THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK BELONGS TO THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, DAVID BOWIE. WATCH THE STORY RIGHT HERE.
BOWIE HAD WORKED ON HIS PREVIOUS ALBUM “HUNKY DORY” WITH FORMER BEATLES ENGINEER KEN SCOTT. THE SINGLE “LIFE ON MARS?” SHOWED BOWIE’S CONTINUED LOVE FOR OUTER SPACE. WITH THE NEED TO EXPAND HIS ASTRONOMICAL VISION, THE CHARACTER ZIGGY STARDUST WAS BORN.
RUMORS STILL SPECULATE ABOUT WHERE BOWIE GOT THE IDEA FOR ZIGGY. POSSIBLE POINTS OF INSPIRATION INCLUDE STOOGES FRONTMAN IGGY POP, BRITISH SINGER VINCE TAYLOR, AND PSYCHOBILLY VISIONARY THE LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY. EVEN AN OLD TAILOR’S SHOP NAMED ZIGGY’S HAS BEEN CITED AS AN INFLUENCE.
RECORDING FOR “ZIGGY’S” ALBUM TOOK PLACE AT TRIDENT STUDIOS IN LONDON. WITH SCOTT ON AS ENGINEER, BOWIE WAS JOINED BY HIS BACKING BAND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS, COMPOSED OF MULTI-INSTRUMENTALISTS MICK RONSON & TREVOR BOLDER & DRUMMER MICK “WOODY” WOODMANSEY.
THE ALBUM’S RELEASE WAS PRECEDED BY TWO SINGLES: “ROCK N ROLL SUICIDE” AND “STARMAN”. RECORDED BECAUSE RCA RECORDS THOUGHT THE ALBUM NEEDED A RADIO HIT, “STARMAN” WAS PERFORMED LIVE ON TOP OF THE POPS AND MADE IT TO THE TOP TEN UK SINGLES CHARTS. IT ALSO HELPED SET THE STAGE FOR “ZIGGY STARDUST” TO DEBUT AT NUMBER FIVE.
RELEASED ON JUNE SIXTEENTH, NINETEEN-SEVENTY-TWO, “THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS” IS A CONCEPT ALBUM ABOUT A FICTIONAL ROCKSTAR WHO CAN TALK TO ALIENS. IT’S CONSIDERED TO BE THE MAGNUM OPUS OF GLAM ROCK., AND BOWIE’S ANDROGYNOUS CHARACTER SPARKED A NEW SEXUAL REVOLUTION IN ROCK N ROLL.
WHILE ZIGGY STARDUST PROPELLED BOWIE TO NEW LEVELS OF STARDOM, HE SOON GREW BORED WITH THE PERSONA, AND SHIFTED TO A NEW CHARACTER, ALADDIN SANE, ONLY A YEAR LATER.
IN TWENTY-SEVENTEEN “THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST” WAS SELECTED FOR PRESERVATION IN THE NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY FOR ITS HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE.
FOR ITS LONG STANDING LEGACY, GENERATION-DEFINING GLAM ROCK, AND TRAGICALLY BEAUTIFUL HOMAGE TO ALL THINGS EXTRATERRESTRIAL... DAVID BOWIE’S “THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS” IS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK.