David Bowie releases Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

David Bowie releases Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust on June 6, 1972

Dressed in a striking costume, his hair dyed red, David Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars—Ronson, Bolder and Woodmansey—at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972.

The show was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom as he toured the UK over the course of the next six months and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie" that was "unique—its influence lasted longer and has been more creative than perhaps almost any other force within pop fandom." The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972), combining the hard rock elements of The Man Who Sold the World with the lighter experimental rock and pop of Hunky Dory, was released in June. "Starman", issued as an April single ahead of the album, was to cement Bowie's UK breakthrough: both single and album charted rapidly following his July Top of the Pops performance of the song. The album, which would remain in the chart for two years, was soon joined there by the six-month-old Hunky Dory. At the same time the non-album single "John, I’m Only Dancing", and "All the Young Dudes", a song he wrote and produced for Mott the Hoople, became UK hits. The Ziggy Stardust Tour continued to the United States.

David Bowie contributed backing vocals to Reed's 1972 solo breakthrough Transformer, co-producing the album with Ronson. Bowie's Aladdin Sane (1973) topped the UK chart, his first number one album. Described by Bowie as "Ziggy goes to America", it contained songs he wrote while travelling to and across the United States during the earlier part of the Ziggy tour, which now continued to Japan to promote the new album. Aladdin Sane spawned the UK top five singles "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday".

Bowie's love of acting led his total immersion in the characters he created for his music "Offstage I'm a robot. Onstage I achieve emotion. It's probably why I prefer dressing up as Ziggy Stardust to being David Bowie."

With satisfaction came severe personal difficulties: acting the same role over an extended period, it became impossible for him to separate Ziggy Stardust—and, later, the Thin White Duke—from his own character offstage. Ziggy, Bowie said, "wouldn't leave me alone for years. That was when it all started to go sour ... My whole personality was affected. It became very dangerous. I really did have doubts about my sanity." His later Ziggy shows, which included songs from both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, were ultra-theatrical affairs filled with shocking stage moments, such as Bowie stripping down to a sumo wrestling loincloth or simulating oral sex with Ronson's guitar. Bowie toured and gave press conferences as Ziggy before a dramatic and abrupt on-stage "retirement" at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. Footage from the final show was released in 1983 for the film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

After breaking up the Spiders from Mars, Bowie attempted to move on from his Ziggy persona. His back catalogue was now highly sought: The Man Who Sold the World had been re-released in 1972 along with Space Oddity. "Life on Mars?", from Hunky Dory, was released in June 1973 and made number three in the UK singles chart. Entering the same chart in September, Bowie's novelty record from 1967, "The Laughing Gnome", would reach number four. Pin Ups, a collection of covers of his 1960s favourites, followed in October, producing a UK number three hit in "Sorrow" and itself peaking at number one, making David Bowie the best-selling act of 1973 in the UK. It brought the total number of Bowie albums currently in the UK chart to six

Retro History for July 6 The 50s 60s 70s 80s


Retro History For The Decade 1980

1989 Mets turn their 1st triple play in 7 years but lose to Cubs 8-4
1988 22nd Music City News Country Awards: Randy Travis and Statler Brothers
1988 3 giant turtles found in Bronx sewage plant
1987 119th Belmont: Craig Perret aboard Bet Twice wins in 2:28.2
1987 57th French Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats M Navratilova (64 46 86)
1987 New York Yankees play their 13,000th game
1986 Jurgen Schull sets world discus record, 74.07 m
1986 Kathy Ormsby, a 21-year-old member of North Carolina State track team jumps off a bridge permanently paralyzing herself
1985 55th French Womens Tennis: Chris Evert beats Navratilova (63 67 75)
1985 58th National Spelling Bee: Balu Natarajan wins spelling milieu
1985 Body of Nazi criminal, Dr. Josef Mengele located and exhumed
1985 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts "status" of Aruba
1985 Soyuz T-13 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station
1984 1,200 die in Sikh "Golden Temple" uprising India
1983 17th Music City News Country Awards: Marty Robbins and Roy Acuff
1983 Bottle with note of June 9, 1910 found in Queensland
1983 Emmy 10th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 4th time
1983 Li Xiannian becomes president/Deng Xiaoping supreme commander of China PR
1983 Nicaragua expels 3 U.S. diplomats
1983 Twins draft pitcher Tim Belcher #1
1982 30,000 Israeli troops invade Lebanon to drive out PLO
1982 36th Tony Awards: Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and Nine win
1982 52nd French Mens Tennis: Mats Wilander beats G Vilas (16 76 60 64)
1982 Bernard Glassman, installed as abbot of Zen Center of NY
1982 Joanne Carner wins LPGA McDonald 's Golf Classic
1981 113th Belmont: George Martens aboard Summing wins in 2:29
1981 51st French Womens Tennis: Hana Mandlikova beats Sylvia Hanika (62 64)
1981 Maya Yang Lin wins competition to design the Vietnam War Memorial
1980 Bjorn Borg beats John McEnroe for Wimbledon title

