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Transfiguration of Vincent
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Kinks
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Glitter and Doom Live
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Let It Roll: The Best of George Harrison
George Harrison
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David Bowie
The best characteristic about Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is also its major weakness, which is Bowie’s innate talent at knowing his audience. There was a generation of kids who were waiting, practically frothing at the mouth, for something as liberating and exciting as this Ziggy Stardust character to come along. At a time when rock and roll music was mostly comprised of sensitive singer/songwriters and instrumental technicians, David Bowie provided a breath of fresh air, and liberated a generation whose turn it was to rebel. It was beautiful on those terms, almost perfect. But like I said, its best feature is also a glaring fault. By appealing so grandly to contemporary youth, it meant that Bowie’s ‘Stardust’ character was doomed to become little more than a charming memory. He’s so damned accurate in capturing the shock appeal of an early ‘70s teenager’s aspirations that much of the record sounds a bit juvenile now. While this characterization elevated Bowie to almost mythic status, he could also have passed for one of the kids who he was singing to (sans makeup, of course). Bowie spoke the language and turned himself into a figurehead for what would be called the ‘Glam’ movement.
At the time, I was a kid, and Bowie provided something that seemed both cool and liberating; he made music with a purpose, or at least what seemed purposeful to kids in their early teens. Bowie was an exciting character, and his outrageousness offered up an entire universe of possibilities. Ziggy Stardust offered us a new form of rebellion, a strange one, but it was ours, and we loved it. The song “Star” spelled out the most enticing possibility of all, which was to invent yourself (as Bowie did) as a genuine rock and roll star. As a young teenager, few things held more allure. As an adult, few things seem less relevant than devoting so much effort to the illusion offered by fame.
The album begins and ends with its most dramatic material; “Five Years,” about the impending end of the world, and “Rock and Roll Suicide”, which is fairly self-explanatory. Both parlayed a youthful tendency toward the dramatic and added an artistic flair into the equation, which virtually guaranteed their success. Most parents thought is was rubbish, and as the kids of the glitter generation grew older, they must have begun to recognize why the older generation dismissed it all as androgynous melodrama, or a freakish threat to normalcy. Ultimately, Bowie’s vision became more and more acceptable and mainstream, especially with the onset of punk, which made ‘glam’ seem almost safe in comparison, but at the time, there was nothing like it. “Ziggy Stardust”, “Hang On To Yourself” and “Suffragette City” were all anthems for a time, and any real appreciation for this record must take into account the social zeitgeist of the time in which it was created.
Hell, everybody gets old, except for those who are already dead. Ziggy Stardust reminds me of what it was like to really feel alive in 1972, and for that, I’ll always be grateful.
Grade: 
 
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