In the compelling debate of what album Phish will play for Halloween, many ideas and theories have been posed as to which records would create an ideal musical costumes. After perusing many of the potential albums, there is really only one choice for me – David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. Encompassing themes of hope and love within a plot of rock and roll idolatry in an apocalyptic society, Ziggy Stardust is often hailed as the seminal concept album of the 1970s.
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The History Behind Ziggy
Ziggy Stardust was David Bowie’s alien savior, who brought a musical message of salvation via rock and roll, but eventually fell from grace due to the perils of rock and roll decadence. In Bowie’s own words:
Ziggy was my Martian messiah who twanged a guitar. He was a simplistic character. I saw him as very simple… Someone who was dropped down here, got brought down to our way of thinking and ended up destroying himself (1976). Ziggy Stardust…was very much Japanese Theatre meets American science fiction (1978).
Far more than a fictional character, Ziggy Stardust gave Bowie an alter ego, one which began to take over his reality. Beginning in 1972, Bowie began introducing himself at concerts as Ziggy Stardust and his band as The Spiders From Mars. Appearing in full costume and character, Bowie was Ziggy Stardust, and as his theatrical performances continued, he over-indulged in his on-stage character.
It was quite easy to become obsessed night and day with the character. I became Ziggy Stardust. David Bowie went totally out the window. Everybody was convincing me that I was a Messiah, especially on that first American tour (late-1972). I got hopelessly lost in the fantasy (1972)
Before long, Ziggy came off the stage, permeating Bowie’s everyday life. Appearing publicly in costume, the line between Bowie and Ziggy Stardust became dangerously blurred.
I thought I might as well take Ziggy to interviews as well. Why leave him on stage? Looking back it was completely absurd. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity. I can’t deny that the experience affected me in a very exaggerated and marked manner. I think I put myself very dangerously near the line. Not in physical sense but definitively in mental sense. I played mental games with myself to such an extent that I’m very relieved and happy to be back in Europe and feeling very well (1977).
In two separate interviews in the early ’90s, Bowie reflected on his period of mental instability as he battled – and basked in – his alter-ego. Ziggy had literally become an escape from himself and his every-day life; a place to hide from David Bowie.
I enjoyed the character so much and it was so much easier for me to live within that character that, along with the help of some chemical substances at the time, it became easier and easier for me to blur the lines between reality and the blessed creature that I created – my doppelganger. I wasn’t getting rid of him at all – in fact I was joining forces with him (1990).
There was a theory that one creates a doppelganger and then imbues that with all your faults and guilts and fears and then eventually you destroy him, hopefully destroying all your guilt, fear and paranoia. And I often feel that I was doing that unwittingly, creating an alternative ego that would take on everything that I was insecure about. Ziggy served my purpose because I found it easier to function through him, although I probably put myself on a path of pure psychological damage by doing what I did. But it felt like it was going to be easier living through an alternative self. Of course the major problem was that I was blurring the lines between sanity and an insane figure, and finally did break the lines down in the mid-Seventies where I really couldn’t perceive the difference between the stage persona and myself (1993).
Looking further into Bowie’s analysis of this era, one can see parallels to the rock-idolatry and excesses that contributed to Trey’s downfall. After working his whole life to become a rock star, once Ziggy/Bowie/Trey attained his goal – well – what next? As Bowie describes Ziggy’s fate, he could easily be talking about Trey.
It was his own personality being unable to cope with the circumstances he found himself in which is being an almighty prophet-like superstar rocker. He found he didn’t know what to do once he got it. It’s an archetype really – the definitive rock n roll star. It often happens (1974).
Always cast outside of the rock and roll mainstream, Trey’s former demise followed a not-so-uncommon path. As was Ziggy’s fate, the decadence surrounding his rock and roll super-stardom brought him down; the fame, the parties, the ego, the glamour, the sex, and ultimately, the drugs. Like Ziggy’s finale, “Rock and Roll Suicide,” dark habits threatened the very survival of certain Phish members, forcing them to “break up the band,” following the fate of The Spiders From Mars. Bowie’s personal relationship to Ziggy Stardust mirrors Trey’s battle with his own rock and roll stardom and inner conflicts that brought each man to the brink.
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Ziggy Stardust– The Album
For the elaborate theatrics and space-aged costumes alone, Ziggy Stardust would make a superb spectacle for the Halloween set. But beyond the glamorous show this album could provide, the music and lyrics of Bowie’s record fit perfectly with Phish’s place in time. The dreamy psychedelia of Ziggy Stardust seems made for Phish to play, incorporating all band members (and a few horns) in forming a tapestry of Bowie’s early ’70s sound. And the copious fade-outs on almost every track is an essential detail of the record, leaving the door wide open for Phish to improvise out of almost any song. With musical coherence, symbolic relevance, poignant lyrics, Ziggy Stardust is the perfect choice for Phish this year.
1. “Five Years”
We got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we got
The album starts off with Ziggy singing a melancholy dirge for humanity, stating there are only five years left before the apocalypse. Due to a lack of natural resources, the world is on the verge of perishing. In Bowie’s explanation of the song:
Ziggy was in a rock n roll band and the kids no longer want rock n roll. There’s no electricity to play it. Ziggy’s advisors tell him to collect news and sing it, cause there is no news. So Ziggy does this and there is terrible news (Rolling Stone, 1973).
The obvious Phishy reference in this song lies in the title “Five Years,” alluding to the past half-decade we lived without Phish in our lives. But now, like Ziggy and The Spiders, the band is back to save us from a degrading society with their universal musical messages.
2. “Soul Love”
This wistful song details various forms of love and their interrelation, including the highest form – “Soul Love.” Suggesting an overt spirituality, there are religious undertones to this song, asserting that “Soul Love” is embodied by every human, a central theme in Ziggy’s extra-terrestrial message. The beauty of the universe lies within everyone, there is still hope.
3.”Moonage Daydream”
Phish would absolutely destroy this scorching song that has often been cited as the strongest track on the album. Recounting times they played the song live,