The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (often shortened to Ziggy Stardust) 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.
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Glam rock
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", but it most closely resembles the Beatles' "Back in the USSR", their own take on Surf Rock. Most of the other songs are pure glam rock, influenced by T. Rex, Ray Davies, 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", and was an homage to the song of same title by the Small Faces. Similarly 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").
Of particular note is "Five Years", the album's opener, where the title is hoarsely shouted repeatedly, each time more and more powerful as though Bowie were 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, hard rock, glam rock, and prog rock sound. The direct descendants were later glam musicians like the glam-metal of Alice Cooper (Billion Dollar Babies - 1973), the glam-disco of Labelle (Nightbirds - 1974), and the glam-pop of Gary Glitter (Touch Me - 1973).
Heavy metal began with bands like Blue Cheer (Vincebus Eruptum - 1968) and the Yardbirds (Five Live Yardbirds - 1964); in the post-Ziggy Stardust world, heavy metal evolved towards glam metal bands like Mötley Crüe (Too Fast for Love - 1981) and Van Halen (Van Halen - 1978) through the occult bands of the mid to late 1970s, like Blue Öyster Cult (Tyranny and Mutation - 1973) and Black Sabbath (Sabotage - 1975), and prog rock like Yes (Tales from Topographic Oceans - 1974).
Ziggy Stardust (along with other notable albums, such as The New York Dolls - 1973) also combined the two types of proto-punk, the energetic power of the Stooges and the avante-garde lyrical and musical aspects of the Velvet Underground, resulting in early punk musicians like Elvis Costello & the Attractions (My Aim Is True - 1977), Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis had a profound fondness of Bowies work , Adam & the Ants (Kings of the Wild Frontier - 1980), and Graham Parker (Howlin' Wind - 1976) before the first wave of true punk music, with the Jam (In the City - 1977), the Clash (The Clash - 1977), and the Ramones (The Ramones - 1976), as well as the more artistic punk of Patti Smith (Horses - 1975) and Television (Marquee Moon - 1977).
In the 1990s, shoegazing and Britpop bands like Suede (Dog Man Star - 1994), Morrissey (Viva Hate - 1988), and My Bloody Valentine (Isn't Anything - 1988) showed a strong Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie influence.
Bauhaus, one of the first gothic rock bands, incorporated much Ziggy-era style & nuance into their own music. It is easy to see a very direct evolution in the musical sound & spirit of the English glam rock movement in all of the early English Goth bands.
Marilyn Manson 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.
Fellow glam-rockers Be Bop Deluxe recorded a song for their 1974 album Axe Victim called "Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus." Bill Nelson, guitarist and vocalist for the band, has gone on record, citing "Ziggy" as an inspiration for the song.
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.
The hit single "Rocket" from Def Leppard was a salute to Seventies glam rock, and contains the line "Ziggy, Bennie & the Jets. Ah, take a rocket, we just gotta fly."
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"
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 Brazilian 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 glam rock film Velvet Goldmine also features the fictional character of Maxwell Demon, a character based on Ziggy Stardust who is finally killed on stage.
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 & Enemies of Modern Music: "He likes his loud guitars/And his spiders from Mars".
Saul Williams released the album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! on 1 November 2007. This record has been produced by Trent Reznor, a good friend of Bowie.
The Spiders From Mars
- Mick "Ronno" Ronson - band leader, guitar, piano and vocals
- Trevor Bolder - bass (Tony Visconti originally played bass, but was replaced by Bolder for the tour)
- Mick "Woody" Woodmansey - drums
Some quotations 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
Original release
Side one
- "Five Years" – 4:43
- "Soul Love" – 3:33
- "Moonage Daydream" – 4:35
- "Starman" – 4:15
- "It Ain't Easy" – 2:56
Side two
- "Lady Stardust" – 3:20
- "Star" – 2:47
- "Hang on to Yourself" – 2:37
- "Ziggy Stardust" – 3:13
- "Suffragette City" – 3:25
- "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" – 2:57
