Melody Maker's album of the 1970s

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Q.� Which is the best David Bowie album < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A.� One of Bowie's own favourites, in common with the majority of his fans, is The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.

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Q.� Sounds like a bit of a mouthful!

A.� True, but it in fact a concept album�- a series of songs that link together as a theme for the whole record. Although the word 'concept' strikes dread in the heart of most rock fans, often signalling a dreadfully self-indulgent meander through an under-inspired writer's drug-fuelled nonsense, with suitably bombastic and over-blown musical backing, this is a straight forward and original take on the story telling idea, executed with maximum invention and verve, and minimal time-wasting and filler.

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Q.� So what is the story

A.� Bowie apparently based his concept on an obscure American Elvis clone named Vince Taylor who tried with equal lack of success, to become a pop star in his native USA and in England. The only part of Taylor that Bowie really used was the idea of a pop star with a finite career, and Bowie always had it in mind to use his Ziggy persona for a certain time, and then ditch the idea for something else.

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Q.� Was the album a success

A.� It was the beginning of Bowie's superstardom. Having garnered critical applause for his previous albums, Ziggy Stardust was the album that catapulted Bowie into the forefront of the pop consciousness, riding the crest of the wave of Glam Rock.

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Q.� How good a record is it

A.� In terms of memorable songs, and groundbreaking presentation and lyrical content, this is about as good as Bowie gets. Apart from the startling visual imagery�- Bowie with his stick-thin body, ghost white face and shock of red hair, the music itself was shot through with a variety of metalesque guitar phasing and androgynous lyrics, both of which were considered pretty shocking back in 1972. The songs are all Bowie's apart from the slightly unusual re-working of The Kinks' It Ain't Easy.

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The stage is set with Five Years, an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world, and the first of Bowie's songs to receive the sort of navel-gazing dissection carried out by young men with more time than imagination. Theories vary from the fact that there were five years from the album release until Bowie's thirtieth birthday, to the supposed influence from his deceased father, and so on and so on. The fans didn't care, they just hugged the deviant image and flamboyant sound to their collective bosoms, and Bowie was a bona fide star, as he'd always wanted to be.

Q.� Isn't one of the songs supposed to be about Marc Bolan

A.� It is - Lady Stardust was Bowie's hymn of praise to the musician he himself regarded as the King of glam. In providing a musical tribute to Bolan, whom he admired, Bowie was truthful, unlike the endless feats of imagination with which he taunted the media and laughed at its frenzied interest in everything he said and did.

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Q.� What about the other highlights on the album

A.� Songs like Hang Onto Yourself and Suffragette City were as feisty and buzz-saw backed as anything punk was to throw out some years later, and the final cut Rock And Roll Suicide must have provided an aural backdrop to many a teenage fan's angst-ridden diary entries. There is a nicely rounded feel about this album, with tongue-in-cheek throwaway numbers, mixed with prophetic and deeply felt messages which struck home to the growing masses of Bowie fans, at the time, and still stand up well today, thirty years later.

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Q.� What happened to Ziggy

A.� As planned by Bowie, although unknown to his fans, Ziggy was indeed 'killed off' at the end of the 1973 tour, Bowie announcing from the London stage of his intention never to perform live again. It was a suitably dramatic end for his alter-ego, but as time has shown, perfectly in tune with Bowie's ability to re-invent himself regularly on a musical visual, and personal level.

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Q.� Is Ziggy gone forever

A.� Maybe not. There are rumours that Bowie plans to resurrect his space hero in this thirtieth anniversary year, but you never know with Bowie, he may just be winding up the media again, believe it if, and when, you see it. As Bowie said at the time of Ziggy Stardust: "It was fun while it lasted".

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Andy Hughes