Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

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“Rock 'n' Roll Suicide”
“Rock 'n' Roll Suicide” cover
Single by David Bowie
from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
B-side "Quicksand"
Released 11 April 1974
Format 7" single
Recorded Trident Studios, London
January-February 1972
Genre Glam rock
Length 2:57
Label RCA Records
LMBO 5201
Producer David Bowie, Ken Scott
David Bowie singles chronology
"Rebel Rebel"
(1974)		 "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
(1974)		 "Diamond Dogs"
(1974)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars track listing
Side one
  1. "Five Years"
  2. "Soul Love"
  3. "Moonage Daydream"
  4. "Starman"
  5. "It Ain't Easy"
Side two
  1. "Lady Stardust"
  2. "Star"
  3. "Hang on to Yourself"
  4. "Ziggy Stardust"
  5. "Suffragette City"
  6. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"

"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" is a song by David Bowie, originally released as the closing track on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in June 1972. It detailed Ziggy’s final collapse as an old, washed-up rock star and, as such, was also the closing number of the Ziggy Stardust live show. In April 1974 RCA issued it as a single.

Contents

[edit] Music and lyrics

Bowie saw the song in terms of the French chanson tradition,[1] while biographer David Buckley has described both "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and the album's opening track "Five Years" as "more like avant-garde show songs than actual rock songs".[2] Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine similarly found it to have "a grand sense of staged drama previously unheard of in rock & roll".[3]

Although Bowie has suggested Baudelaire as his source, the lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." originate with the poem "Chants Andalous" by Manuel Machado: "Life is a cigarette / Cinder, ash and fire / Some smoke it in a hurry / Others savour it".[1] The exhortation "Oh no, love, you're not alone" references the Jacques Brel song "You're Not Alone" ("Jef") that appeared in the musical Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.[4] Bowie covered Brel's "My Death" during some Ziggy Stardust live shows, and performed "Amsterdam" live on the BBC.

[edit] Release and aftermath

"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" was one of the last songs recorded for Ziggy Stardust, along with "Suffragette City", which would immediately precede it in the album track list, and "Starman", soon to be issued as a single. As the final song on the album and climax to the Ziggy Stardust live shows throughout 1972-73, it soon became a slogan, appearing on many fans' jackets.[5]

In April 1974 RCA, impatient for new material having already rush-released "Rebel Rebel" from the Diamond Dogs sessions, arbitrarily picked the song for single release. Two years old, and already in the possession of most Bowie fans through Ziggy Stardust, its release has been labelled simply a "dosh-catching exercise".[6] It stalled at #22 in the UK charts – Bowie's first RCA single to miss the British Top 20 since "Changes" in January 1972.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" (Bowie) – 2:57
  2. "Quicksand" (Bowie) – 5:03

[edit] Production credits

[edit] Live versions

  • Bowie played the song on the BBC show Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris" on May 23, 1972. This was broadcast on June 19, 1972 and in 2000 released on the album Bowie at the Beeb.
  • A live version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on 20 October 1972 was released on Santa Monica '72.
  • The version played at the final Ziggy Stardust concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on July 3, 1973 was released on Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture. Before beginning the song, Bowie announced: "Everybody... this has been one of the greatest tours of our lives. I would like to thank the band. I would like to thank our road crew. I would like to thank our lighting people. Of all of the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest because not only is it--not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do. Thank you." This version also appeared in the Sound and Vision boxed set.
  • A recording from the 1974 tour was released on David Live. Another live recording from the 1974 tour was released on the semi-legal A Portrait in Flesh.

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Cover versions

[edit] Appearances in popular culture

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Nicholas Pegg (2000). The Complete David Bowie: pp.174-175
  2. ^ David Buckley (1999) Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.141
  3. ^ All Music Guide album review
  4. ^ All Music Guide song review
  5. ^ Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: p.48
  6. ^ David Buckley (1999) Op Cit: p.244

[edit] References

  • Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5
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