The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars 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.

Track listing / Explanation of the story arc

• "Five Years" - 4:42
• * Story: The Earth is doomed to destruction in five years; the aftermath of this knowledge
• * Bowie chose the length of time, five years, as a result of a dream in which his deceased father told him he must never fly again and would die in five years.
• "Soul Love" - 3:33
• * On the different possible kinds of love, with "soul love" being the vastly most important
• * Stone love = love for the departed; new love = romantic, lusty love; soul love = religious, adulatory love; idiot love = degenerate, painful love.
• "Moonage Daydream" - 4:37
• * Story: The alien messiah is revealed/created, and his destiny to save the world from the disaster in "Five Years" is also hinted at, as well his fate as the quintessential "soul lover".
• * In terms of the plot, this is one of the most important songs as it describes the creation of Ziggy from a combination of religion, romance, sexual freedom, rebellion, and passion; he metamorphoses into the archetypal rock star.
• "Starman" - 4:16
• * Ziggy is "a starman, waiting in the sky/He'd like to come and meet us/But he thinks he'd blow our mind"
• * Story: Ziggy contacts a human youth through the radio. He promises salvation, but is wary, and worried about his impact.
• "It Ain't Easy" - 2:57
• * Story: Ziggy struggles to become accepted as a rock 'n' roll star
• * This is the only song not written by David Bowie; it was written by Ron Davies.
• * This was originally recorded during the Hunky Dory sessions.
• "Lady Stardust" - 3:21
• * Story: Ziggy's impact on people as young men learn to express their self-beauty and feminine side (cross-dressing), eschewing self-denial.
• * The original demo version, titled "A Song for Marc," was written about Marc Bolan, and featured a Biblical reference to Peter's denial of knowing Jesus: "Oh! how I lied when they asked if I knew his name".
• * "femme fatales" is a reference to The Velvet Underground.
• "Star" - 2:47
• * Story: Ziggy's dream of the future for humanity.
• "Hang Onto Yourself" - 2:38
• * Story: Ziggy and the Spiders rock it out; they may or may not be capable of hanging onto themselves and their sanity in the face of an insane, rock 'n' roll world of freedom and liberation.
• "Ziggy Stardust" - 3:13
• * One of the Spiders describes Ziggy in the immortal words "Ziggy sucked up into his mind/Like a leper messiah/When the kids had killed the man, I had to break up the band".
• * Story: This song is a summary of the entire album; it was also the first song written.
• * Contrary to an oft-heard rumor, the song was not written with Jimi Hendrix in mind. Rather, Vince Taylor was the inspiration.
• * Bob Marley's son, Ziggy Marley, titled himself because of this album's song being one of his favourites.
• * Contains two different versions of Ziggy's death, one from his assassin and one of the Spiders from Mars.
• "Suffragette City" - 3:25
• * Story: The perils of being a rock star.
• "Rock N Roll Suicide" - 2:57
• * Story: The fall of Ziggy Stardust.
• * The lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." has its original roots in the poem "Chants Andalous" by Spanish poet Manuel Machado where he writes: "Life is a cigarette/Cinder, ash and fire/Some smoke it in a hurry/Others savour it." Bowie has also referred to its source as being from Baudelaire.

Reissue bonus tracks

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust has been reissued on CD twice with bonus tracks, in 1990 by Rykodisc/EMI. In common with the rest of Bowie's back catalogue it was remastered in 96KHz/24bit in the late nineties and a new version, without bonus material, was released in 1999. A two disc 30th anniversary version was released in 2002 by EMI/Virgin comprising the remastered disc plus a disc of bonus material. The remaster also provides the basis for an SACD version which includes both stereo and 5.1 mixes. The 30th anniversary edition became quite a collective, though - it's not being pressed anymore.

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1990 reissue bonus tracks

• "John, I'm Only Dancing" (single a-side from 1972)
• "Velvet Goldmine" (single B-side from 1975, actually dates from the Hunky Dory sessions)
• "Sweet Head" (previously unreleased outtake)
• "Ziggy Stardust" (demo)
• "Lady Stardust" (demo)

2002 reissue bonus tracks

Called a 30th Anniversary Reissue, the 2002 reissue of the album had a bonus CD containing 12 tracks, most of which had been previously released on CD as bonus tracks of the 1990-92 reissues. Sweet Head is the same version as on the 1990 reissue, but with added studio banter in the beginning, while the 'new mix' of Moonage Daydream is a mix done originally for a Dunlop commercial in 1998, and it's nearly indentical to the original.

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• "Moonage Daydream" (Arnold Corns version)
• "Hang Onto Yourself" (Arnold Corns version)
• "Lady Stardust" (demo)
• "Ziggy Stardust" (demo)
• "John, I'm Only Dancing"
• "Velvet Goldmine"
• "Holy Holy" (1972 rerecording)
• "Amsterdam"
• "The Supermen" (1971 rerecording)
• "Round And Round"
• "Sweet Head" (take 4)
• "Moonage Daydream" (new mix)