Ziggy Stardust 30th Anniversary

jonerik writes "Any short list of influential rock albums of the '70s is likely to include David Bowie's 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,' the story of a futuristic alien rock star and his demise during the Earth's final years. Originally released in June 1972, Ziggy is celebrating his 30th anniversary this year in fine style. First of all, the album is being reissued today in a limited edition 2-CD set. Secondly, the 1983 documentary, 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,' directed by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker ('Don't Look Back,' 'Monterey Pop') is being re-released this month and John Cameron Mitchell has an interesting interview with Pennebaker about the re-release in this week's Village Voice."

Comments

Re:Woohoo!!

[John_Booty]

It might be worth downloading one or two of these songs to a.) find out what all this is about (I never heard of Ziggy Stardust) and b.) see if the album is worthwhile to the younger generation.

Disclamer: I love mp3's, and spend about 10 hours a day or more listening to them.

But let me be frank - your post underscores everything that's wrong about mp3's. A lot of the great albums (particularly those from the 70's) are albums, things best listened to as a musical whole. Especially with Bowie, who had a fantastic visual aspect, the album cover and artwork is an important part of what makes these albums special.

I'm not saying there aren't some great singles on those albums - the "Ziggy Stardust" song itself is a great single - but with a lot of classic albums, "downloading a couple of singles" to see if you'll like it is like watching a couple of scenes from a movie to see if it's good. You're missing a big part of the experience!

If it's a good album, the songs WILL stand on their own because the music is of course the most important part... just saying that you'd be missing some of the magic that separates a couple of catchy songs from an actual cohesive whole that's greater than the some of its parts.

And don't paint me as an old fart. I'm only 26, and I think some of the best music ever has been produced in the past ten years, though much of it is underground... thanks to the radio sucking so badly. :)