(THE PICKET) – Rock legend David Bowie died Sunday, Jan. 10, at 69. Bowie proved himself a trailblazer over the course of his career, arguably best known for his pioneering of glam rock, a style of rock emerging in the early 1970s melding a hard rock sound with elaborate costume and gender-bending stage posturing.
One of Bowie’s finest albums from his glam period is 1972’s Ziggy Stardust and the Rise and Fall of the Spiders From Mars, which starts off with the wistful-turned-manic “Five Years,” followed by the sax-infused “Soul Love,” a forerunner of his delve into soul music on 1975’s Young Americans. The dreamy “Starman” is a standout track on side one, following the hard-edged “Moonage Daydream.” The brooding “It Ain’t Easy” sees Bowie romp around in a number that’s acoustic and bluesy at the same time. It’s not exactly a fit with the rest of the album, but it’s a treat either way.
Side two sees the album’s two biggest hits back-to-back, with “Ziggy Stardust” preceding the raucous “Suffragette City.” The album’s expository title, along with the former song’s telling of Ziggy’s story with his eponymous band, often gets this album labeled as a concept album. However, there’s no overarching story connecting the songs, as there is on, say, The Who’s Tommy, there is just a title track, which hundreds of albums have. Picking an album at random from my record collection, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell has a title track, but nobody ever argues that Highway to Hell is a concept album telling a story about vehicular travel to Dante’s Inferno.
All in all, Ziggy Stardust is a strong album from an exceptionally productive part of an artistic pioneer’s career. Rest in peace, David. You’ll be missed.
Mike Morris is a staff writer for The Picket and can be reached at mmorri12@rams.shepherd.edu.
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