Fifty years ago today musician David Bowie released one of his most acclaimed albums The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. 

The concept album that was released in 1972 would see Bowie take of the persona of Ziggy Stardust for most of the following year. Ziggy Stardust was described as androgynous and bisexual rock star who is sent to the planet Earth as a saviour before an apocalyptic event.

The album featured generated some big hits for the singer including Starman, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Five Years and Moonage Daydream.  

Artists playing on the album included Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, Mick Woodmansey, alongside uncredited contributions from Rick Wakeman and Dana Gillespie.

The sound of the record stood out as new an innovative heralding the future music genres of glam rock and punk. At the time of it’s release the album received mixed reviews from critics, but it went on to be one of the most iconic albums of Bowie’s long career and is now acknowledged an one of rock’s great albums.

Bowie began working on a musical about the character, writing additional songs, but abandoned the project, worried that the character of Ziggy would overwhelm is own identity. He reworked some of the songs for the music for his next album Aladdin Sane. 

The character of Ziggy Stardust was retired on 3rd July 1973 at a concert staged at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The performance was recorded and released as a documentary.

Graeme Watson

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