This music thing we all like, it doesn’t get much better than this.
I'm an alligator I'm a mama-papa comin' for you I'm the space invader I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you
He was from Mars, by way of Brixton, he’d fallen to Earth, he was androgynous, sexually amorphous, dressed like Christmas had a baby with a Bacofoil geisha and had a king hell of a great band behind him. Ladies and gentlemen I give you David Bowie The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars*, released, as was everything that is good, pure and rocking in this world, in 1972.
I didn’t quite latch onto the comet that was Ziggy Stardust at the tender age of 4 months but it was there in the background. David Bowie was the first contemporary music that my hippy parents had liked for at least 4 years when our lovely neighbour Lindsay turned them on to him.
When I was getting into this whole music thing under my own skin around the time of Labyrinth-era Bowie I remember asking my mum if he was really any good. I was dispatched to my room with a C90 of Ziggy Stardust on one side and Aladdin Sane on the other and told not to come out until I agreed; when I had done so, and not a moment before, I was allowed to listen to Hunky Dory with them.
That Christmas Ziggy Stardust: The Movie was on TV and my mum explained to me that Bowie was smart, he’d seen what happened to people who got too famous and had predicted and acted it in the guise of Ziggy to sidestep that fate for himself. Ahh, I thought, ‘what a clever clogs and I do like that ‘White Light/White Heat’ song’**.
It is a common theme with all the very best LPs ever made but there seems to be a quicksilver skein of pure serendipity running through the genesis of Ziggy Stardust. The concept, always a bit flaky-wakey, was boosted by the last-minute addition of ‘Starman’ and the recording of ‘Suffragette City’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’ – near enough the entire sound of the rocking glittery 70’s right there in the last session. All manner of lesser lights were jettisoned^.
Teaming Mr Jones with the delightfully heavy-handed Spiders From Mars was a real spurt of genius^*. The proletarian heft of Woody Woodmansey, Trevor Boulder and Mick Ronson gave fey Ziggy a real boost over the wall. Fair enough you could cajole them into all the make-up and sci-fi silver capes you wanted but as a group they would always be more redolent of fish ‘n’ chips than fission ships.
The end result of the LP was astonishing, a fabulous glam racket, with enough artsy oddness, emotion and endearing British amateurishness to make the whole thing both utterly unpredictable, stellar and unrepeatable. Jamming good with Weird and Gilly, indeed.
‘Five Years’ was the first Bowie song I ever properly sat down and listened to. It blew my mind, still does. That oddly beguiling, faltering drum pattern, the stark scenario … I can’t think of anything like it, to this day, so affecting yet so affected, so cinematic yet so personal, so poised and yet so emotional. I’m struggling already and I haven’t even made it through the first track yet folks.
I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, Drinking milk shakes cold and long Smiling and waving and looking so fine, Don't think you knew you were in this song
It’s all in the way he sings the verbs, trust me.
Dragging us into the silver jetpack future via the 1950’s hoop-la-la-la of ‘Moonage Daydream’ and ‘Soul Love’, immaculate tracks both sets us up for the real kicker, ‘Starman’. Nothing sounds like it, nothing can ever have the same impact. Familiarity breeds content I know, but listen to it, the odd off-key intro, the glorious orchestration, that amazing chorus, the boogieing children. Man.
Plus the Top of The Pops footage of him is just incredible, if I think of Bowie at all this is the image I associate most clearly with him^^.
Some folks decry the inclusion of Ziggy Stardust‘s sole cover ‘It Ain’t Easy’, I sneer at ’em. I genuinely only noticed it was a cover this week. I love the drama of it and it might actually be the oddest Ziggy-est corner of the LP.
I’ve always been a sucker for the slight melancholy of ‘Lady Stardust’ and its delightfully camp gender-bending of pronouns, nice piano from Ronson too on this one. Sequencing the full throttle ‘Star’ next is a great touch too, all the sex, guitars and backing vocals anyone could possibly want in a single song.
Then we’re up and running down the home straight ‘Ziggy Stardust’, ‘Suffragette City’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’. Words fail me a bit, as a trifecta it has rarely been bettered in rock/pop/space glam mariachi music. The narrative of the title track ties absolutely everything together, giving the concept the weight needed to secure its kimono. ‘Suffragette City’ is often my favourite Bowie rocker and I have misty eyed memories of leaping around to it in the Lizard Club in Leeds, the ‘wham bam thank you ma’am!‘ just sends me skywards every time I hear it.
Despite the title, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’ ends everything on a wonderfully upbeat note, the music swelling and growing ever more grandiose with every bar as the lyrics switch from an isolated individual to the multitude. The gentle sax swells are as perfect as the Beatles-y final chord.
As he toured Ziggy even after Aladdin Sane came out, not killing him off until 1973, the two identities merge for me, but whatever, this era of glam Bowie will always be Ziggy’s for me.
As an LP Ziggy Stardust was and still is a real life-changer, at the risk of nauseatingly smug circularity I will simply say that this music thing we all like, doesn’t get much better than this.
My copy of Ziggy Stardust is a 1990 reissue, assembled with 5 extra bonus tracks and a gatefold sleeve. It’s rather well done too, maybe a touch quiet but hey, that’s what VOLUME is for. The bonuses are mostly interesting ‘Sweet Head’, ‘Velvet Goldmine’, ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ and a pair of demos. It’s not expensive still and I’d recommend it as an edition.
1047 Down (the Velvet Goldmine).
Dedicated to Lindsay Harrison, thank you for Bowie-ing the Storeys.
PS: I tried to finish this for Bowie’s birthday yesterday, but hey-ho, life gets in the way.
PPS: I know the D.A Pennebaker film isn’t called Ziggy Stardust: The Movie, but I couldn’t be bothered changing it.
PPPS: Wrong album, but performed here as Ziggy here’s my favourite Bowie live bit:
*henceforth Ziggy Stardust, in order to keep me out of a finger ward this weekend.
**along with ‘why is he doing that thing with his mouth to that chap’s guitar?’
^although may I say, in full Four Weddings And A Funeral mode, how lovely to see so many of them here today as bonus tracks*^.
*^Maybe I will deal with them at some later point, I have no wish to overstay my welcome.
^*I’ve simplified things, they were around for a while before with Bowie as the Hype but this is the LP where they really developed a presence.
^^now that 30 years of expensive therapy has helped me unsee the bulge in his Labyrinth leggings.
