When Ziggy Played Guitar
Hard to believe it's been 40 years since David Bowie's landmark 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It will be reissued in a special 40th anniversary edition on June 5th 2012. The record, which was Bowie's fifth and features such enduring classics as Five Years, Moonage Daydream, Starman and Ziggy Stardust will be presented in several formats, including CD, 180-gram vinyl and 5.1 mix DVD. The original album shows Bowie dressed as Ziggy standing with one foot on the steps leading into a building that, at the time, housed late photographer Brian Ward's makeshift studio . Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet recently unveiled a plaque at the location in Heddon Street, London. Kemp said, “Ziggy was the ultimate messianic rock star, and with him David Bowie successfully blurred the lines not just between boys and girls, but himself and his creation. Bowie was Ziggy come to save us."