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

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Studio album by David Bowie
Released 6 June 1972 (1972-06-06)
Recorded 7 September 1971, November 1971, 12 – 18 January 1972,
Trident Studios, London
Genre Glam rock
Length 38:37
Label RCA Records
Producer David Bowie, Ken Scott
Professional reviews
David Bowie chronology
Hunky Dory
(1971)		 The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
(1972)		 Aladdin Sane
(1973)
Singles from
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders from Mars
  1. "Moonage Daydream"
    Released: April 1971 (1971-04)
  2. "Starman"
    Released: 14 April 1972 (1972-04-14)
  3. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
    Released: 11 April 1974 (1974-04-11)
  4. "Suffragette City"
    Released: 9 July 1976 (1976-07-09)

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (often shortened to Ziggy Stardust or simply Ziggy) is a 1972 concept album by English rock musician David Bowie. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom[8] and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts.[9] A concert film of the same name directed by D.A. Pennebaker was released in 1973.

Contents

Conception and inspiration

The album presents, albeit vaguely, the story of "Ziggy Stardust", the human manifestation of an alien being who is attempting to present humanity with a message of hope in the last five years of its existence. 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 both by his own excesses of drugs and sex, and by the fans he inspired.

In interviews, Bowie has said that the real-life inspiration for Ziggy was chiefly Vince Taylor,[10] though the lyrics hint at Jimi Hendrix ("played it left hand ... jiving us that we were voodoo") and the character was likely a composite.[11][12] Bowie claimed that the name came from a tailor's shop in London called Ziggy's.[13] He 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 Odam, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy.[14] Bowie covered a Legendary Stardust Cowboy song, "I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Spaceship)" thirty years later on Heathen.

Production

The Ziggy Stardust sessions began just a few weeks after Hunky Dory was released. The first song recorded for the album, the cover "It Ain't Easy", was recorded in September 1971. The first session in November produced "Hang on to Yourself", "Ziggy Stardust", "Rock 'n' Roll Star" (later shortened to "Star"), "Moonage Daydream", "Soul Love", "Lady Stardust", and "Five Years".

Also recorded during the November Ziggy Sessions were two more cover songs intended for the as-yet untitled album. They were Chuck Berry's "Around and Around" (re-titled "Round and Round") and Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam" (re-titled "Port of Amsterdam"). A re-recording of "Holy Holy" (first recorded in 1970 and released as a single, to poor sales, in January 1971) was initially slated for Ziggy, but was dropped in favour of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide". "Round and Round" was replaced by "Starman" and "It Ain't Easy" replaced "Amsterdam" on the album's final running order. All three were eventually released as b-sides.

"Velvet Goldmine", first recorded during the Hunky Dory sessions, was also intended for Ziggy, but was replaced by "Suffragette City". RCA released it in 1975 as the b-side to the UK re-release of "Space Oddity" after having it remixed and mastered without Bowie's approval.

After recording some of the new songs for Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris (which appear on Bowie at the Beeb) as the newly-dubbed Spiders from Mars in January-February 1972, the band returned to Trident. They recorded "Starman", "Suffragette City", and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" by the end of the month.

"Starman", released as a single in April (and not intended for the final album at first), has never appeared in its original "loud" mix on CD. It differs somewhat in that it "features a subdued 'morse code' section between the verse and the chorus"[15] compared to the original released in 1972. "Starman"'s b-side, "Suffragette City", was mastered for the album with a three-note coda leading in from "Ziggy Stardust" to make the songs sound linked. They were never played as such by Bowie in concert.

Recorded and released during the ensuing Ziggy tour were two other songs. The first, "John, I'm Only Dancing", was recorded at Trident in late June and released (in the UK only) in September. "The Jean Genie", recorded at RCA Studios in New York in early October at the start of the American tour, was released in the US in November. The song was remixed for Aladdin Sane.

Rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman was given the opportunity to play keyboards on the album but Rick opted to join the progressive rock group Yes instead.

Plot

The album was intended by Bowie to serve as the soundtrack and musical basis for a stage show and/or television production telling the story of Ziggy Stardust. As well as the songs on the album, Bowie also intended songs such as "All the Young Dudes", "Rebel Rebel" and "Rock 'n' Roll With Me" (the latter two later recorded for Diamond Dogs) for this realization of the Ziggy story. In a Rolling Stone interview with William S. Burroughs, Bowie outlined the full plot of the Ziggy Stardust story:

The time is five years to go before the end of the earth. It has been announced that the world will end because of lack of natural resources. Ziggy is in a position where all the kids have access to things that they thought they wanted. The older people have lost all touch with reality and the kids are left on their own to plunder anything. Ziggy was in a rock-and-roll band and the kids no longer want rock-and-roll. There's no electricity to play it. Ziggy's adviser tells him to collect news and sing it, 'cause there is no news. So Ziggy does this and there is terrible news. 'All the young dudes' is a song about this news. It's no hymn to the youth as people thought. It is completely the opposite. [...]

