12.The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars

       Back in early 1972, Bowie, although striking, was not quite the shock of the new he would become in 1973.
       That said,the cover of his fifth, and , so many would say, greatest album, is one of rock's most iconic images.

       Work on the Ziggy Stardust album in 1972/73 also took place at Trident Studios.Bowie told Ken Scott,who had again been brought in to co-produce,that he wanted a very different sound.According to Ken Scott, however, although Bowie was keen to harden the sound, the influence of the then contemporary proto-punk sound of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed was minimal at best.

Tracks:

Side 1

1 Five Years
2 Soul Love
3.Moonage Daydream
4 Starman

5 It Ain't Easy

Side 2

1 Lady Stardust
2 Star
3 Hang On To Yourself
4 Ziggy Stardust
5 Suffragette City
6 Rock' n ' Roll Suicide

      The album has a wonderful unity,from the heartbeat-like drum intro on Five Years  to the calamitously overwrought ending of  Rock N Roll Suicide .
      If you ask me, all songs are masterpieces! My personal favourite has to be Rock n Roll suicide because of its lyrics.

      In Five Years , lyrically, Bowie strikes a deliberately unstable register, depicting a world five years from Armageddon in terms of universals or stereotypes - the priest, the soldier, the policeman, etc.. Crucially, Bowie's society in crisis deals with minorities: a black ( cast as the good guy), a gay ( who is repulsed by the priest and not the object of society's repulsion for once), a woman (out of control,downtrodden) and a physically handicapped person ( " I kiss you / You're beautiful / I want you to walk ") . Five Years  has a radical edge which helps position Bowie as a speaker for the dispossessed.

      Starman ,the second RCA single, was released on 28th April 1972,although it took until the chart for the week ending 8 July for it to hit the Top 40. The band played it on ITV's Lift Off  in front of a backdrop of huge gold stars, and on Top of the Pops  on 5th July 1972. It was these 2 television appearances in the early Summer of 1972 that were crucial in making David Bowie a star. Many fans date their conversion to all things Bowie to this Top of the Pops appearance,even myself! This was the first David Bowie video I've seen,and this was the song that convinced me to try more of Bowie,made me curious about the other songs,though I did not live in the 70s.Lavishly plastered in make-up, his hair dyed a brilliant carrot-orange,and lovingly limp arm draped round guitarist Mick Ronson's broad shoulders, a little piece of pop history was made. An event changed people's lives. Nobody had seen anything quite like it before. Enjoy it!

      The writer Jon Savage called Ziggy Stardust  the 'first post-modern pop record',and it's easy to see what's he getting at. Bowie littered the songs with allusion to real pop world.The reference in Ziggy Stardust  to Jimi Hendrix is unmissable - " He played it left hand, but made it too far " (Bowie himself,though a leftie,plays the guitar right-handed) .

      In Lady Stardust  his references are to Marc Bolan - " People stared at the make-up on his face / Laughed at his long black hair,his animal grace" . This is also one of my favourite songs from the album.

      Soul Love another beautiful song - his voice is amazing!

     Lyrically Moonage Daydream,is full of references to bisexuality and gender crossing : " I'm an alligator / I'm a mama papa commin' for you "

     Star,like Changes before it - is another brazen declaration of intent: " So inviting - so enticing to play the part / I could play the wild mutation as a rock n roll star / I could do with the money "

    Suffragette City its faster than the other songs of the album,another favourite of mine

      By thr Summer of 1972, Bowie had finally achieved UK succes, The Zigy Stardust album rocketed into the charts and was to stay there for two years.