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 200th running of horse's Derby in England
1979 Royal Air force receives 1st F-16
1979 Willie Horton becomes 43rd player to hit 300 home runs in the majors
1978 Proposition 13 cuts California property taxes 57 percent
1977 Washington Post reports U.S. has developed neutron bomb
1977 Doobie Brothers sponsor a Golf Classic and Concert for United Way
1977 Joseph L Howze installed as bishop of Roman Catholic diocese (Miss)
1977 Supreme Court tosses out automatic death penalty laws
1976 30th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat Phoenix Suns, 4 games to 2
1976 Pat Bradley wins LPGA Girl Talk Golf Classic
1975 British voters decide to remain in Common Market
1975 Nolan Ryan's bid for 2nd no-hitter broken in 6th inning
1975 Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam established
1974 47th National Spelling Bee: Julie Ann Junkin wins spelling hydrophyte
1972 David Bowie releases 'Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust'
1972 Explosion at world's largest coal mine kills 427 (Wankie Rhodesia)
1972 Gold hits record $60 an ounce in London
1972 U.S. bombs Haiphong, North-Vietnam; 1000s killed
1971 "Ed Sullivan Show" last broadcasts on CBS-TV
1971 Air West filght 706 collides with Navy Phantom jet over LA, 50 die
1971 John Lennon and Yoko Ono unannounced appearance at Fillmore East in New York City
1971 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Lady Carling Golf Open
1971 Soyuz 11 takes 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 1 space station
1971 WHAE (now WGNX) TV channel 46 in Atlanta, Georgia (CBN) begins broadcasting
1971 Willie Mays hits record 22nd and last extra inning home run
1970 102nd Belmont: John Rotz aboard High Echelon wins in 2:34

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 Joe Namath resigns from NFL after Pete Rozelle, football commissioner, said he must sell his stake in a bar
1968 WKHA TV channel 35 in Hazard, Kentucky (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 Israeli troops occupy Gaza
1966 Activist James Meredith wounded by white sniper in Mississippi
1966 Claus Von Bulow and Martha (Sunny) Crawford wed
1966 Gemini 9 completes 45 orbits after rendezvous with "angry alligator"
1966 NFL and AFL announce their merger
1966 Stokely Carmichael launches "Black Power" movement
1965 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Blue Grass Golf Invitational
1965 Yankees Tom Tresh bangs 3 consecutive home runs beating White Sox 12-0
1964 96th Belmont: Manuel Ycaza aboard Quadrangle wins in 2:28.6
1964 Beatles arrive in netherlands
1962 Beatles meet their producer George Martin for 1st time, they record "Besame Mucho" with Peter Best on drums
1960 Roy Orbison releases "Only the Lonely"
1960 South Africa police kills 11 Pondo's at Nqusa Hill
1960 Steve Allen Show," last airs on NBC-TV

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1958 Ozzie Virgil is 1st black to play as a Tiger
1958 Premier Charles de Gaulle says Algeria will always be French
1955 Bill Haley and Comets, "Rock Around the Clock" hits #1
1954 Patty Berg wins LPGA Triangle Round Robin Golf Tournament
1950 East Germany and Poland sign treaty about Oder-Neisse border

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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! David Bowie launched his Ziggy Stardust stage show with the Spiders from Mars at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February 1972.