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

Very impressed, the first song was interesting to say the least 😂 I really enjoyed the passion. But afterward the variety music, rhythm, chord progressions, and styles were very entertaining. Had some classic old school sayings as well. A solid 4.5/5

Homoerotic

Absolutely wonderful from beginning to end of you like Bowie.

David

Cosmic

Previously rated: Aladdin Sane (3/5) The Next Day (3/5) Young Americans (3/5) ************************* Not the biggest Bowie fan as you can see, but this one has some good rockin' tunes. Suffragette City and Ziggy Stardust being my favorites.

Five years - 3 Soul love - 3 Moonage Daydream - 3 Starman - 4 It ain't easy - 4 Lady Stardust - 4 Star - 3 Hang onto Yourself - 4 Ziggy Stardust - 4 Suffragette City - 3 Rock n Roll Suicide - 4

Overall pretty bussin

Tuesday 11/28/2023, 2:48, office S Tier————————— Suffragette City Ziggy Stardust A Tier————————— Moonage Daydream Starman B Tier————————— It Ain’t Easy Five Years Hang On To Yourself Star Lady Stardust C Tier————————— Soul Love Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide

Ставлю высокую оценку только за рождение Канье Веста 8/10

This is the first album since I started this project! Great way to start. I knew some songs obviously but never had listened to the whole album. I loved Lady Stardust and Rock 'n Roll Suicide. Classic!!!

Classic Bowie ❤️

Ziggy is cool as hell. The songs are spacey, weird and good as hell.

8.5

Great ablum! Never really listened to much Bowie before, only really know Space Oddity. I thoroughly enjoyed this album, but it didn't blow me away like I hoped it would after reading about it. Starman slaps. I know a lot of people love this album to death, but being true to myself I give it a 4/5. Very possible that I'll enjoy it more on a second or third listen.

Pretty cool

Always love me some Bowie

Loved it.

Solid album. 4/5. Just a few songs I wasn't on fire for, but we still pleasant.

7/10 (a little overrated but the highs are great) fave song: tied with "Five Years" and "Suffragette City" thought it dragged a bit in the middle (never been a huge "Starman" fan) but the concept is cool and it opens and finishes strong. "Hang on to Yourself" answers the rarely asked question, "what if David Bowie was in the Ramones?".

Fill in soon. 9/10

Classic. Love it. 4.5

Fav - It ain’t easy Acoustic for rhythm. Simple electric guitar with spacious rhythms, solos to end songs. Forward bass lines.

God, this is a devastating album. Beautiful, gritty, tragic, and psychedelic. Also pretty funny at times - Camp David stays appealing in 2023 for me. It's hard to overstate how much I love the production and instrumentals on this album. Despite its age (51 years!), it feels fresh, funky, crisp, and cool. Bowie's unique vocals aren't for everyone, but I personally have a soft spot in my heart for his wavery inflection. I personally find the album flags a bit around the halfway mark - It Ain't Easy, Lady Stardust, Star, and Hang On To Yourself just aren't my cup of tea, maybe because stray into a trite kind of Rock & Roll, away from the high strangeness and cosmic awareness of the earlier songs on the album. They're far from bad songs, though, and it's so clear in retrospect how many artists have been inspired by their sounds, riffs, and vibes in the decades since. It Ain't Easy is probably my favorite of this batch. Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, and Rock 'N' Roll Suicide pull the album out of its nosedive, make it do a flip, and then take off into the clouds, respectively. Highlights: Five Years, Soul Love (I will forever aspire to that sax tone), Moonage Daydream (let those children boogie), Starman, Suffragette City (wham, bam, thank you, ma'am), Rock 'N' Roll Suicide Lowlights: Lady Stardust, Star, and Hang On To Yourself. Not terrible, but easily the most disappointing songs on the album to me.

I could album but not one of Bowie's best

It’s very similar in feel and some content to Tommy, but better and more concise. Bowie uses a wide range of voices, so it’s a good showcase if his vocal sounds. Bowie’s rhythm and Mick Ronson’s lead guitar work is good rock’n’roll. I struggle to follow the story on all the songs, but it’s well documented and sounds great. Yes, it is deservedly one if the greatest rock albums from the golden era of early 70s.

Suffragette City is such a banger

Zweifellos gut, nicht alle Tracks banger

Think that this is the best 'traditional' Bowie album that we've had so far - not sure whether I like it more than I do Blackstar, but it's a very different beast. Been waiting for a proper concept album from him; most of what we've had so far has been a little bit disjointed, but this flows better mostly. A fair few songs take a long time to get good, but most of them get there. How have I never heard Moonage Daydream before? Then that ending - Ziggy Stardust / Suffragette City / Rock N Roll Suicide - is a really good run to finish telling the story and to finish the album. 4/5.

OCMD

Starman, it aint easy, hang on to yourself et ziggy stardust sont bien bon album

Great

I was amazed at how many hits were on this album. Great start!

Never listened to David Bowie, had some very good songs on there. Kind of felt like good bar music

Yup, I like it, good flow

Never listened before. Solid!

Queer af…and i absolutely adore it 4/5

Solid instrumentals and tracks. Will need another listen to solidify thoughts but 4/5

Bowie’s best, just good rock n roll start to finish. Enjoyed the listen. Top 3 Ziggy Stardust Moonage Daydream Suffragette City

# 85 : Great Album. Some good classic hits on this one. I would buy this and put this one in my favourites. # 40 In Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums (2020) list. Fav Track : Starman Listened : 11/10/2023

A classic album that has aged well.

I think this is an album that needs several listens to really appreciate. I think I've listened to it 3 times but spread out over time, so I'm not there yet. But I like it. Starman is an excellent song. Other standouts are Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, and Rock n Roll Suicide.

I think its cultural importance is a big reason why this album is so highly regarded. Not that the music is bad, but I don't think it's elite, in a vacuum. I will say, this album is legit all the way through. Ziggy Stardust might be my favorite song, and it's third last on the album.

Oldie but goodie

Several songs here that I knew, but didn't realize were Beach Boys. As usual for The Beach Boys, the harmonies are fantastic. This album makes you feel good. Overall it's fine, but it does feel like they've done this several times before and maybe the creativity and fire are fading.

Fantastic album and an incredible story about the music industry

Pretty good , loved star man ovi… I want to listen to it again though because it’s been awhile

bowie was such a blazing star and this record is the perfect distillation of an era; sadly that era was bloated and degenerate - we’re still suffering through the aftershocks

Good shit

4 songs added to favorites

I liked this but not nearly as much as later, Berlin-era Bowie.

It's good, classic Bowie but I find a lot of the tracks don't live up to the highs of others. Notably Ziggy Stardust, Starman, and 5 Years are the better ones for me.

Fantastic

Very good

Builds and builds and builds to a 70s drug infused romp. I quite enjoyed it.