The end comes when the infinites arrive. They really are a black hole, but I've made them people because it would be very hard to explain a black hole on stage. [...]

Ziggy is advised in a dream by the infinites to write the coming of a Starman, so he writes 'Starman', which is the first news of hope that the people have heard. So they latch onto it immediately...The starmen that he is talking about are called the infinites, and they are black-hole jumpers. Ziggy has been talking about this amazing spaceman who will be coming down to save the earth. They arrive somewhere in Greenwich Village. They don't have a care in the world and are of no possible use to us. They just happened to stumble into our universe by black hole jumping. Their whole life is travelling from universe to universe. In the stage show, one of them resembles Brando, another one is a Black New Yorker. I even have one called Queenie, the Infinite Fox...Now Ziggy starts to believe in all this himself and thinks himself a prophet of the future starmen. He takes himself up to the incredible spiritual heights and is kept alive by his disciples. When the infinites arrive, they take bits of Ziggy to make them real because in their original state they are anti-matter and cannot exist in our world. And they tear him to pieces on stage during the song 'Rock 'n' roll suicide'. As soon as Ziggy dies on stage the infinites take his elements and make themselves visible.

The more generally acknowledged story, however, has Ziggy Stardust himself being the "starman", from Mars, who has come to save the Earth with messages of love and peace, and Bowie has referred to Ziggy as a "Martian" in several interviews.

Styles and themes

Simple two-syllable phrases provide the spine for "Suffragette City" ("hey man"), "Hang on to Yourself" ("come on"), "Lady Stardust" ("all right"), and "Five Years" ("five years").[16]

"Starman the album's single, has been described as a cross between mod and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".[17]

Release and aftermath

Upon its release on 6 June 1972, Ziggy Stardust reached number five in the UK and number seventy-five in the US. The album was eventually certified platinum and gold in the UK and US respectively.[18][19] The only single from the record, "Starman", charted at number ten in the UK while peaking at the sixty-fifth spot in the US.

In 20 July 1972 Rolling Stone reviewed The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Even though the writer Richard Cromelin gave the album a favorable review of "at least a 99" (assumed out of 100), the review was written in a way that even though he thought it was a good album he did not believe in the lasting power of it or the style in general. In his review Cromelin writes "we should all say a brief prayer that his fortunes are made to rise and fall with the fate of the "drag-rock" sundrome".[20]

In 1997, Ziggy Stardust was named the 20th greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998, Q magazine readers placed it at number 24 and Virgin All-time Top 1000 Albums ranked it at number 11, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 48. It was named the 35th best album ever made by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 Q placed it at number 25 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2004 it was placed at number 81 in Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In his 1995 book, "The Alternative Music Almanac", Alan Cross placed the album in the #3 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'. In 2006, the album was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.[21]

In 2005, Seu Jorge did a cover album of 14 Bowie songs, many of them from Ziggy Stardust, as a soundtrack for the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou called The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions. The translation into Portuguese is not always exact, as Seu Jorge maintains the melodies and styles, but often varies the lyrics. Musician Saul Williams named his 2007, Trent Reznor produced album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!. In 2009, Techno Cowboy covered the entire album from start to finish using just the Omnichord called "The Ziggy Stardust Omnichord Album".

Cover

The cover photograph was taken outside furriers, K. West, at 23 Heddon Street, London, W1.[22] The rear cover of the original vinyl album bore the instruction "TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME", however this was omitted from the EMI 1999 re-release.[23]

The album cover was among the ten chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010.[24][25]

Track listing

All tracks written by David Bowie except as noted.[26]

Side one
  1. "Five Years" – 4:43
  2. "Soul Love" – 3:33
  3. "Moonage Daydream" – 4:35
  4. "Starman" – 4:16
  5. "It Ain't Easy" (Ron Davies) – 2:56
Side two
  1. "Lady Stardust" – 3:20
  2. "Star" – 2:47
  3. "Hang on to Yourself" – 2:37
  4. "Ziggy Stardust" – 3:13
  5. "Suffragette City" – 3:19
  6. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 2:57

Bonus tracks (1990 Rykodisc/EMI)

