by Dave Franklin

Created on: December 22, 2007   Last Updated: December 23, 2007

Its been said that if the Beatles St Pepper album was the culmination of the 60s musically, then David Bowies Ziggy Stardust was the equivilant for the 70s, and it would be hard to think of many rock albums that sum up the fasions and attitudes of the times.The albums artwork has a mystique and mythology all of its own, Bowie (or is it Ziggy himself?) stood in a dimly lit door way of an urban back street on a rainy night. The image is, though unconfirmed by Bowie himself, a tribute to the opening shot of the controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, the setting a mirror of that scene. The sign above Bowies head reads K. West, a long gone fur distribution company, and the sign too is no longer there having been removed by an avid fan years ago.

The band itself made an interesting journey, mirroring the folklore of the mythical creation on the album. Originally the Rats from Hull, Mick Ronson (Ronno) guitar and piano, Trevor Bolder on bass and Mick (Woody )Woodmansy on drums were lured into the project to become the regular backing players for the next few years. The last too members being the Weird and Gilly mentioned on the title song. After being given a make over and a new name, The Spiders From Mars were complete. Bowie was always at pains to stress that even though other musicians were used on the tour, the Spiders began and ended with these three musicians, they were the mythical creation that Bowie needed to reflect his music, a theatrical creation that completed the overall effect.

The album is the story of a musician, his re-invention and media manipulation, the precursor of the real life story of so many bands from teh sex pistols to almost every pop band to day. It is seen as the counteroint of hippy and punk, containing an alluring mixture of the imagary and attitude of both cultures, even though punk was still 5 years away. What was such a clever ploy on Bowies part is that the character Ziggy is a massive rock star already, Bowie himself at this point was not and the one springboarded the career of the other as after a short space of time, one had merged seamlessly into the other, the perfect coupling, a marriage made on Mars.
Opening with the solitary drum beat and a mournful voice telling us that we have Five Years left to live, the earth is dying. The bass rattles away in the background, pianos build and the voice soars in a bitter sweet ballad of the end of mans existance. The under production of the time makes this sound stark and bleak, less is more.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>