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Growing up there was this guy named Ziggy Stardust, but it was really David Bowie.. it was a pseudonym... a word that completely escaped me at 12 years old.  And because of his weird androgyny, (redundant) I stayed
away from his music and went straight for KISS.  A more obvious choice of course.

Also, his music wasn't considered rock n' roll.. it was 'alternative' which would get you you beaten up back then.  It was smart, clever music. And what KISS fan had time for that?  Not us, we wanted to rock'n' roll all night and party every day. 

Over the years, I developed my taste and along the way picked up the usual David Bowie Collection.. Greatest Hits, blah blah.  A great sampler album, but not indicative of his career. 

A week or so back Bowie was on EXTRAS with Ricky Gervais.  His appearance kicked me in the ass hard enough to finally go and search his catalog. 

As it happened, my neighbor came by. Being a generation ahead of me and having over 500 vinyl’s, I asked his opinion.  Without hesitation - ZIGGY.

Now most of us have heard the 4 or 5 'greatest hits' from the album "Starman" "Ziggy Stardust" "Suffragette City" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" ... but holy shit, every song will blow you away.  Just the first 3 tracks alone, ones I had never heard of until last week...

So this is less of an album review and more of a confession of shame.  All these years of never hearing this album?!  I'm only thankful that not another day will pass without it.  And it's not just one or two tracks that are good.. the entire album is not just good.  But really, really, really good.  

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The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, or simply Ziggy Stardust for short, is a 1972 concept album by David Bowie, praised as the definitive album of the 1970s by Melody Maker magazine. It peaked at #5 in the United Kingdom and #75 in the United States on the Billboard Music Charts, and inspired a similarly-titled 1973 documentary by D.A. Pennebaker.

In 1997 Ziggy Stardust was named the 20th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 24, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 48.

It was named the 35th best album ever made by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 Q placed it at number 25 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Source

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