David Bowie And The Albums From Mars

 

 

     I liked a few Facebook pages about music so I often encounter this survey: What are your favorite (10) music albums? If someone would ask me what are my favorite ten albums, five of them would be Pink Floyd albums, and the other five, Beatles albums. Now, if you’d ask me my top ten favorite non-Pink Floyd and non-Beatles albums, with every artist not repeating itself, it would include, in random order, Paul simon’s Graceland(released in 1986), Billy Joel’s The Nylon Curtain(1982), Aztec Camera’s High Land, Hard Rain(1983), Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes(1992), David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars(1972), Nirvana’s Nevermind(1991), Faith No More’s Angel Dust(1992), Radiohead’s OK Computer(1997), XTC’s Nonsuch (1992) and U2's The Joshua Tree (1987).

     But my favorite among these albums is David Bowie’s fantastic and influential The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, a rock concept album about an androgynous and bisexual alien rock star who came to Earth to save it from total destruction. The charismatic Bowie, who wrote all the songs in the album except "It Ain't Easy" (which was a cover), admitted then that he was gay, though he later backpedaled and said that he was bisexual.  He was also, sadly, addicted to cocaine. At the height of his addiction, he allegedly couldn’t remember recording an entire album (Station to Station).

     My favorite songs from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars? All of them. From  the opener “Five Years” to the closer “Rock N’ Roll Suicide,” every song(with their melodies, arrangement and David’s voice) will take you to rock and roll heaven. Most of David Bowie’s albums are great but this album is my fave—first time I listened to it, my mind was blown.

     A few years before Bowie’s death in 2016, I remember buying a T-shirt because printed on it was the complete lyrics of his hit song “Let’s Dance.” And I also remember singing the said song in my mind whenever I was wearing that shirt, imagining I had Bowie’s voice, If you say run, I’ll run with you, and if you say hide, we'll hide, because my love for you would break my heart in two, if you should fall, into my arms and tremble like a flower…