What's the best track on Ziggy Stardust

I thought Moonage Daydream when I saw the thread title, before seeing the tracklisting (it's years since I've listened to this album). Now I'm confronted with Starman, Suffragette City & Rock'n'Roll Suicide I'm not sure!

Lady Stardust is clearly the best.

Starman. Sorry.

Although obviously a good album, I'm wondering whether it really deserves its reputation... it's far and away Bowie's best known LP, the one that really broke him, his Sgt Pepper, Starman on TOTP key moment in 70s musical history, bla bla bla... but honestly I can think of a half a dozen Bowie albums I'd rather hear. I think Bowie himself has said it's overrated and he finds the sound thin... all in all I think Hunky Dory's the better album of this period. Aladdin Sane not as good perhaps but does Ziggy have anything as musically imaginative as the Aladdin Sane title track? It's pretty conventional rock for its time, isn't it?

Anyway, I go for Five Years (despite that horribly clunky dying/lying couplet)...

"Moonage Daydream" by a Lunar mile.

lady stardust!

I almost picked five years too - I didn't think there'd be so much love for that track out of all of them. Still, went with Moonage Daydream.

Further to what some people are suggesting, this is one of the most important albums in my lifetime (important to me personally, I mean), but the truth is, when you break it down song by song as in this poll it's really kind of wanting. Four or five individual tracks hold up well, the rest sound ok in context and at least a couple are out and out shit. I probably like "Hang on to Yourself" best. (And much prefer the two hard rockers from Aladdin Sane--"Watch That Man" and "Panic in Detroit"--to just about anything here... Pin Ups is also a better listen.

Pin Ups is also a better listen.

Away wi' ye

I'm not going as far as saying Pin Ups is better, but there is something a little two-dimensional about the album compared to the ones either side. Now I'm thinking about it, maybe Aladdin Sane is actually better than Ziggy, despite the horrendous Let's Spend The Night Together.

Away wi' you too

No way is "Aladdin Sane" better than ZSATSFM, and "Hunky Dory" is such a different kind of album, I wouldn't compare the two

Ziggy and Hunky Dory were only recorded a few weeks apart I think... are they really so different as to be uncomparable? Hunky Dory's more eclectic, less rocky, but both sound pretty much of their (common) time and place.

A few weeks apart? I don't think they were. "Hunky Dory" is more singer songwriterish, more arranged, ZSATSFM has a band feel to it - same musicians playing on every track.

Pin Ups and (the best parts of) Aladdin Sane are way better listens than Ziggy--what's the big surprise in that? The best of them all, by a longshot, though, is Hunky Dory, which is as perfect as any Bowie album.

http://hometown.aol.com/sillysongbook/images/weird%20al%20bw%20autograph.jpg http://www.thirdwayblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/robert-goulet.jpg

Get it?

A few weeks apart? I don't think they were. "Hunky Dory" is more singer songwriterish, more arranged, ZSATSFM has a band feel to it - same musicians playing on every track.

According to http://www.5years.com:

Hunky Dory recorded April 1971. Moonage Daydream/Hang On To Yourself recorded & released May 1971 (although not the album versions). "It Ain't Easy" recorded June 1971. Most of the rest of the album recorded November 1971, ie, before Hunky Dory was even released!

Although I agree the two albums have a different vibe, there are quite a lot of similarities, surely. A song like Queen Bitch could have sat happily on Ziggy. Lady Stardust wouldn't have sounded out of place on Hunky Dory. Velvet Goldmine could have gone on either. Ultimately, I think Hunky Dory has a little more depth.

You're right, on reflection, they're not that different. Thing is, I like every song on "Ziggy" but I don't like every song on "Hunky Dory"

Fair enough!

that horribly clunky dying/lying couplet

More than made up for by

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour
Drinking milkshakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine
I don't think you knew you were in this song

Yeah, 5 years has an odd mix of horrible and sublime lyrics. That "earth was really dying", though, truly awful!

Really tough choice, but "Moonage Daydream."

Brutal.

I'm with the Five Years/Moonage Daydream/Lady Stardust crowd, but y'know what? Ziggy Stardust absolutely crushes if you can put aside the 500 times you've already heard it and listen as if for the first time...

I voted for Lady Stardust and it was all right.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Moonage Daydream?! I usually skip that song

This snippet from a Feb. 1972 interview is supposed to explain the asinine inclusion of "It Ain't Easy":

Interviewer: Could you explain a little more in-depth about the album that's coming out ... Ziggy?

Bowie: I'll try very hard...its a little difficult but it originally started as a concept album, but it kind of got broken up because I found other songs I wanted to put in the album which wouldn't have fitted into the story of Ziggy...so at the moment its a little fractured and a little fragmented...

More here.

Awful, awful song.

"Suffragette City," Teh Lurker's Choice!

Get it?

-- Hurting 2

I don't get it, Hurting, sorry. Looking forward to the explanation!

The lurkers surprise me. I thought they'd have gone for "Starman" or maybe the title track, but it seems "Sufragette City" was their pick.

I'm so happy "Five Years" placed so well. That is honestly the song that has prevented this album from falling into the oblivion of my memory.

Here he is, 1972:

Though I really do want to give a big shoutout to Moonage Daydream, thanks Alex for mentioning that one.