  1. "John, I'm Only Dancing" (previously unreleased mix) – 2:43
  2. "Velvet Goldmine" (single B-side from the 1975 RCA re-release of "Space Oddity; original recording from the The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars sessions, 1971) – 3:09
  3. "Sweet Head" (previously unreleased outtake) – 4:14
  4. "Ziggy Stardust" (demo) – 3:35
  5. "Lady Stardust" (demo) – 3:35

Personnel

Additional personnel

Technical personnel

Compact disc releases

Ziggy Stardust was first released in November 1984 (1984-11) on compact disc by RCA. The digital master recording was made from the equalised master tapes used for the LP release.[27]

1990 Rykodisc/EMI

Dr. Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital Recording|Northeastern Digital, Southborough, Massachusetts,[28] remastered Ziggy from the original master tapes for Rykodisc, who released it with five bonus tracks.

1999 EMI/Virgin

The album was remastered by Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios without bonus material, with the same track listing as the 1984 CD release.

2002 EMI/Virgin

In 2002, a 2-disc version was released by EMI/Virgin. The first in a series of 30th Anniversary 2CD Editions, this release included a newly-remastered version as its first CD. The second disc contains twelve 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 extended studio banter in the beginning. The new mix of "Moonage Daydream" was originally done for a 1998 Dunlop television commercial.

The remaster on this edition reverses the left and right stereo channels on the first disc and many of the songs have been edited. Among other things, the three-note bridge between "Ziggy Stardust" and "Suffragette City", and the count-in to "Hang on to Yourself" are missing.[29]

At the same time, an SACD version which includes both stereo and 5.1 mixes (both with 96 kHz/24 bit resolution) was released.

Bonus CD (2002 EMI/Virgin)

All tracks written by David Bowie except as noted.[29]

  1. "Moonage Daydream" (Arnold Corns version) – 3:53
  2. "Hang on to Yourself" (Arnold Corns version) – 2:55
  3. "Lady Stardust" (demo) – 3:34
  4. "Ziggy Stardust" (demo) – 3:38
  5. "John, I'm Only Dancing" – 2:49
  6. "Velvet Goldmine" – 3:14
  7. "Holy Holy" (1972 re-recording) – 2:26
  8. "Amsterdam" (Jacques Brel, Mort Shuman) – 3:25
  9. "The Supermen" (alternate version, recorded for the Glastonbury Fayre in 1971, originally released on Glastonbury Fayre Revelations - A Musical Anthology, 1972 [30] and on CD on 1990's Rykodisc/EMI Hunky Dory) – 2:41
  10. "Round and Round" (Berry) – 2:44
  11. "Sweet Head" – 4:53
  12. "Moonage Daydream" (new mix) – 4:47

Personnel

(only on tracks where it differs from album)

Charts

Album

Year Chart Peak
Position
1972 UK Albums Chart 5 [8]
1973 Billboard Pop Albums 75 [9]

Singles

Year Single Chart Peak
Position
1972 "Starman" UK Singles Chart 10 [8]
1972 "Starman" Billboard Pop Singles 65 [9]
1974 "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" UK Singles Chart 22 [8]

