(Single from album, “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars”)
"The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" - the greatest album ever. You can listen to, love and gawp at the wit of Morrissey and The Smiths. You can dance and never want to forget how you feel to Depeche Mode and New Order. The Killers will make you smile and Billy Bragg will make you laugh. David Bowie is an unparalleled genius of rock 'n' roll. You cannot defend another name when it comes to this title. In fact, his early records are so good that the later, weaker stuff only gets a look in because he got songwriting perfect at the beginning. Many people speculate that it's the heroin talking, not Bowie. You have to admit, there was a lot of drugs. You can hear it in the sound and the lyrics. Just the fact that no one else ever came close is a reflection of the fact that no one else took that much. No, it may not be natural genius. It might not even be any more than a clever hallucination, but it's rock 'n' roll, and I like it. A lot.
The album tells the story of transsexual pop star Ziggy Stardust, rising to fame during times of hardship, ecstacy, sadness and ultimately, tragedy. The incredible story, beginning with the amazing and captivating "Five Years", moving on to the seminal masterpiece "Starman", and peaking at the loud and brash "Ziggy Stardust", ends in a triumphant and very final explosion of glam rock genius with "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide".
There's nothing especially complicated here - complexity isn't always intelligence you know.
By track 11, Ziggy is a washed up rock star. It's all over, and he knows it. It doesn't matter where he goes. It is the end of the line. At first it's sadness that the atmosphere is filled with, an acoustic chord pattern looping round to the reflective torment of the finished Ziggy. Then, all of a sudden, an electric shimmer darts in from nowhere. Then, as the bass and drums fill in, the former with beautiful consequences, the feeling changes. It's more like a positive reflection of life, and, as a rock 'n' roll crescendo builds up, and then starts looping, the moment arrives, and as Bowie's scream echo through the speakers, the saga of incredible and moving music ends.
As a (wannabe) musician, this song is lovely to play, and though it's not my favourite track from this album, it's a really, really great song from when glam rock was in, platform shoes rocked and guitars were part of a rock orchestra, and not just an 'instrument'. Many people have been influenced by what they have heard on this album, myself included, and, as such, it's a perfect symbol of what the well designed album should sound like. I was exposed to this sound at quite a young age, and "Starman" has been something of an emotional tie between my Dad and I since I was about 5. It's sounds very perfected and finished, and I know that's a description I use a lot, but production doesn't get any higher in quality than this.
If you listen to this track, go and listen to the album afterward. It is a phenomenal triumph of rock music and a real physiological journey, if perhaps, easier to endure than he more infamous druggy musical trips such as Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" or Radiohead's tremendously bad "Kid A".
To put it simply, if you die not having heard this record, you missed out. Big time.
★★★★★
Versions of "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
Album/Single Version - 3:01
Live on Bob Harris' "Sounds of the '70s", 23/05/1972 - 3:08
Live in Santa Monica, 20/10/1972 - 3:17
Live in Philadelphia, 07/1974 - 4:30
"Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture" (1983) Version - 4:20