There are so many great tracks, and as such I have no problem with the huge following for "Moonage Daydream" and "Five Years". Both excellent.

Five years. It's almost like he's talking about punk: 1977. Good god.

"Moonage Daydream" was the correct answer.

"it ain'e easy" shouldve been replaced with "suffragette city"

I know, I'm drunk, I'll wear hangover shame tomorrow but by god Bowie has killed me.

Here's Moonage Daydream:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79JKclG-oc

And possibly more importantly, here's "My Death", the Jacques Brel cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIzE3j84kKU

and what's this interesting White Stripes cover of Moonage Daydream?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR6WUS4ya5M

this is the best : "starman"
with all the children boogie, the half white half black long hair and mick and david hugging each other...the harmony...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muMcWMKPEWQ&mode=related&search=

Okay I finally have the Ziggy movie now. I had to take a taxi to get there, though because the video shops in my neighborhood didn't have it. It makes me feel so weird cause I saw it in theaters when I was 11 years old and I tried to understand the whole cult around him but I couldn't understand at the time. I remember it came out around the time Prince's Purple Rain did. I feel like a prodigal son.

Holy shit, he mentions T-Rex in "All The Young Dudes" doesn't he?

Ground Control to Major Tom.

Bowie to play the Ziggy Stardust album live at Coachella 2009?

I can think of albums that a sixtysomething, post-heart-attack Bowie could perform with dignity, but Ziggy isn't one of them.

I also see no reason why he should become a pure nostalgia act. Unlike The Who and The Eagles, Bowie's last couple of albums were pretty good. No, not as good as "Ziggy Stardust" or the rest of his classic 70s output, but still good enough to stand in their own feet as pretty nice pop albums.

pretty nice pop albums.

Well, no disregard to you here, but wouldn't DBowie hate being described thus?

Also, it's been a long time since his last one, and no-one's been missing/yearning for it like they did for the Stone Roses, back in the day!

Moonage Daydream is a bit of an odd winner. It's good, but Five Years, Starman, Lady Stardust and Rock N Roll Suicide tower over it.

aladdin sane is a better album overall. much less thin sounding.

How did "It Ain't Easy" not get one single vote.

It's not the best song on the record, but damn, The White Stripes have based their whole career from that one song.

it is weird as hell that no-one voted for 'it ain't easy,' but i really like the results in this poll. the top three are really obviously the top three songs on the album, but only by a hair's breadth, you know? i would have put 'five years' at #2 but that's only because i fucking LOVE that song.

yeah man. this album. i know like, low/lodger/hunky dory are probably the best bowie albums, but this is absolutely my fave. what i don't get is where the hell has it been all my life. ultra-hip sf concept-rock SPEAKS to me, man.

it ain't easy is a real zero, marc...think of the songs he left off!

i'm not terribly surprised that it got no votes, but i am always surprised that people don't like it - or tend to be rather indifferent. i personally think Bowie does something really special with it.

here's the original(?); starts about a minute in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFWsZHaQ2Sc

Mitch Ryder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlWEAqZS1Sc

Three Dog Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LEuVgmS71c

Raconteurs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ElJXtn3CGk&feature=related

It's not the best song on the record, but damn, The White Stripes have based their whole career from that one song.

Double P otm

Hang on to Yourself 2

:-(

"Arnold Corns" version of Hang On is better than the lp version.

^^Ditto. "Hang on to Yourself" is incredible; it's the song I always play for my middle-school students on DB's birthday.

Perhaps the most appropriate thread -- sadly, Spiders bassist Trevor Bolder has lost his battle with cancer:

http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/trevor-bolder-dead-at-62/

R.I.P...he had sideburns...

R.I.P.

.... these poll results are nonsense btw. Lady Stardust was robbed.

Was wondering which was the most appropriate thread. RIP

Aw. Fuck cancer. RIP, awesome sidey-spidey-man.

RIP Trev. Only one Spider left now :(

looking at results and reading thread with star man in mind, why people didnt vote for it, etc is a p meat summation of ilm and why it is awful

neat ffs neat

david appreciates your support

-_-

Did I miss the part where people talked about not voting for "Starman?" Like one guy says he didn't because other people would. Personally think it's kind of a corny song, melodically speaking.

Rock n roll suicide should have been the clear winner here.

the Lady was kinda robbed.

yeah that would have been my second choice. best opening verse for sure.

when i was first getting into music like 30 years ago, it seemed like this was the canonical david bowie album, the one that showed up on all the lists etc. now it feels like there isn't really a canonical best bowie album, like everyone has their personal favorites. am i wrong? or is this still generally considered the big bowie album/the one you tell people to start with/etc?

it's a fun album but if personally i'm in a bowie mood it's rarely the one i put on

That's about right. Ziggy was more readily available in the late '80s, I guess?

I recognize it as an objectively spectacular, great album - but subjectively, there are loads of Bowie albums which speak to me way more & I'm much more prone to want to listen to.

OTM. Aladdin Sane = best glam-era Bowie for me, but Ziggy makes/made sense as the consensus classic. Would have voted "Soul Love" here...

back when it was important to define bowie as a rock musician first and foremost, it made sense that this was the consensus pick

^^^ this

Low, Heroes, Lodger were reissued in 1983 but were out of print iirc by the time Ziggy started appearing in Rolling Stone lists.