Notes

  1. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "allmusic ((( The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars > Review )))". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gifuxqq5ld0e. Retrieved 2008-06-08. 
  2. ↑ "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust". Blender. http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=3888. Retrieved 2008-07-11. 
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "David Bowie". Creem. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=david+bowie. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  4. ↑ "DAVID BOWIE: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. RCA". Circus. July, 1972. http://www.5years.com/circusreview.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  5. ↑ Robinson, Charlotte (22 August 2003). "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". 'PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/14019/bowiedavid-riseandfall. Retrieved 2008-07-11. 
  6. ↑ Cromelin, Richard (20 July 1972). "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/davidbowie/albums/album/271584/review/5946086/the_rise__fall_of_ziggy_stardust_and_the_spiders_from_mars. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 
  7. ↑ Weisbard & Marks, 1995. p.55
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "UK Top 40 Hit Database". http://www.everyhit.com. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "allmusic (((Ziggy Stardust > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  10. ↑ Thompson, Jody (2007-01-08). "Sixty things about David Bowie". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6230201.stm. Retrieved 2008-03-20. 
  11. ↑ "SongFacts: Ziggy Stardust". http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=481. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
  12. ↑ "The Ziggy Stardust Companion". http://www.5years.com/zs.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
  13. ↑ Rougivie, Jeff (1972). Album notes for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie, p. 1 [CD special edition booklet]. Salem, Massachusetts: Rykodisc (RCD 90134).
  14. ↑ "ZSC:Frequently Asked Questions". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/faq.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-20. 
  15. ↑ "Starman - David Bowie. Original UK LP and 45 mix is AWOL!!". http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=106219. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
  16. ↑ Review by Terry Atkinson in Phonograph Record Magazine (July 1972). "ZSC:Reviews". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/TA.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-20. 
  17. ↑ Review by John Tiven in Phonograph Record Magazine (July 1972). "ZSC:Reviews". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/Rjt.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-20. 
  18. ↑ "RIAA Gold and Platinum". http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  19. ↑ "BPI Certified Awards". http://www.bpi.co.uk/. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  20. ↑ Paytress, Mark. Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars David Bowie. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998. Print. pg 117-120
  21. ↑ "The All-TIME 100 Albums". time.com. http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  22. ↑ Time Out (1998), Q Magazine (12–18 October 1984). "ZSC:Heddon St.". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/heddon.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-12. 
  23. ↑ "Rear cover". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/backlcov.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-18. 
  24. ↑ "Classic Album Covers: Issue Date – 7 January 2010". Royal Mail. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/content1?catId=32300674&mediaId=112400790. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  25. ↑ Michaels, Sean (8 January 2010). "Coldplay album gets stamp of approval from Royal Mail". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/08/coldplay-album-stamp-approval. Retrieved 2010-01-08. 
  26. ↑ David Bowie. Ziggy Stardust (Rykodisc, 1990).
  27. ↑ "ZSC:RCA CD (1984)". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/rcacd.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-18. 
  28. ↑ "Northeastern Digital home page". http://www.northeasterndigital.com/audio/bios.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 David Bowie. Ziggy Stardust: 30th Anniversary Edition (EMI, 2002).
  30. ↑ "EMI 30th Anniversary 2CD Limited Edition (2002)". The Ziggy Stardust Companion. http://www.5years.com/ziggy30th2cd.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-22. 

References

External links

David Bowie
Discography · Awards and nominations · Filmography · Tours
Studio albums
David Bowie · Space Oddity · The Man Who Sold the World · Hunky Dory · The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars · Aladdin Sane · Pin Ups · Diamond Dogs · Young Americans · Station to Station · Low · "Heroes" · Lodger · Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) · Let's Dance · Tonight · Never Let Me Down · Black Tie White Noise · Outside · Earthling · 'Hours...' · Heathen · Reality
With Tin Machine
Tin Machine · Tin Machine II
Live albums
David Live · Stage · Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture · Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby · Santa Monica '72 · LiveAndWell.com · Live Santa Monica '72 · Glass Spider Live · VH1 Storytellers · A Reality Tour
Soundtracks
Christiane F. · Love You till Tuesday · Labyrinth · The Buddha of Suburbia
EPs
Baal · Earthling in the City · Live EP (Live at Fashion Rocks)
Compilations
The World of David Bowie · Images 1966–1967 · Changesonebowie · The Best of Bowie · Changestwobowie · Rare · Golden Years · Fame and Fashion · Sound + Vision · Changesbowie · Early On (1964–1966) · The Singles Collection · RarestOneBowie · The Deram Anthology 1966–1968 · The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974 · The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979 · Bowie at the Beeb · All Saints · Best of Bowie · The Collection · The Platinum Collection · The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 · Bowie Box Set (Outside, Earthling, Hours, Heathen, Reality- 10CD) · iSelect
Concert videos
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars · Serious Moonlight · Glass Spider · A Reality Tour · VH1 Storytellers
Promotional films
and compilations
Love You till Tuesday · Bowie – The Video Collection · Black Tie White Noise · Best of Bowie
Tours
Ziggy Stardust Tour · Diamond Dogs Tour · Isolar · Isolar II · Serious Moonlight Tour · Glass Spider Tour · Tin Machine Tour · Sound and Vision Tour · It's My Life Tour · Outside Tour · Outside Summer Festivals Tour · Earthling Tour · The Hours... Tour · Mini Tour · Heathen Tour · A Reality Tour
Related artists
The Spiders from Mars · Tin Machine · Tony Visconti · Brian Eno · Mick Ronson · Mick Woodmansey · Trevor Bolder · Iggy Pop · Mike Garson · Reeves Gabrels · Earl Slick · Carlos Alomar · George Murray · Dennis Davis · Arnold Corns · Lou Reed
Related articles
Major Tom · The Thin White Duke · "Bowie" · Sovereign · Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Wikipedia book Book:David Bowie / Part 2: Singles and songs · Category Category:David Bowie