There was a time when I would classify Ziggy Stardust as one of the best 3 albums ever. My taste in music changed since, and I admit the album doesn't stir the same emotions in me as it used to; these days I'd probably rank Hunkey Dory as a superior album. Regardless of my own deliberations with myself: what an excellent album! I miss the days of high quality thematic albums, where each of the songs could be appreciated as its own work of art, but the album in its entirety offers that kind of synergy that renders it far superior to just another collection of songs that happened to come from the same creator. They don't make them like that anymore.

magico

Het eerste David Bowie album dat ik ooit heb geluisterd. Bevalt me eigenlijk wel heel goed! Starman is echt een goed nummer, dat wisten we natuurlijk al wel een beetje. Star is ook prettig, maar vooral Hang on to yourself vind ik echt een heel leuk nummer! Dit was een drukke album dag, maar dit is 100% mijn favo album van de dag! FAVO: Starman, Star, Hang on to yourself

The hits are fine, but it's the ancillary tracks that make this much better than average Bowie. "Starman" is excellent and effective hooks all over the place. Oddly, given the title and concept-y-ness of the record, the emphasis seems to be on the music (would that every Bowie record had such focus). It seems thematically advanced for '72, but musically maybe just a touch ahead of its time.

Probably my fav Bowie album that I’ve gotten on the generator so far - it’s really fun and interesting. Best tracks: Five Years, Starman Worst track: It Ain’t Easy

Tosi jees. Taitaa olla eka David Bowie-albumi ku ei tullu yhtään höpöhöpöö vastaan. Laatukamaa!

Mange banger men også mye man glemmer 3.8

It's Bowie/Ziggy innit? Strangely enough, this isn't a favourite of mine and I don't know why? Maybe it's the Glam thing? I tend to just listen to the hits and flickpast the other songs. It is good, I know it's good but I just don't feel it.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was a real "wham, bam, thank you mam" and what a ride it was! I have to admit I started off not really caring for David's vocals but they grew on me more as the album went on. I could probably say the same for the project as a whole. From the very start you realize this is going to be different and it finds a way to keep you entertained. To anyone trying to experience different eras of rock history this is a real gem and 100% worth listen to but, I feel like, had I grown up listening to David Bowie.. erm... I mean "Ziggy Stardust" I would probably appreciate the music more. As it stands now I probably won't be listening to this again anytime soon.

8.5/10

I must admit, I'm not the biggest Bowie fan but I had a good time with this album. Would recommend

Sloppy and tight. Sounded better on my Amazon echo than AirPods. Vocals pushed back. Lots of bass movement. Fav song: starman Love the room tones, guitar solo on Hang On. Are there live full band takes?

I’m an alligator

Meh

The 4th(?) Bowie album of the list but it still hasnt featured my top 3 favourites, which says a lot about how mint Bowie is imo. I think this is the record that most Bowie hardcore fans rate as his best, but it still doesn’t quite scratch the itch like Aladdin Sane, Heroes, or Low for me. Thats not to say this isnt great though, that little riff in Ziggy Stardust alone is worth a 4 star for me, and Moonage Dream / It Aint Easy / Suffragette City are as good as anything he’s done. I just think I prefer his Berlin period (bar AS, which is my favourite of all). Will definitely be listening to this more frequently

Maybe the best Bowie album we've had so far I'd say, most recognisable songs and very straightforward rock for him. Not quite sure what the Ziggy stardust theme is, very loose concept. Didn't really detract from the enjoyment though. Keep the Bowie coming.

I liked this more than the other Bowie albums, perhaps his weird style his growing on me. This album has some great tracks and it ends on real high note. This is probably his first album I'd listen to again. Highlights: Starman It Ain't Easy Rock 'N' Roll Suicide

This is the 4th Bowie album we've had now and the highest globally rated..... It is good, but I'm not sure it's that much better than any of the others we've had. The good tracks are really good, but a lot of the other tracks aren't special I did enjoy it though. The final 3 tracks are all great. Think my favorite track is rock and roll suicide but the highlights are: Starman Ziggy stardust Suffragette City Rock n roll suicide

With this being the 7th Bowie album to review, there's nothing new to say: -The quality gap between his biggest hits and the rest is huge -Rocky Bowie is usually more effective than fully experimental Bowie -I prefer Bowie as a songwriter rather than as a singer Still a good record, but I'm all for this being our final Bowie album.

Listening to this without having prepared myself for all the cultural weight this album holds, I heard music that was fine enough. Afterwards, reading of its contextual importance and lyric nuances and the makeup and costumes that one associates with it, I feel like I should spend more time with it, as none of that comes through by just listening to it once. Or twice. Or maybe I should just rate this on the music I heard today.

Cool

One of the better Bowie albums I've encountered. It's not mind blowing, but very good, without a bad song anywhere to be found. Moonage Daydream and Starman even are true classics. With this album, Bowie singlehandedly defined the glam rock sound. It's really worth a listen. 4/5

Such a classic, one of the more complexe and original concept album, totaly in the glam rock era and Bowie at his best

Eigenlijk heeft dit album alles waar we ook een hekel aan hebben qua Britse glamrock en protopunk, of hoe die stijlen ook heten. Maar het weet zich te onttrekken aan de misere door muzikaal interessanter in elkaar te steken en natuurlijk door een paar kneiters van hits. Het gitaarriffje van Ziggy Stardust is op zichzelf al 5 sterren waard. Is het hele album iets wat ik elk moment van de dag op zou kunnen zetten? Nee, dat niet en daardoor blijft het steken op 4 sterretjes. Maar gezien het genre is dat een prestatie op zich.

Already listened, great album, love Bowie, not my fav of his

Love Bowie. Though I seem too mostly like his hits more than his deep cuts. This record doesn't have as many hits on it as some of his others. But this record is quick and really solid. I enjoyed it a lot.

Good

Bowie Good.

Only listened to half of the songs, liked almost all of them. Preferable with good speakers/headphones.

The infamous queer glam pop masterpiece on which Bowie out-Eltons the John. 🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️

Has a 70's feel... Suffergette city is the best track. Though i love bauhaus' version of ziggy

i really liked this one and i wasn’t even listening for the concept, just good songs

Este es mi estilo de música, así que me gustó bastante el disco.

Not his best but damn close.

Kanye west?!?!

couldn’t follow the story but starman is an all time banger

stardust...

the panflute or whatever in Moonage daydream goes so hard for no reason. I really like his story telling in this, never really listened to david bowie and this was a nice introduction. Overall, this grew on me each time i listened..im starting to get rock opera

Enjoyed this full album more than I thought I would. My expectation was that I’d like the tracks I’m familiar with but be bored with the rest. I liked it all.

Not bad.

Great stuff from a great man, grows with every listen

I’ve always found this album overrated in Bowie’s canon and prefer plenty of his other LPs… but it’s still peak Bowie and has some of his best tracks. A-

Excellent album gets better with age

mmmmmmm space man yes. nice start. beautiful start.

Weird, quirky and very good. More people should sing about Martian spiders.

Great album with a whole lot of classics. For general enjoyment, I personally would rather spin Blackstar. He is clearly early on in his career here and the songwriting to me reflects it. This album is incredibly influential though and deserves all of the praise it gets. So many great tracks. Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, all classics I'll turn up the radio for when they come on.

The genius of David Bowie can’t be overstated, and this is a perfectly crafted album and a fantastic glam rock opera. 4.25/5 rounded down to 4/5 just because I don’t think I’ll keep it on heavy rotation as I do to 4.5-5 star albums.

