Basslines & Boardrides

Hiya, welcome back to Basslines and Boardrides, sorry for missing last week’s article I was busy with some school stuff, but I’m back now so let’s get to it.

On June 16^th, 1972, David Bowie released “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” as his fifth studio album. Described as a loose concept album and rock opera the album focused on Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust, a rock star who is sent to Earth as a savior before an apocalyptic disaster. In the story, Ziggy wins the heart of fans but suffers the fall from grace after succumbing to his own ego. Numerous musicians inspired the characters including Bowie himself and other artists like Vince Taylor. Most of the album’s concepts were formed after the recording of the songs, the musicality of the album was influenced by Iggy Pop, the Velvet Underground and Marc Bolan (T-Rex).  The lyrics explore the artificiality of rock music, drug use, and stardom.

The album was controversial but still a hit in the UK, reaching top five on the UK albums chart. Some praised the musicality and concept while others struggled to comprehend it. Shortly after it’s release Bowie preformed “Starman” on Top of the Pops, propelling him to stardom. The album came to be his masterpiece after the Ziggy Stardust tour and still is one of Davids most widely known and critically acclaimed albums. It featured hits like my personal favorite “Five Years”, “Starman” and “Rock n’ Roll Suicide”.

Now for my personal favorite Ziggy Stardust song, “Five Years”. As the first song on the album, we hear it depicting a society collapsing in panic and raw emotion after learning that Earth will come to an end in five years.  “Pushing through the market square so many mothers sighing news had just come over we had five years left to cry in”.  Through dramatic storytelling it captures how humanity reacts to imminent, inescapable doom, featuring themes of desperation, societal breakdown, and a desperate plea for human connection, even if it can’t possibly last. Five years reflects how humans would react to tragedy such as the world ending, how you would look back on everything you had that was never appreciated enough, “I heard telephones opera house, favorite melodies, I saw boys, toys electric irons, and TV’s” We also see Bowie reflect on the desperation for human connection in the final days “and I thought of ma and I wanted to get back there, your face, your race, the way that you talk, I kiss you you’re beautiful I want you to walk.”

“Starman” is Bowie’s biggest hit (with the exception of Under Pressure his collab song with Queen) with 760 million streams on Spotify. “Starman” paints the picture of a steward from another planet sent to our world to free our hearts, minds, and dancing feet. The song comes from the perspective of someone listening to Starman on the radio, hoping to make their future brighter than their past. “I leaned back on my radio, oh, oh some cat was laying down some rock n’ roll lotta soul he said.”  Bowie’s drummer Woody Woodmansey talked about his impressions of the song in an interview with Uncut Magazine, saying, “I love Starman as it’s the concept of hope that the song communicates. That’s were not alone and ‘they’ contact the kids, not the adults, and kind of say ‘get on with it.’ ‘Let the children boogie’-music and rock n’ roll! It lifted the attention from the depressing affairs of the 70’s and made the future look better.”

The album ends with the song “Rock n’ Roll Suicide” foreshadowing the end to his character’s (Ziggy) life. It marks the end of Ziggy, who has now been affected by the hollowness and superficiality of stardom, he is lost, a prediction that slowly proves itself true throughout the album. Rock n’ Roll Suicide has an overall sense of conclusion, it embodies a constant feeling of fading youth and dying enthusiasm. Many of the lyrics feel like time slipping away. “Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth” In my opinion the cigarette is a metaphor for time and life, some people rush and waste it, other savor and enjoy it. Most of the song seems to refer to the passing of time. “And the clock waits so patiently on your song you walk past a café but you don’t eat when you’ve lived too long” Overall Rock n’ Roll Suicide focuses on time slipping away, often so fast you notice when it’s already too late.

As much as I would love to sit here and analyze every song from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, I do have a life, so that’s all from me today, hope your all doing well.

As always.

Bass in my veins, salt in my hair, gripe tape on my soul.

-C