Photo: Press
David Bowie’s classic album, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars is to be inducted into the Library Of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
The library preserves recordings for posterity that are of “cultural, artistic and historical importance to American society.” Bowie’s 1972 breakthrough album joins a list of 25 albums that will be inducted this year.
Other albums making this year’s list are Don McLean’s American Pie, The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits and Talking Heads’ Remain In Light.
Librarian Of Congress Carla Hayden said: “This year’s exciting list gives us a full range of sound experiences. These sounds of the past enrich our understanding of the nation’s cultural history and our history in general.”
The Library Of Congress rates the album thus: “On this apocalyptic concept album, Bowie combined several themes from his previous work to create the persona of Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous rock star who communicates with space aliens and whose rise and fall heralds the end of the world.
“While the album fits squarely in the glam-rock genre of the time, it incorporates influences from soul (‘Soul Love’), blues, cabaret, garage rock, proto-punk (‘Suffragette City’) and stadium rock guitar (‘Moonage Daydream’). Bowie’s knowledge of theater is also on display with his voice ranging from sneering and outrageous to sincere and mellow.
“Aided by Mick Ronson’s blistering guitar, at least two of the songs - ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and ‘Suffragette City’ —can be considered rock standards.”