This album absolutely shocked me, I have always been around Bowie's music but this is just front to back brilliance. The funk, the groove, the ever-present reverb/distortion on the guitars. Just brilliant, his vocals are impeccable...

A unique artist. Classic material.

Strong 4, pretty groovy

BOWIE IS THE MOST OVERRATED ARTIST EVER!!! Now that I have your attention, let me explain. People suck on his nuts because he’s that perfect amount of weird where they aren’t freaked out by him but he’s not normal enough to be considered too basic. At the time his music was revolutionary, but now? It gets lost in the shuffle to me. He wrote a pretty good rock opera album here and rested on his laurels after that in my opinion. He became just another pop-star. And for all the Green Day haters in this group, I’d like to say that when Green Day wrote a rock opera, they actually got it produced. Bowie couldn’t do that even though he wanted to. Green Day literally got American Idiot on Broadway. There are levels here people. This album is definitely Bowie’s best, and it’s very well done. He has real artistry in here. But this ain’t a 5. I’ll never understand why everyone was so obsessed with space back when this was made. It was all aliens and asteroids and that hoopla. So I will end by saying this album is great, but not one of the best things I’ve ever heard like everyone tries to say.

3,5

Really enjoyed essentially every song on this record. Great vocals from Bowie and songs that sound fresh.

A great album with vivid storytelling from David, a few different styles woven throughout gives a good amount of variety that's needed. Overall a lovely rock opera with an interesting story. Favourite track Moonage Daydream.

Good, inspirational and brave for the time but not sure the whole album stands the test of time.

There's a starrrrrMAAAAAAAANNNNN

Barring a few tracks that get in the way, this is a great album, with lots of innovation and cohesion. One of his best

I first heard this album as a child and loved it greatly. There is so much emotion in this album. I really love Bowie's music,

Overall I enjoyed the album. My two favorites were, of course, 'Star Man' and 'Ziggy Stardust' (and the only two adds to my list). There were several others I also enjoyed, but I really didn't care for the remaining 2-3. I'm pretty 50/50 on his voice; some tracks I do enjoy it and others I find it kind of grating. My favorite part of the album is 100% how well the guitar shines through - imo the songs end up feeling catchy, yet still creative. As opposed to our previous album, I enjoy the slower/midtempo stuff a lot more than his 'upbeat' songs. 7/10

was okay. jammed along with it a bit

Haha, imagine not connecting at all to one of the most beloved albums of all time

Classic album from an amazing artist doesn't mean it's flawless. Still good, but not great.

Although there are a couple lesser effort songs in the mix, the album is packed with classics. I love the off-the-wall lyrics.

Maybe a low 4 now with high 4 potential

It's a great album. People like Ziggy and it's a fine track but Suffragette City is the star. I wouldn't say it's perfect since there are some boring filler tracks mixed in but the good tracks compensate for those.

Finally a Bowie album where I can HEAR why he is revered. The music has bones that can stand on its own, without glitz and glam. Ironic because the over-the-top dramatic Ziggy character is what people remember about this album the most. And he didn’t even need it. Sure, Ziggy helped raise the profile for the concept. But the music would be good no matter what. I’m glad I finally got to this album and realization because I was starting to think Bowie’s flare only served to cover up music lacking the same stature.

Listened to the 2012 remaster of this and it was crisp 😍 I really like the style of Bowie's music and could listen to it all day. Starman is such a classic track but I don't feel that same magic from the rest of the album. The other tracks are not bad at all, just not quite as special. There were a couple of songs on here that I hadn't heard before that I really enjoyed (Rock N Roll Suicide and Moonage Daydream). Really torn between 4 and 5. I would give it 4.5 if I could. I enjoyed this more than Station To Station.

great record, would listen on repeat

always fantastic

Klassiker, rock opera, konceptuelt, innovativt

Extremely good, and basically every song on the album is very on point. An excellent starting place.

Bowie at his best. The showmanship and storytelling silliness is de-emphasized, with a more sincere-seeming and serious-sounding commitment to actual, you know, musicmaking. The playing and tone are great throughout and there are no major lulls or tracks that are outright/obvious fillers.

bra opplegg

moonage daydream, starman ve rock n roll en sevdigim bowie sarkilari arasindalar ama en iyi albumu bu degil

An enjoyable space rock opera which encompasses varying sub-genres like glam rock, punk and a hint of rockabilly sensibility. This album is sonically reminiscent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack (although it predates the film by three years). Very kooky yet sentimental, with some songs dealing with the facets of the human condition; in regards to holding on to hope in an apocalyptic landscape.

I'm a sucker for a good rock opera and I've been trying to get into Bowie for a while now. Didn't disappoint. Standouts: Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City

Good album. Listened three times and will probably revisit it again. Bowie's imagery in the songs is interesting and worth further exploration. Solid composition as well.

Liked it a lot. I had heard it before but never listened really just in the background. Loved five years, starman, it ain't easy, and hang on to yourself especially.

The peak of 70s glam rock. It's a coherent album about the strange rock star persona Ziggy Stardust. Songs have an eery jazz-influenced vibe supported by Bowie's smooth and yearnful vocals. There's also gospel influence in plenty of tracks like "It Ain't Easy" and "Lady Stardust". It has some insane hooks, with some catchy choruses (especially "Starman"), and a range of unusual instruments, such as the acoustic guitar, string arrangements, and a sax. I think all the songs are pretty good, although I found a few to be weak (e.g. "Hang on to Yourself"), and hardly any of them blew me away like his other albums, but it does grow on me. For example, I hated "Star" until my 5th listen. It gets extra points for being one of the most influential pop rock albums of the 70s, but I'm not crazy enough about it to regard it among his other masterpieces.

🤥

Almost everything has already been said about this album. It’s a classic melding of musical influences. You can hear the jazz, the hillbilly, the folk, the glam-rock but it feels cohesive not a muddled hotch-potch. It is seminal and inclusive and the poetic lyrics are an aural joy. It also never dates. How topical is ‘Five Years’ now? I’m not giving it 5 stars though because I would, on further listening, always skip a couple of tracks to get to the meatier ones, scoop the filling out of the pie crust if you like. There also other Bowie albums that for me are just a bit better. But a great way to start your day! Or just inject a bit of dynamic to a Wet Wednesday.

Not perfect, but great. I think the concept that was promised went a bit off track, but it was a fun ride. I always forget how much I like Moonage Daydream. I really want to give it a 5, but my finger tapped the 4th star and that seems right.

Hey — thanks Nicole. Seeing you rate albums that were served up earlier made me realize this was possible. I listened to this album when it appeared in our feed, but I was late to the party to review and was shut out. Great album, might be a five-star if this weren't David Bowie whose body of work sets a high bar, and somehow that seems to factor in. Iconic as it it is, I don't love "Five Years," so opening with that sets me off on shaky ground. But god damn, Bowie sure found his Ziggy spaceman groove on this album and puts on something of a alt-songwriting clinic. What a fantastic artist, love this guy.

