View source for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

{{Album
 | Title            = The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
 | SortTitle        = Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The
 | Image            = David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The - Front.jpg
 | ImageDescription = CD - USA - 1st edition.
 | Artist           = {{AlbumType|Concept}}, {{AlbumArtist|David Bowie}}
 | PublishedYear    = 1972
 | PublishedMonth   = 06
 | PublishedDay     = 16
 | Type             = {{AlbumType|Studio}}
 | Genre            = {{MusicGenre|Rock opera}}, {{MusicGenre|Glam rock}}
 | Themes           = Science-fiction, androgyny
}}

'''''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars''''', usually shortened to '''''Ziggy Stardust''''', is the fifth studio album of [[David Bowie]], published on 1972-06-16. The album is a [[rock opera]] in the genre of [[glam rock]] with [[science fiction]] themes. The album rather loose-weave story is about space aliens coming to Earth and using an androgynous bisexual rock star named Ziggy Stardust as their messenger.

==Personal==
{{AlbumStatus
 | Own     = Yes, CD.
 | CantOwn = 
}}

My friend Sarah bought me this album for my birthday in the early 2000s. On my first play-through, I didn't care for it that much because the A side didn't impress me much, so I wasn't paying much attention when I played the B side, and the unusual subject matter made it difficult to follow. However, after a couple more play-throughs I fixated on ''[[Lady Stardust]]'' and ''[[Ziggy Stardust]]''. Then, after I started to understand the story that was being told across the songs, I began to appreciate the album a lot more, and now I love it.

==Track Listing==
All songs sung by [[David Bowie]].

{| class="wikitable sortable" |
! Track
! Title
! Composer
! Rank
! Rating
|-
| A1
| ''[[Five Years]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 10
| {{Rating|4}}
|-
| A2
| ''[[Soul Love]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 3
| {{Rating|6}}
|-
| A3
| ''[[Moonage Daydream]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 5
| {{Rating|4}}
|-
| A4
| ''[[Starman]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 6
| {{Rating|4}}
|-
| A5
| ''[[It Ain't Easy]]''
| [[Ron Davies]]
| 11
| {{Rating|2}}
|-
| B1
| ''[[Lady Stardust]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 2
| {{Rating|8}}
|-
| B2
| ''[[Star (song)|Star]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 4
| {{Rating|5}}
|-
| B3
| ''[[Hang On to Yourself]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 8
| {{Rating|4}}
|-
| B4
| ''[[Ziggy Stardust]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 1
| {{Rating|9}}
|-
| B5
| ''[[Suffragette City]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 9
| {{Rating|4}}
|-
| B6
| ''[[Rock 'n' Roll Suicide]]''
| [[David Bowie]]
| 7
| {{Rating|4}}
|}

The album's total score is 482.

==Media==
===Album Art===
The album art comes from a session with photographer Brian Ward on 1972-01-13. The location is K. West, a fur shop in London. The photos were taken in black and white and then colorized. Bowie said the location and "K.West" sign had no significance. The original LP back included the all-capital line, "TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME." which I love. 

<gallery>
David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The - Front.jpg|Cover.
David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The - Back.jpg|Back.
David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The - 1990 Rykodisc Interior.jpg|Interior of 1990 Rykodisc version.
David Bowie - Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The - 2003 Ken Scott Mix.jpg|Alternate cover for 2003 Ken Scott mix.
</gallery>

==Links==
{{Link|Wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Ziggy_Stardust_and_the_Spiders_from_Mars}}
{{Link|Discogs|https://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-The-Rise-And-Fall-Of-Ziggy-Stardust-And-The-Spiders-From-Mars/master/1561}}


[[Category: Favorite]]
[[Category: Favorite Albums]]