Ziggy Stardust - Sounds of the 70s - John Peel, Recorded 16.5.72, 2000 Remaster

Ziggy Stardust is a character Bowie created with the help of his then-wife, Angela. The character's name was inspired by the '60s psychobilly musician, Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Bowie performed under the Stardust persona for about a year. This specific song is about Stardust growing too conceited: "Making love with his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind." Stardust's band, The Spiders From Mars, consequently plan to get revenge on the egotistical front man: "So we bitched about his fans, and should we crush his sweet hands?" Bowie said that the song is "about the ultimate rock superstar destroyed by the fanaticism he creates."

Iggy Pop (note the name: zIGGY), Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Gene Vincent and Jimi Hendrix ("He played it left hand, but made it too far" - Hendrix was left-handed), were all likely influences on the character Ziggy Stardust, but the only musician Bowie admits was a direct influence is Vince Taylor, an English singer who took the "rock star" persona to the extreme, calling himself Mateus and declaring himself the son of God. Taylor was popular in France in the early '60s, and Bowie met him in 1966, after his popularity had faded.

Bowie based the clothes, hair, and makeup of Ziggy Stardust on the Malcom McDowell character in A Clockwork Orange, and on William Burroughs book Wild Boys. Some of the posturing was inspired by Gene Vincent, a rockabilly star who injured his leg in a 1960 car accident that killed Eddie Cochran. When Bowie saw Vincent in concert, he was wearing a leg brace and had to stand with his injured leg behind him; Bowie appropriated this stance, calling it "position number one for the embryonic Ziggy."