It’s good, a couple of great songs on there but a step down from Hunky Dory as far as I can tell. I would probably give it 5 stars if I wasn’t expecting much more. Top 100 but nowhere near the top 10 for me.

Really went back and forth between 4 and 5 stars on this. On one hand, it’s an all-time classic that’s excellently written and sung, but on the other hand, I thought a lot of the non-iconic tracks were forgettable. I guess I’ll do a high 4 stars for this.

Is this the longest titled album in music? 3 classic songs, Starman, Suffragette City and Ziggy Stardust, but my 2 favorites were Five years and It ain't easy. It ain't easy because I'm convinced this a southern fried rock kinda song. Serious. Anyway, my favorite of the Bowie stuff I have listened to and would listen again 3.5

I dropped the ball on the last two albums. Sorry, guys. Anyways, 4.5 I admit I’d never heard this album all the way through either, and like with Hunky Dory I loved almost everything off of this. It had a lot of the rock and roll shit that I love The Who for but with a light psych twist. I’ll be listening again and probably buying on vinyl

Bowie's biggest album is also one that can't live up to the hype. While not a bad album it just never captured you completely and made you say "Wow" like others of his albums and other albums that are commonly named in the same sentence, did

I own this on vinyl. Twas good.

4.5 stars. Formative highschool album.

Glad to have listened to this album all the way through but don’t think it has much replay ability for me out side of the big hits, which are very good. The sound does seem to meld together a bit throughout the album but the song writing is good.

Nice slice of Bowie's earlier work, including a few classics. Some clunkers in the mix, too.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 love the obvious picks like Starman, and Ziggy Stardust. the rest was great as well!

Kanye West is on the album cover. That is SOOOO cool! Also some great tunes on this album. Definitely a listen to-able again album.

Går ju inte tycka illa om det här. Kanske inte är en femma men en stark 4, absolut.

Love!

Probably Bowles best album, shit bangs

While I feel like there is too much Bowie on this list, this is the one that I would include.

it's most impressive feat is managing to make all that glam 70s shit with the weird singing voices tolerable. got amazing tracks on and they're all pretty good, but listening to them all in a row turned it in to a slog, this album is best listened to in small bitesize chunks.

I definitely want to give this album more listens to fully judge how I feel about it but my initial reaction is I liked what I heard. Excited to explore more of his discography too.

3rd Bowie album. Gotta say I like the guy. Each album give a better look at his career. This one had some great showy theatrics to it. Loved all the space theming. Album came out not too long after the moon landing. Good stuff

A very well known and probably Bowies most famous album. The depth to this album is impressive as there are so many different themes inside the story of the album. The songs themselves are pretty great, not so many big hits but a very consistent album. As with most Bowie albums I’ve had on this list this one is also better than average and a great piece of work by Bowie. 7.8/10

Classic, a little of key for my ear

rock 'n' roll flute. Starman. Nice.

I feel like i’ve listened to every song on this album without realizing what I was listening to. Hit after hit!

The "hits" on this album really stand out. I'm also noticing how full Bowie's vocal range was. I'm digging the 2nd half more than the 1st half...perhaps because of the pianos?

Ein af þessum sem ég kann utanað. Vel gerð þemaplata og þó nokkrir bangerar.

Finally - a Bowie album I can get behind! This has to be his best album right? I have no complaints.

Enjoyed it!

Very good, with Starman and the title song as the main highlights. Not my favourite Bowie album, though.

Good songs

Listened to on 8/23/22 4/5 Favorite song: Starman I enjoyed this album and thought it was super easy to listen to - Starman was definitely a cut above the rest though

Great to listen to in full.

There are some albums that you can recognize as incredible even if you don't necessarily like them so much. There was a lot of talent and creativity that went into making this but it would not be very high on the list of albums I'd want to sit down and listen to.

I listened this quite a bit when I was in my mid teens (90's) and remembered likening it back then. Then about a year ago I gave it a try and wasn't a fan. And now listened to it again and like it Weird

A classic. One of those must listen to albums, and since you likely know several of the tracks, your work is half done!

Listened to this on RS500 and didn’t get the fuss. The listen this go around I really appreciated it.

Love the raw and powerful voice

For me, this is the glam rock album par excellence. Bowie, who started off as a folk singer, made the switch to rock and decided to create alter egos he could explore on stage. In later interviews, he said it was because he didn't know himself and was searching--fair enough! We all reap the benefit of his quest for self discovery. On stage, in the 1970s, Bowie was a very different person than he was off. He became a new person as he adopted each disguise. And Ziggy is perhaps his most famous disguise: a rock-star alien doomed in his quest to save the Earth, an alien complete with orange hair, fantastic makeup, and futuristic costumes. Ziggy Stardust is musical role-playing at its finest without being musical theater. The lyrics of the album create vivid images in the mind of the listener as the vocals shift from person to person within a song. The music is more subtle, though it is full of vocal and instrumental hooks that make every song memorable. Ziggy is mysterious but demands attention, he is simultaneously accessible and ambiguous, and in this creation, Bowie raises role-playing to an art form.

Such an interesting songwriter, performer, and person. Great album. PS -- never occurred to me until just now as I listened to this album that David Bowie and John Lennon can sound a lot alike when they sing -- not sure why I never made that connection (and I'm guessing it's one of those observations that pretty much everybody makes and I'm just super-late to the party...not the first time! ;-)

It's a great album. I didn't love EVERY track, but it's well worth a listen. You ever listen to an album and you can just hear the creativity in every track? That's how this one is. Fave track: Suffragette City

Moonage Daydream - best song from this album.

Great album, and a must listen. I'm not on the Bowie bandwagon, but do admire his constant reinventing of himself and his sound. 4/5.

I enjoyed this album well enough. Nothing too memorable though.

Super fast paced, no misses, cool classic rock type stuff

listened to again such a classic

Really great album. So theatrical and colorful in the mix of music. And the Ziggy Stardust concept adds to the history of it as well. 8/10

A good album. I didn’t love it enough to give it 5 stars but it definitely deepened my appreciation for me Bowie

Un disco muy del estilo de David Bowie. Excelente voz y melodías.

Great voice, great music! It always impresses me how many different kinds of music David Bowie does so well!

If all of Bowie’s stuff had this vibe I’d be a fan. Starman, Moonage Daydream and Lady Stardust were major highlights for me.

Pretty fun!

The Bowie I know and love. Not that Heroes malarkey! Solid tunes with a few absolute bangers! 4.5/5 rounded down.

Love it

C’est excellent cet album.

Great album, pretty much peak Bowie

A proper good album.

Hadn't sat and listened to this in a long time.great LP.

I’ve always liked Bowie but this is the first time I listened to an album of his from start to finish and it made me appreciate how well the entire album was done.

good album, enjoyed it a lot.

4.5

Muito bom, 4/5

Classic for a reason. I don't - at all - like this era of music. However Bowie is a class above, inventing so others can follow.

I'M AN ALLIGATORRRRRRR No but really what a fun album.

I'd heard most of Bowie's hits but never listened to an album straight through. Did not disappoint! Standout tracks: "Five Years" and "Suffragette City"

Fantastic!

Great album. Everyone knows this one.

