# 51 David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
The quick story is that Ziggy Stardust was always Bowie’s best moment; the true incarnation of the Glam Rock where Bowie’s messenger changed rock and roll. Ziggy Stardust is the story of a rock and roll star who is living on Earth when there was no need for rock and roll due to the planet’s imminent demise. Ziggy’s dream is about a “Starman” who is going to save the earth, however, the dream is not really his own but by those that are going to end the world (as we know it). This news of course is of hope and thus the people believe Ziggy’s message and it rises Ziggy to lofty heights, however, there is a demise as well and well he’s destroyed in the end.
Glam rock has a certain flair for the flamboyant which was present not just in the 70s but also influential throughout the 80’s with just about any hair band or Flock of Seagulls impression you could think about, pulled out the makeup and Aquanet and paraded around MTV. Rock became a commodity where image was everything and we have to thank Bowie for bringing it to the big screen. Sure there were countless others such as T.Rex or Roxy Music, but Bowie is Bowie even had the Flight of The Concords, doing “Bowie”.
Bowie’s charm was always his ability to be a chameleon from one album to the next, wearing different masks, a concept that was central in the evolution of the lead singer. What keeps albums such as this standing out is that these concepts have been lost on today’s generation of rock musicians, forgetting the theatrical showman of the 70s and preferring the gaudy nerd look as if their audience has always been their computer screen. What is so great about this album is that it’s about rock and roll.
By the early 70’s we see the growth of rock and roll from being hidden to be a major factor in our society. The rock and roll star is the hero to many. Bowie just doesn’t glamorize his role but plays with his sexual ambiguity throughout. Consider this version of Starman live from the show Top of the Pops in 1972. Realize how powerful this must have been 40 years ago. This open flirtation not only with the camera but with his bandmates as well.
Metaphorically speaking however, the story of Ziggy Stardust tries to determine the emotional bond that a rock band/musician has with their fans. For Stardust, he is only the messenger but that message is strong enough that we see the result is that fans desire to own their idols. Inevitably the rock star can only exist if they allow for the fans to own part of them which in this case destroys Stardust and thus the story becomes a vicious circle amongst itself.
Ziggy Stardust fortells the warning of the future; the concept at which rock and roll tears at the souls of it’s idols, a story that we have heard plenty of times before.