Music Banter - View Single Post

Pet_Sounds · 11-24-2014, 04:30 PM

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, Ziggy Stardust is a "concept album" -- an album in which each song adds to a unified whole.

While researching concept albums, I ran across three articles discussing the first modern concept album. One claimed that the title belonged to The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, because the songs all described Brian Wilson's emotions at the time. Bollocks. Every album describes the songwriter's or songwriters' emotions. The only "concept" in Pet Sounds is in making "Wouldn't It Be Nice" the opening track and "Caroline No" the closer, which, if read into, could describe the loss of innocence and a failed romance, both common themes in Wilson's work. Another claimed that The Beatles were first, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album chronicles a fictitious concert, complete with applause. Quite frankly, the "concept" only applies to the opener and title track, "With a Little Help From My Friends", and the title track's reprise. Once again, it's not a concept album, it's a couple of concept songs. The third article cited The Who's The Who Sell Out, which is supposedly a broadcast from a fictitious pirate radio station. That I'll buy. The band members even recorded commercials and jingles. While the idea was conceived much earlier, perhaps in the 1940s, The Who Sell Out was the first "true" rock concept album.

Back to Bowie. The "concept", or story, of Ziggy Stardust, is rather… unusual. Humanity has five years left to survive. Ziggy Stardust is an alien rock star who is sent to Earth on a mission to spread news and hope through his songs. He discovers that the world can be saved through alien "infinites", who are actually black holes. However, the infinites have no interest in saving the world, partially because they're kind of… formless. In the closer, "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", they tear Ziggy to pieces and thus take shape in human form.

Got it?

Tomorrow, I'll be messing with the concept slightly -- rewriting the story, so to speak.

11-24-2014, 04:30 PM	#42 (permalink)
Pet_Sounds Remember the underscore Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The other side Posts: 2,488	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars Part 2 As I mentioned yesterday, Ziggy Stardust is a "concept album" -- an album in which each song adds to a unified whole. While researching concept albums, I ran across three articles discussing the first modern concept album. One claimed that the title belonged to The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, because the songs all described Brian Wilson's emotions at the time. Bollocks. Every album describes the songwriter's or songwriters' emotions. The only "concept" in Pet Sounds is in making "Wouldn't It Be Nice" the opening track and "Caroline No" the closer, which, if read into, could describe the loss of innocence and a failed romance, both common themes in Wilson's work. Another claimed that The Beatles were first, with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album chronicles a fictitious concert, complete with applause. Quite frankly, the "concept" only applies to the opener and title track, "With a Little Help From My Friends", and the title track's reprise. Once again, it's not a concept album, it's a couple of concept songs. The third article cited The Who's The Who Sell Out, which is supposedly a broadcast from a fictitious pirate radio station. That I'll buy. The band members even recorded commercials and jingles. While the idea was conceived much earlier, perhaps in the 1940s, The Who Sell Out was the first "true" rock concept album. Back to Bowie. The "concept", or story, of Ziggy Stardust, is rather… unusual. Humanity has five years left to survive. Ziggy Stardust is an alien rock star who is sent to Earth on a mission to spread news and hope through his songs. He discovers that the world can be saved through alien "infinites", who are actually black holes. However, the infinites have no interest in saving the world, partially because they're kind of… formless. In the closer, "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", they tear Ziggy to pieces and thus take shape in human form. Got it? Tomorrow, I'll be messing with the concept slightly -- rewriting the story, so to speak. __________________ Everybody's dying just to get the disease