Twenty years after its initial publication, this unparalleled visual guide to the cultural phenomenon that was Ziggy Stardust has been revamped to celebrate the half-century since the Spiders From Mars crashlanded into British living rooms. Well, that’s what it felt like at the time for any Top Of The Pops viewer who witnessed David Bowie’s 1972 performance of Starman with his arms around guitarist Mick Ronson. Bowie looked like he’d travelled around the cosmos a few times since his Space Oddity performance of 1969 – an alien to this world.
What Moonage Daydream does so well is chart that development through the thousands of photographs that legendary photographer Mick Rock took of Bowie in the lead-up to the launch of his alter ego, Ziggy Stardust – across tours, single performances, the release of the seminal Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album release to, of course, the final death of Ziggy when Bowie broke up the band.
Visually stunning and featuring plenty of words from the man himself, there’s no better way to see how the myth was first conjured by the late master of magic and music, David Bowie aka Aladdin Sane, the Thin White Duke, Major Tom… and, of course, Ziggy Stardust.
Moonage Daydream, David Bowie / Mick Rock (Genesis)
Price: £45. Info: here
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
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