David Bowie “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” released 50 years ago today, June 16th, 1972. Since I’ve written about this amazing album before, I’ll quote myself here (slightly edited from the original post):

Bowie is one of my favorite artists of all-time, the influencer of diverse musicians – from Darby Crash of the Germs to Duran Duran – and he apparently was the glue that held our universe together. I’ve been obsessed with “Starman” for years, such an amazing groove and so very otherworldly Bowie. I’ve had equally intense obsessions with “Five Years” (especially after reading the Darby Crash biography Lexicon Devil in which I read that Crash pretty much modeled his rock-n-roll career and death on the song), “Suffragette City” (around 1988 while in high school I got in some trouble for writing “wham, bam thank you ma’am” on the cafeteria windows) and the title track “Ziggy Stardust.” However, the entire record is glam rock perfection and I’m sure I’ll go through “Soul Love” and “It Ain’t Easy” obsessions soon.

Ziggy Stardust was Bowie’s biggest album to that point in his career; after entering the charts at #10, it reached #5 in the UK and hit #75 in the US. Considered one of the greatest records ever, it is included in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. The single “Starman” (with its b-side “Suffragette City”) hit #10 in the UK and #65 in the US. The other single released from Ziggy Stardust, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide,” just went to #22 in the UK after its belated release in 1974, a move RCA made in anticipation of Bowie’s upcoming Diamond Dogs LP.

In June 2019 we made a musical pilgrimage to London and one of our must-visits was the alley where the cover of Ziggy Stardust was photographed. It looks a lot different now, of course, but I had Joe replicate it to the best of my ability. There’s also a plaque that helpfully shows pilgrims like ourselves the exact spot (honestly the alley, or more specifically 14-18 Heddon St. just off of Savile Row, wasn’t that easy to find, at least for us).