Want a weird album that is fun and just rocks? Listening I felt like my 6 year old dancing in the kitchen when no one is watching. Doesn't matter if the moves are good, just feel it. If you are looking for perfect pop gems, this isn't your album. If you want something that grabs you and is just beyond your reach of understanding why... this is your home. A younger, teenage version of myself wouldn't get it. Bowie's voice, the twang of the guitars, the general sound are rough and unkempt. But it isn't dirty. It isn't without discipline. It's magical and magic is strange.

This is the 2nd Bowie album I've listened to from start to finish (the other being his first). It was pretty good and I know this album is rated super high, but it's a 4.5/5 stars for me. Maybe it'll grow on me over time as I become more of a fan, but it's just not quite there for me.

Such a delight! I love how one song can sound like a Led Zepplelin jam, followed by a Beatles pop tune, and then a stomp n clap soul track, all with the same dreamy space concept.

Pros: - WOW what an opener. Love the performances, love the production. - Most of the songs are quite good with elements to like from each track. Cons: Misc: - Another artist i have not fully listened to. Haven't heard a full album through, and ashamed to say I've probably only heard around 10 songs of his.

Compelling rock, evoking themes reminiscent of an HG Wells novel

I really dig it

Great, but not greatest.

First off, one of the best titles for an album of all time. Songs back it up too!

The first time I heard this, some 30 years ago, I didn't understand. I had seen it on another essential records book, had seen a vinyl copy for real cheap, and bought it. I was in Italy at the time.  Although I brought back to Montreal most of my physical music, this record didn't make it; I just wasn't able to find it, as my parents too had moved around a bit during the years.  Then, with the streaming services and the such, I heard it again. What a fabulous album this is! I don't think I can add anything new to all that was already said both about Bowie and this album, other than it wasn't immediate for me, and if you listen to it for the first time and, like myself, find yourself not "getting" it, all I can suggest is that you patiently stick with it, it takes work but it is a really rewarding work. 

Was really good. The songs flowed so well with one another effortlessly.

A really good album some good songs but for me not quite perfect

Really fun album. Starman and Moonage Daydream back to back is an amazing 1/2 punch. Not sure it is as great cover to cover as a few other Bowie albums. 4/5

excellent early bowie. so many great songs on this album

About what I expected from Bowie

This is very 80s, very Bowie. He's one of those rockstars that you have to know, simply because of his outfits, and other technical bits about his music that I don't know about because I'm not music educated. Sorry. The famous songs are Ziggy Stardust, obviously, and Moonage Daydream, but I liked getting to know the other songs, even if I didn't quite understand what they mean. An overall consistent sound that has its place in the Hall of Rock.

Boom! Joo tää on näitä ns peruspilareita jonka päälle taiderokki ja alteregopohjainen rokkiteatteri rakentuu. Jos tätä levyy ei olis niin kyllähän koko rakennelma olis killissä ku kapitalistin sielu ja valuis suoraan palavana romuna aurinkoon tai mereen. Hiton siistii on että vaikka osaan joku 6/10 tän levyn biisest about ulkoo, tää silti yllättää ja noi hieman unohtuneetkin biisit on jotenki megaherkullisii ja jotenkin vaan vitu-hyvää-muzaa... Kivaa myös se että tää paranee ja paranee ja paranee loppua kohti

En oo juurikaan kuunnellu Bowieta, mutta tää oli kyllä tosi hyvä ensikuuntelemalla. Tarttuvat melodiat ja korkeelentonen konseptimeininki kelpaa. Voi olla että enemällä kuuntelulla vois olla jopa 5/5.

Lol tää hukkas mun notesit. 4/5 ei muuta sanottavaa enää

Soul love & Moonage daydream stand out. Feel like they have really interesting instrument use Very dramatic Starman is also really fun!!! Definitely feel like I'm appreciating the album more in full, rather than single songs I don't like it ain't easy's intro, but when it gets to the chorus it slaps??? Lady stardust kinda meh (too repetive and what's repetitive isn't particularly interesting) Loving the piano in star Really dig the classic rock n roll feel of "hang on to yourself" Sufragettr City slaps!! Rock n roll suicide feels like a bit of a hard break (in terms of style) compared to the songs before it, but I can vibe with it

An LP that manages to build whole worlds out of nothing but some sparse arrangements and a healthy dollop of personality. While Bowie plays fast and loose with the actual narrative structure here, near every song thrums with a life, ego, and damnably catchy melody of its own.

Splendid. K. West

9/10

Favorite songs: Ziggy Stardust and Moonage Daydream

So many classics! Great album.

A really fun and wonderfull journey, that Ziggy tells us!

4.13 It's Bowie what's not to like?

Top Tracks: Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman, Ziggy Stardust. Start of the album is a little stronger than the second half for me, but man what an awesome album overall. Good closer in Rock'n'Roll Suicide as well.

V good

3.5

Nice space-y Bowie, with only a few songs I've heard before. Soaring choruses, far-out lyrics, and of course, letting the kids boogie.

big bucks for starman. as an album i dont think i am in

Great album. Definitely one I enjoyed listening to

It’s good; don’t get me wrong.

Mooi album, ooit gekocht vanwege Moonage daydream. Moddervette cover gemaakt door Zen Guerilla (voor de liefhebbers)..

Love David Bowie. Te gek album. Vooral Starman, Ziggy Stardust en Suffragette City springen eruit.

Behoorlijk goed. Had ik niet verwacht want ik heb niet zoveel met Bowie.

Very good!

Me gustó mucho ya q solo había escuchado a conciencia starman, y el disco me ha sorprendido para bien. BT: Five Years (1) Soul love (2) Starman (4) Hang on To Yourself (8) Ziggy Stardust (9)

Geht öde los, und dann kommt völlig unvermittelt Starman und man ist mit Bowies teilweise unerträglichen Idiosynkrasien wieder versöhnt. Wird dann ok bis gut.

Good. I prefer other music, though. There was nothing that made me get really involved. Can understand the appeal.

mr starman does it again!

Classic.

Solid. Has some good ones

A classsic album which showcases some of the brillance of Bowie. Hard to give it anything other than high priase

Loved it.

I could listen to this over and over again. It's one of my favorite records, and Bowie is one of my favorite artists. The story told on this record is wonderful and heartbreaking. 4.5*

AGUANTE EL PITY, AGUANTE INTOXICADOS

This absolute beast of an album opens with, 'Five Years' - an epically cathartic anthem featuring that unmistakable Bowie scream. From that bold opening, it doesn't diminish. The pace is maintained throughout, with classics ('Starman'), bangers ('It Ain't Easy') and all out rock n roll ('Suffragette City'). This record is dripping with fierce guitar hooks and now-legendary riffs ('Ziggy Stardust'); the cry of the Gibson SG heard throughout. Mick Ronson's finest moment. Not a bad one for Dave, either. Wham, bam, thank you mam.

Every song on this album is CRACKIN’!

Pretty good

Solid bob album

Ah, a total classic! Favourite track: "Ziggy Stardust"

not bad

Another classic

Magífico, de los mejores discos de David Bowie

Classic, enjoyed

Some great classic Bowie tracks 4*

A classic album with a huge influence. Some great tunes on here too..however not my favourite Bowie album. But it was good to put this album on and try to appreciate it for what it is.

