Ziggy Stardust (character)
Ziggy Stardust is a fictional character created by English musician David Bowie, and was Bowie's stage persona during 1972 and 1973. The eponymous character of the song "Ziggy Stardust" and its parent album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), Ziggy Stardust was retained for Bowie's subsequent concert tour through the United Kingdom, Japan and North America, during which Bowie performed as the character backed by his band The Spiders from Mars. Bowie continued the character in his next album Aladdin Sane (1973), which he described as "Ziggy goes to America". Bowie retired the character in October 1973 after one final show at The Marquee in London.[1]
Ziggy Stardust
As conveyed in the title song and album, Ziggy Stardust is an androgynous, alien rock star who came to Earth before an impending apocalyptic disaster to deliver a message of hope. After accumulating a large following of fans and being worshipped as a messiah, Ziggy eventually dies as a victim of his own fame and excess. The character was meant to symbolise an over-the-top, sexually liberated rock star and serve as a commentary on a society in which celebrities are worshipped. Influences for the character included English singer Vince Taylor, Texan musician the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and Japanese kabuki theatre.
Ziggy Stardust's exuberant fashion made the character and Bowie himself staples in the glam rock repertoire well into the 1970s, defining what the genre would become. The success of the character and its iconic look flung Bowie into international superstardom. Rolling Stone wrote that Bowie's Ziggy Stardust was "the alter ego that changed music forever and sent his career into orbit".[2]
Ziggy Stardust's look and message of youth liberation are now representative of one of Bowie's most memorable eras. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars became Bowie's second most popular album in terms of record sales.[3]
Retirement[edit]
By July 1973, Bowie had been touring as Ziggy for 18 months.[49] Due to the intense nature of his touring life, Bowie felt as though maintaining the Ziggy persona was affecting his own personality and sanity too much; acting the same role over an extended period, it became difficult for him to separate Ziggy Stardust from his own character offstage.[a] Bowie was also beginning to reach a point of creative boredom and felt that he could no longer perform Ziggy with the same enthusiasm.[b] There were also practical reasons behind his decision to retire the character: Bowie's record company RCA refused to finance a third large US tour due to Bowie's management overspending in excess of $300,000 during the 1972 and 1973 tours, as well as disappointing record sales in the US.[49]
Bowie retired Ziggy Stardust during a live concert on 3 July 1973, at London's Hammersmith Odeon in front of 3,500 fans. The concert featured an 18-song set, with Jeff Beck joining the band for a medley of "The Jean Genie" and The Beatles' "Love Me Do".[66] Just before the final song of the concert, "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide",[67] Bowie announced, "Of all the shows on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest, because not only is it the last show of the tour, but it's the last show that we'll ever do." The fans and press took this to mean that Bowie was retiring entirely, causing much media attention. However, it only referred to the Ziggy Stardust persona and the Spiders from Mars backing band.[66][68]
The final Ziggy concert was filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and released in 1979 as the documentary Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars[67] and the audio on the live album Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture (released in 1983).[69]