy Stardust" (in addition to songs from other albums) singing in Portuguese.

The Smashing Pumpkins make a reference to the Spiders From Mars on the song "If There Is a God" from their unsigned album Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music: "He likes his loud guitars/And his spiders from Mars".

The Spiders From Mars

Mick "Ronno" Ronson - band leader, guitar, piano and vocals
Trevor Bolder - bass
Mick "Woody" Woodmansey - drums

Some quotes from Bowie on Ziggy Stardust

"I fell for Ziggy too. It was quite easy to become obsessed night and day with the character. I became Ziggy Stardust. David Bowie went totally out the window. Everybody was convincing me that I was a Messiah, especially on that first American tour. I got hopelessly lost in the fantasy."

"Ziggy, particularly, was created out of a certain arrogance. But, remember, at that time I was young and I was full of life, and that seemed like a very positive artistic statement. I thought that was a beautiful piece of art, I really did. I thought that was a grand kitsch painting. The whole guy. Then that fucker would not leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to sour. And it soured so quickly you wouldn't believe it. And it took me an awful time to level out. My whole personality was affected. Again I brought that upon myself. I can't say I'm sorry when I look back, because it provoked such an extraordinary set of circumstances in my life. I thought I might as well take Ziggy to interviews as well. Why leave him on stage? Looking back it was completely absurd. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity. I can't deny that the experience affected me in a very exaggerated and marked manner. I think I put myself very dangerously near the line. Not in physical sense but definitively in mental sense. I played mental games with myself to such an extent that I'm very relieved and happy to be back in Europe and feeling very well. But, then, you see I was always the lucky one."

Track listing / Explanation of the story arc

"Five Years" – 4:42
- Story: The Earth is doomed to destruction in five years; the aftermath of this knowledge
- Bowie chose the length of time, five years, as a result of a dream in which his deceased father told him he must never fly again and would die in five years.
"Soul Love" – 3:33
- On the different possible kinds of love, with "soul love" being the vastly most important
- Stone love = love for the departed; new love = romantic, lusty love; soul love = religious, adulatory love; idiot love = degenerate, painful love.
"Moonage Daydream" – 4:37
- Story: The alien messiah is revealed/created, and his destiny to save the world from the disaster in "Five Years" is also hinted at, as well his fate as the quintessential "soul lover".
- In terms of the plot, this is one of the most important songs as it describes the creation of Ziggy from a combination of religion, romance, sexual freedom, rebellion, and passion; he metamorphoses into the archetypal rock star.
"Starman" – 4:16
- Ziggy is "a starman, waiting in the sky/He'd like to come and meet us/But he thinks he'd blow our mind"
- Story: Ziggy contacts a human youth through the radio. He promises salvation, but is wary, and worried about his impact.
"It Ain't Easy" – 2:57
- Story: Ziggy struggles to become accepted as a rock 'n' roll star
- This is the only song not written by David Bowie; it was written by Ron Davies.
- This was originally recorded during the Hunky Dory sessions.
"Lady Stardust" – 3:21
- Story: Ziggy's impact on people as young men learn to express their self-beauty and feminine side (cross-dressing), eschewing self-denial.
- The original demo version, titled "A Song for Marc," was written about Marc Bolan, and featured a Biblical reference to Peter's denial of knowing Jesus: "Oh! how I lied when they asked if I knew his name".
"Star" – 2:47
- Story: Ziggy's dream of the future for humanity.
"Hang on to Yourself" – 2:38
- Story: Ziggy and the Spiders rock it out; they may or may not be capable of hanging on to themselves and their sanity in the face of an insane, rock 'n' roll world of freedom and liberation.
"Ziggy Stardust" – 3:13
- One of the Spiders describes Ziggy in the words "Ziggy sucked up into his mind/Like a leper messiah/When the kids had killed the man, I had to break up the band".
- Story: This song is a summary of the entire album; it was also the first song written.
- Contrary to an oft-heard rumor, the song was not written with Jimi Hendrix in mind. Rather, Vince Taylor was the inspiration.
- Bob Marley's son, Ziggy Marley, titled himself because of this album's song being one of his favourites.
- Contains two different versions of Ziggy's death, one from his assassin and one of the Spiders from Mars.
"Suffragette City" – 3:25
- Story: The perils and attention you receive from being a rock star, being bothered by your true friends when your mind is set on glory and girls.
"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 2:57
- Story: The fall of Ziggy Stardust.
- The lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." has its original roots in the poem "Chants Andalous" by Spanish poet Manuel Machado where he writes: "Life is a cigarette/Cinder, ash and fire/Some smoke it in a hurry/Others savour it." Bowie has also referred to its source as being from Baudelaire.

Reissue bonus tracks

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust has been reissued on CD twice with bonus tracks, in 1990 by Rykodisc/EMI. In common with the rest of Bowie's back catalogue it was remastered in 96 kHz/24bit in the late nineties and a new version, without bonus material, was released in 1999. A two disc 30th anniversary version was released in 2002 by EMI/Virgin comprising the remastered disc plus a disc of bonus material. The remaster also provides the basis for an SACD version which includes both stereo and 5.1 mixes (both 96KHz/24 bit resolution). The 30th anniversary edition has become quite collectible as only a limited number were produced.

1990 reissue bonus tracks

"John, I'm Only Dancing" (single A-side from 1972)
"Velvet Goldmine" (single B-side from 1975, actually dates from the Hunky Dory sessions)
"Sweet Head" (previously unreleased outtake)
"Ziggy Stardust" (demo)
"Lady Stardust" (demo)

2002 reissue bonus tracks

Called a 30th Anniversary Reissue, the 2002 reissue of the album had a bonus CD containing 12 tracks, most of which had been previously released on CD as bonus tracks of the 1990-92 reissues. "Sweet Head" is the same version as on the 1990 reissue, but with added studio banter in the beginning, while the 'new mix' of "Moonage Daydream" was done originally for a Dunlop commercial in 1998, and is almost identical to the original.

"Moonage Daydream" (Arnold Corns version)
"Hang on to Yourself" (Arnold Corns version)
"Lady Stardust" (demo)
"Ziggy Stardust" (demo)
"John, I'm Only Dancing"
"Velvet Goldmine"
"Holy Holy" (1972 rerecording)
"Amsterdam"
"The Supermen" (1971 rerecording)
"Round and Round"
"Sweet Head" (take 4)
"Moonage Daydream" (new mix)

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album
- 1973 Pop Albums No. 75
Billboard Music Charts (North America) - singles
- 1972 Starman Pop Singles No. 65