Mazierska/Sounds Northern, 5. The Contrasting Soundscapes of Hull and London in David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

In this chapter I apply the concept of the urban soundscape developed by Thompson and by Long and Collins in an analysis of the impact musicians from Hull had on the evolution of David Bowie’s seminal 1972 work The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I argue that the performance of Ziggy Stardust, both on record and on stage, is doubly coded in relation to place and space. The 'concept' of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars as a musical, a fictional story with songs performed on stage, and an accompanying album of recorded songs, initially appears to be heavily associated with London: Bowie is from London, he sings in an affected cockney accent in this work, and the cover of the LP is set in a Soho street. The format of the concept – which the writer described as theatre, rather than a rock and roll show – is derived from Bowie’s experience growing up in London in the 1950s and 1960s, a time of great change in the entertainment world, and in society and cultur