You're out of this world and we miss you, Mister Bowie. Could really have used your spirit this past year. Thanks for gifting us all these lasting pieces of you.

Mad props for the influence and legacy. Heard Blur and Supergrass all the way through, two of my fave bands. I enjoyed the music more than I thought I would, some Bowie bangers on here too. Wouldn't be in a mega rush to hear it again but scoring highly for the respect. 8/10

Good but not my jam

Definitely the best of the Bowie albums we've had so far.

Topp

sempre estarrrrrr laaaa e ver ele voltar nao era mais o mesmo mas estava em seu lugar

Hay canciones muy buenas, clásicos de 5 estrellas como Starman o Star. Con Bowie tengo el problema que he escuchado muchas de sus canciones famosas pero no sus discos, así que no sé en cuales están y aunque conozco las portadas confundo el contenido. En cualquier caso, David Bowie en su conjunto merece formar parte del Olimpo de la música moderna. Además de las 2 canciones mencionadas yo destacaría "Moonage Daydream" y "Ziggy Stardust".

Classic

Deliciously refreshing. My favorite Bowie.

love Bowie

tremenditiritillo

9/10

Great overall sound, this album has some very well known and used songs. Highly recommended for a good listen, but the first two songs may require two or more listens.

Ziggy played guitar

Those last few tracks are just amazing. I always forget how much I love this album.

I mean it’s David Bowie come on 4.5

ZIGGY PLAYYYEED GUITARRRR

I mean, Bowie... it's good...

Great easy listening, and a ton of absolute classics! I'm glad to have listened through this, and I grabbed a song for my playlist.

Classic

Just good music

Nice album! Starman is a classic and a favorite of mine, but also very nice opener and many other good songs.

Was good

UUU Boy! Never was one for David Bowie, but as of late I'm really getting into his stuff. Ziggy Stardust for me is top Bowie, but then again I haven't yet listened to his other stuff. But this album was a really cool mix of rock and weird rock. Starman, C'mon, that shit is awesome!

Great album. As usual, Bowie isn't always my cup of tea. This album has plenty of goodness going for it though, so it falls into my 4 star range.

Surprised how much I enjoyed it

Mais um grande álbum de Bowie

A classic of course

pretty good

Classssic

bowie nowhere near as space gay as i remember

It's fine, not for me but not bad.

Musicality- 0.7 Vocals - 0.7 Vibes - 0.6 Listen to again - 0.2 Execution - 0.8 Total - 3.0

The least annoying Bowie album so far. Maybe I'm starting to come around? Or maybe I was too sleepy to find his shtick as annoying as I usually do as I listened to this on my morning commute. Either way, this was surprisingly tolerable for a Bowie album

I don't get David Bowie

I found this uneven. Some bangers. Some meh.

