Ziggy Stardust

Written by: David Bowie
Recorded: 11 November 1971
Producers: Ken Scott, David Bowie

Released: 16 June 1972

Available on:
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Stage
Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
Live Santa Monica ’72
A Reality Tour
Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78)
Glastonbury 2000

Personnel

David Bowie: vocals, acoustic guitar
Mick Ronson: electric guitar
Trevor Bolder: bass guitar
Woody Woodmansey: drums

Effectively the title track of David Bowie’s fifth album, ‘Ziggy Stardust’ set forth his manifesto for superstardom, paving the way for the moment in July 1973 when he sensationally broke up the Spiders From Mars.

One of four songs on the Ziggy Stardust album to contain the word ‘star’ in the title, it blended a range of rock icons to create something wholly new and exciting. Bowie was greatly influenced by Iggy Pop and Lou Reed in the early ’70s, and their presence was clear in the couplet “Came on so loaded, man/Well hung and snow white tan.”

Jimi Hendrix was present in the left-handed guitarist “jiving us that we were voodoo”. The Nazz, meanwhile, were two unrelated bands formed in the late 1960s in Philadelphia and Phoenix, Arizona; one was formed by Todd Rundgren, while the other became Alice Cooper’s band.

Next was Kobe and then Osaka before returning to Tokyo. The concerts continued to be wild. When Bowie sang ‘Like some cat from Japan…’ in ‘Ziggy Stardust’, the audiences went completely insane.