It's okay

B, 68% The first thing Ziggy Stardust does is announce the end of the fucking world and the second thing it does is make apocalypse sound suspiciously like community theater. I mean that affectionately, partly. “Five Years” begins with Mick Woodmansey’s drumbeat coming down the street one dull thud at a time, not Armageddon drums, not John Bonham knocking God unconscious, just this almost bureaucratic pulse while Bowie starts reporting catastrophe like somebody reading a newspaper aloud after the pubs have closed. Earth has five years left. People are crying. Children are drinking milkshakes. A cop kneels to kiss somebody’s feet. The entire species has received an eviction notice and Bowie, rather than doing the obvious rock-star thing and screaming immediately, keeps accumulating pathetic human details until the song finally cannot contain him anymore. His voice rises from reporter to witness to hysterical asshole clutching strangers on the pavement, and by the time he is repeating “five years” the vocal has gone beautifully ragged around the edges. This is one of the places where Bowie’s theatricality stops being costume and becomes nervous-system damage. He does not convince me because the apocalypse is plausible. He convinces me because the man singing has abruptly become unable to regulate himself. That final vocal sounds like somebody who started acting and accidentally discovered a real emotion in the middle of the performance, which is a dangerous thing to happen to David Bowie because the motherfucker’s entire career depended on keeping several emergency exits available between himself and sincerity. And then, almost immediately, the record starts fucking around. This is what keeps The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars from becoming the enormous personal revelation its reputation keeps sending ahead like an advance publicity team. I like the bastard. Quite a lot of it works beautifully. Several moments are absolutely lethal. I understand why the album colonized bedrooms, wardrobes, adolescent sexuality and record collections for fifty years. But the myth is bigger than the music, and hearing it now means confronting an album whose concept has been inflated by cultural memory into some kind of queer extraterrestrial Wagnerian rock scripture when the actual record is a compact batch of very good glam songs, several extraordinary performances, some thin connective tissue, one cover that should have been arrested at the border, and a story so barely present that people have spent half a century reverse-engineering a libretto Bowie plainly could not be bothered to write. Ziggy is supposedly an alien rock messiah, except perhaps he is a human receiving extraterrestrial messages, except perhaps none of that matters, except he rises, becomes famous, gets consumed by his own ego and audience, and dies, or gets torn apart by black-hole people, or rock-and-roll suicides himself, or something. Nobody knows because Bowie apparently looked at narrative continuity and said, “Darling, continuity is for heterosexuals.” Fine. Concept albums usually become unbearable the instant somebody starts taking attendance. What matters is that Bowie discovered an image capacious enough to swallow every song whether the song actually belonged there or not. That is different from writing a coherent narrative and much more interesting. Ziggy is less a character than a contaminated atmosphere. Once Bowie places the name on the sleeve, suddenly every cheap little rock-star gesture becomes evidence. Every sexual ambiguity becomes mythology. Every reference to fame sounds prophetic because we know what happened afterward. Every guitar chord Mick Ronson plays acquires silver boots. This is branding elevated into ontology, which is one of Bowie’s genuine superpowers. He understands that if you give an audience the right haircut, the right photograph and three suggestive nouns, they will do several million pounds’ worth of conceptual labor for free. People talk about Bowie as a master of reinvention, but what interests me more is how extraordinarily good he was at getting everybody else to finish the reinvention for him. Ziggy exists because the public agreed to hallucinate him. The hallucination was helped immeasurably by Mick fucking Ronson, who is the actual physical body of this record. Bowie supplies the face, voice, scenario, bisexual extraterrestrial theater and cheekbones sharp enough to open letters, but Ronson supplies weight. Listen to “Moonage Daydream,” which begins with Bowie declaring himself an alligator, a mama-papa coming for you, a space invader, and several other things that would sound like lyrics found written on the wall of a bus station bathroom if Ronson did not immediately make them feel carved into stone. The guitar tone is enormous without being sludge, bright enough to bite but thick enough to have hips. Then the arrangement starts expanding around him, strings climbing, saxophones blowing hot air into the ceiling, Bowie stretching vowels until “freak out” becomes less instruction than sexual weather, and Ronson eventually produces that long closing solo, one of the album’s rare moments where the whole Ziggy fiction stops feeling like Bowie putting on a very good coat and starts feeling genuinely cosmic. Not cosmic like Carl Sagan. Cosmic like someone put amphetamines in the Book of Revelation and gave it a Gibson Les Paul. That song gets to me bodily. The riff has thrust. There is no tasteful word for it and I do not want one. It comes through the speakers pelvis-first. Bowie’s vocal sits on top behaving like he has transcended ordinary sexual categorization, while Ronson underneath is doing something much more primitive, dragging the whole thing forward by the belt loops. Glam’s great trick was never simply androgyny. It was making masculinity so artificial that it became available for play. Bowie could put on makeup, dye his hair, wear a jumpsuit that makes his torso resemble a particularly elegant insect, sing about boys and girls and stars and himself with the pronouns all getting pleasantly slippery, and none of it weakened the rock phallus because Ronson was standing there making the guitar sound like the rock phallus had just discovered lipstick and was extremely pleased about it. That is considerably more interesting than the current museum version of Ziggy, where everybody behaves like Bowie descended in 1972 to personally invent queerness while Britain gasped into its tea. Britain had plenty of queer people in 1972. It had also only partially decriminalized sex between men in England and Wales five years earlier, under restrictions that would look fucking deranged now. Glam’s ambiguity lived inside that tension. Bowie’s famous public declarations about sexuality mattered because they were occurring in a culture where being queer could still wreck employment, housing, family, safety, everything, but Bowie’s ambiguity was also commercial theater, celebrity strategy, genuine desire, provocation, self-invention and bullshit all at once. Trying to separate those strands now is like trying to identify the original ingredients after somebody has baked a cake, eaten half of it, thrown it at Mick Jagger, and sold the remaining slice to the Victoria and Albert Museum. What I love is precisely that the performance will not sit still long enough to become morally tidy. Bowie does not present gender as inner truth waiting to be liberated. He presents it as wardrobe, gesture, appetite, angle, lighting, hair, rumor, voice, posture, commerce. That feels more modern to me than a lot of the reverent language subsequently built around him. Identity here is something you make while everybody watches, then they copy it, then you get bored and kill it. But the songs, the actual fucking songs, keep refusing to become as monumental as this interpretation wants them to be. “Soul Love” is lovely, featherweight, almost lazily seductive, with that saxophone curling around the vocal while Trevor Bolder’s bass keeps the thing moving beneath Bowie’s little anthropology of love. I like the looseness. The groove has air. Bowie sings the different kinds of love as though examining specimens under colored glass, maternal love, romantic love, religious love, stupid human attachment generally, and the arrangement never declares which one is meant to matter. Then “Moonage Daydream” kicks the door open and makes the preceding delicacy look like foreplay. That contrast is smart. But elsewhere the album keeps relying on songs whose charm depends heavily on the accumulated force of the persona. Remove Ziggy from “Star” and you have an enjoyable glam-rock number about wanting to become a rock star, precisely the sort of thing a thousand bands would later write after deciding becoming famous counted as metaphysics. “Hang On to Yourself” is better because the Spiders finally start playing like they have somewhere to be. The rhythm is impatient, compact, almost proto-punk in the way people enjoy saying after the future has already happened. The guitars chatter, the drums run, Bowie spits the lines instead of caressing them, and suddenly the album sounds less like a concept record than four people in a room who could plausibly make your drink fall off the table. Then there is “Starman,” which is probably impossible to hear innocently now because it has spent half a century being transformed from pop single into official state hymn of Wonder, Difference, Childhood, Space, David Bowie Memorialization and every commercial where a car drives through the desert while someone experiences Personal Transformation. The song survives this abuse better than it has any right to. That octave leap on “star-man” is such a shameless little piece of pop architecture, an instant opening in the ceiling, and the chorus has the melodic inevitability of something that seems obvious only because Bowie already wrote it. You can hear bits of “Over the Rainbow” in its upward yearning, you can hear old pop craft underneath the sci-fi lacquer, and that is Bowie all over. He is rarely the alien he claims to be. He is a magpie with fantastic tailoring. The future in Bowie is usually assembled from things sitting around the past, Anthony Newley, Jacques Brel, Little Richard, music hall, Warhol, science fiction paperbacks, Japanese fashion, gay clubs, mime for Christ’s sake. His genius is montage. He takes cultural material that should not coexist, puts it under the same orange hair, and waits until everybody decides the combination must have arrived from Mars. “Starman” is also where the fantasy of rescue works because Bowie keeps it small. The alien does not descend with commandments. He is hanging around the radio, reluctant to blow our minds. Kids hear him. Parents are horrified because parents in pop songs are contractually required to hate anything fun. It is stupid and perfect. The song understands that teenage utopia is not a political program. Teenage utopia is receiving one transmission your parents cannot decode. I never needed the transmission specifically to come from outer space. Sometimes it came from a record, sometimes another weird girl, sometimes a badly compressed video on the internet, sometimes some artifact made twenty years before I was born that suddenly said, there are other freaks, congratulations, unfortunately they are also idiots. That mechanism still works in “Starman,” even after the song has been bronzed by canonization. For three minutes, Bowie remembers that salvation needs a hook. And then we hit “It Ain’t Easy,” where the record turns into a hitchhiker who has climbed into the wrong car. I fucking hate the sequencing more than I hate the song itself. Ron Davies wrote it, plenty of people recorded it, Bowie had already cut it during the Hunky Dory period, and here it sits at the end of side one like somebody wandered onto the stage carrying an entirely different musical. It has its virtues. Ronson’s guitar crunches nicely. Bowie gets to do that strangled upper-register thing in the chorus. The gospel-rock structure has some muscle. But on an album whose later reputation depends so heavily on the idea of coherent persona and world-building, sticking this fairly generic blues-gospel cover in the middle is hilarious. Imagine Sgt. Pepper suddenly including a competent cover of “Mustang Sally” because they had one lying around. This is where the myth and artifact get into a fistfight and the artifact wins. Ziggy Stardust was not delivered on tablets. It was assembled like records are assembled, from sessions, available material, commercial judgment, momentum, accidents. I like knowing that. It makes the album human again. Unfortunately the human decision was still bad. Side two is where the Ziggy mythology finally begins to acquire enough concentration to justify the fucking title. “Lady Stardust” is one of Bowie’s sweetest songs precisely because the theatrical language starts pointing toward tenderness rather than spectacle. The piano is simple, almost old-fashioned, and Bowie sings about this ambiguous beautiful performer from the position of someone watching, admiring, possibly desiring, possibly recognizing himself, probably all three because Bowie never met a mirror he could not convert into a love triangle. The line between attraction and identification gets deliciously useless. Do I want that person, do I want to be that person, do I want other people to want me the way I want that person? Congratulations, you have discovered half of queer adolescence and approximately seventy percent of fashion. Bowie gets this without announcing it. The ambiguity is in the grammar of looking. “Lady Stardust” does more for Ziggy as a figure than half the supposed concept because it lets him exist as an object of fascination before “Ziggy Stardust” converts him into biography. That title track is probably the record’s cleanest piece of rock mythology, which means it has also inspired several generations of people to misread being in a band as the Trojan War. I tease because the song earns it. Ronson’s opening guitar figure is magnificent, not complicated, not trying to impress anyone, just a descending shape with enough harmonic unease to immediately suggest glamour curdling into resentment. Bowie tells Ziggy’s rise and collapse from the band’s perspective, which is the smart move. Celebrity is always more interesting from three feet to the side. Suddenly the messiah is also the asshole hogging the light. “Making love with his ego” remains a tremendous phrase because it gets the physical comedy of narcissism exactly right. Ego masturbation is the central erotic act of rock stardom, and Bowie knows because obviously he fucking knows. The song’s greatest trick is that Ziggy can be Bowie, Bolan, Hendrix, Vince Taylor, Iggy, some invented composite, your singer, your girlfriend, yourself at 2:30 in the morning explaining your artistic destiny to somebody who desperately wants the Uber to arrive. The mythology works because its details are archetypal enough to be portable and trashy enough to remain rock and roll. “Suffragette City” is stupider and more fun. This is not an insult. Stupidity is one of rock’s primary renewable resources, and any critic who cannot enjoy a song for being gloriously dumb should be forced to listen to progressive rock concept albums about agricultural taxation until they develop humility. The guitar bangs, the piano hammers away, the sax gets shoved into the walls, Bowie yelps “wham bam thank you ma’am” like he personally discovered casual sex that afternoon, and for three minutes the record quits worrying about becoming a cultural landmark and behaves like something you might actually blast too loudly. Even here the gender play keeps leaking around the song’s supposedly heterosexual swagger. “Henry” is being told to get lost because a woman is coming over, except this is Bowie and the entire performance is so lacquered, camp and knowingly theatrical that straightforward masculine bragging has already dissolved by the time it reaches the microphone. Bowie can sing a macho line without restoring macho solidity. Everything comes wearing quotation marks, but crucially the quotation marks are drunk. That quality is why I am less impressed by the solemn Bowie cult than by Bowie himself. Bowie was funny. The man understood ridiculousness. Ziggy looks incredible partly because he looks absurd. The costumes are not timeless elegance, they are aggressively specific acts of visual insanity. The hair alone resembles a fox dying heroically in a chemical fire. That is good. Glam understood something subsequent respectable culture repeatedly forgets, namely that transformation without ridiculousness is just personal branding. You have to risk looking fucking stupid. The Top of the Pops “Starman” performance became epochal not because Bowie floated down from heaven but because he put an arm around Mick Ronson, looked into the camera like he knew exactly which children were watching, and made alien sexuality look less threatening than the adults’ panic about it. Yet the entire thing also contains the inherent comedy of two skinny English men dressed like interplanetary prostitutes miming to a pop song on BBC television. Sublime and ridiculous are roommates. Stop evicting one. The album itself sometimes wants sublime status without supplying enough ridiculous life underneath it, which is where I stall out. Ken Scott’s production is strong, clear and muscular without turning the Spiders into an arena-rock refrigerator, but it can also make the record feel smaller than the legend. The guitars are not enormous by later standards. The drums are often dry and straightforward. The bass is functional rather than fetishized. There is piano, sax, strings when needed, but the basic sonics remain recognizably early-seventies rock, not some impossible Martian technology. Again, that should be liberating. Bowie was not beaming transmissions from Alpha Centauri. He had a very good band. But once the extraterrestrial glitter gets stripped away, I am left asking whether every song deserves the reverence, and several absolutely do not. The record has too many patches where I admire the construction while my pulse continues filling out paperwork. “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide” rescues the ending by abandoning subtlety so violently that subtlety should probably file a restraining order. Bowie starts alone with acoustic guitar, singing about aging as though twenty-five were the final stage of terminal decay, which is adorable. “You’re too old to lose it, too young to choose it,” he says at an age when I would now regard somebody as a fucking larva. Rock music has always been catastrophically bad at imagining adulthood because its commercial mythology depends on selling teenagers the idea that turning thirty constitutes spiritual death. Bowie was already smart enough to see through many rock myths while remaining completely infected by this one. Yet the song works because it keeps expanding past the premise. The arrangement grows, strings and horns climb in, the tempo seems to tighten around him, and suddenly he is no longer singing about rock stardom or suicide or Ziggy with any useful specificity. He is singing directly at the lonely bastard listening. “You’re not alone.” There is a reason people carried that out of the record. The sentiment is nearly embarrassingly simple, but Bowie sings it like simplicity has finally defeated cleverness. This man who spent the whole album constructing masks, roles, aliens, performers, stars and mirrors ends by grabbing the listener by the shoulders. The vocal gets huge. The arrangement gets ridiculous. He repeats himself because sometimes repetition is what you do when you are trying to get through to somebody whose brain has become a locked bathroom door. That is the emotional payoff the album keeps being credited with having all the way through, when really it earns it in bursts. “Five Years” earns it. “Moonage Daydream” earns it. “Starman” earns it through pop craft. “Lady Stardust” earns it quietly. The title track earns it through myth compressed into riff and resentment. “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide” earns it by taking all the theatrical machinery and finally pointing it outward. The rest is often extremely enjoyable scaffolding. Which is enough. More than enough, usually. I do not need every canonized album to rearrange my organs. But Ziggy Stardust has spent so long being treated as one of rock’s sacred organs that encountering the actual thing produces a funny disappointment. I expected a cathedral and found a very good club with extraordinary lighting. The cathedral was built afterward by everyone who came through the doors. Punk kids took bits. Goths took bits. New Romantics took entire fucking truckloads. Queer kids took the permission structure. Indie boys took Bowie’s cheekbones and somehow made them heterosexual again, an achievement of scientific importance. Lady Gaga took the transformations. Suede took the sexual languor. Every singer who realized identity could be stagecraft rather than confession owes something to Bowie, directly or through descendants. But influence accumulates outside the grooves. Put the needle down and there are eleven tracks, not the twentieth century changing costumes in real time. Maybe that is the perversely appealing thing about the record now. Its greatest achievement occurred partly in people’s heads. Bowie supplied enough material for the fantasy to reproduce itself. The songs became costumes and the costumes became songs. Ziggy became more coherent in memory than he ever was on vinyl. A generation of listeners filled the gaps because gaps are erotic. Explain everything and the fantasy dies. Bowie understood this instinctively. He gives you a name, orange hair, a dead world, a starman, a messianic rock singer, some ambiguous fucking, ego, fame, collapse, suicide, and then walks away before anyone can ask whether Act Two is missing. I am still less seduced than history insists I should be. There are stretches where I am having a perfectly good time while waiting for the masterpiece to return from the bathroom. Then Ronson hits that riff in “Moonage Daydream,” or Bowie’s voice tears open at the end of “Five Years,” or that stupid heavenly octave lifts “Starman” right through the ceiling, and for a few minutes the mythology stops being somebody else’s nostalgia and starts operating on me directly. That is enough to keep me from dismissing the cult, and not enough to make me join it. I will come to the service. I will sing several hymns. I will absolutely make fun of the priest’s outfit. The priest, fortunately, would have understood.

3,5

Pretty great. Bowie was the coolest and this record is no exception. Loved it and will listen again