[18][15] The next day the band recorded two takes of "Moonage Daydream", one of "Soul Love", two of "Lady Stardust", and two of a new version of The Man Who Sold the World track "The Supermen".

[15] Reconvening on 4 January 1972, the band held rehearsals for three days at Will Palin's Underhill Studios in Blackheath, London, in preparation for the final recording sessions.

[20] After recording some of the new songs for radio presenter Bob Harris's Sounds of the 70s as the newly dubbed Spiders from Mars in January 1972,[20] the band returned to Trident that month to begin work on "Suffragette City" and "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide".

[34] A girlfriend recalled Bowie "scrawling notes on a cocktail napkin about a crazy rock star named Iggy or Ziggy", and on his return to England he declared his intention to create a character "who looks like he's landed from Mars".

[54] In 2015, Tanja Stark proposed that due to Bowie's well-known fascination with esoterica and his self-identification as 'Jungian', the Ziggy character may be a neologism influenced by Carl Jung, Greek and Gnostic concepts of Syzygy with their connotations of androgyny, the conjunction of male and female, and union of celestial bodies "hinting perhaps, at 'Syzygy' Stardust as futuristic alchemical theatre ... foreshadow[ing] the double-headed mannequin of 'Where Are We Now?'

"[59] Ziggy directly introduces himself in "Moonage Daydream", where he proclaims himself "an alligator" (strong and remorseless), "a mama-papa" (non-gender specific), "the space invader" (alien and phallic), "a rock 'n' rollin' bitch", and a "pink-monkey-bird" (gay slang for a recipient of anal sex).

[62] He is described as a "well-hung, snow white-tanned, left-hand guitar-playing man" who rises to fame with his backing band the Spiders from Mars, but he lets his ego take control of him, effectively alienating his fans and losing his bandmates.

Perone argues that although listeners tend to pay closer attention to Ronson's electric, Ziggy Stardust is "one of the better albums" in Bowie's catalogue to highlight his rhythm guitar playing.

[79][80] While "Five Years" contains what author David Buckley calls a "heartbeat-like" drum beat,[81] "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" starts acoustic and builds to a lush arrangement, backed by an orchestra.

Pegg describes the shot as: "Bowie (or Ziggy) [stands] as a diminutive figure dwarfed by the shabby urban landscape, picked out in the light of a street lamp, framed by cardboard boxes and parked cars".

[94] Published on 22 January 1972 with the headline "Oh You Pretty Thing",[95] the announcement garnered publicity in both Britain and America,[96] although according to Pegg the declaration was not as monumental as latter-day accounts perceive.

[15] According to Cann, the ambiguity surrounding Bowie's sexuality drew press attention for his tour dates, the upcoming album and the subsequent "John, I'm Only Dancing" non-album single.

[103] By 1 July, "Starman" rose to number 41 on the UK Singles Chart, earning Bowie an invitation to perform on the BBC television programme Top of the Pops.

[70] Bowie appeared in a brightly coloured rainbow jumpsuit, astronaut boots, and with "shocking" red hair while the Spiders wore blue, pink, scarlet, and gold velvet attire.

[122] Watts said in Melody Maker that while Ziggy Stardust had "no well-defined story line", it had "odd songs and references to the business of being a pop star that overall add up to a strong sense of biographical drama.

"[123] In Rolling Stone, writer Richard Cromelin thought the album was good, but he felt that it and its style might not be of lasting interest: "We should all say a brief prayer that his fortunes are not made to rise and fall with the fate of the 'drag-rock' syndrome.

[130] Meanwhile, Lillian Roxon of New York Sunday News chose Ziggy Stardust over the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. as the best album of the year up to that point, even considering Bowie "the Elvis of the Seventies".

[135] A show at the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth on 10 February of the same year was hugely popular, catapulting him to stardom and creating, as described by Buckley, a "cult of Bowie".

[138] Fearing that Ziggy would define his career, Bowie quickly developed a new persona for his follow-up album, Aladdin Sane (1973), which was mostly recorded from December 1972 to January 1973 between legs of the tour.

[154] The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars made [Bowie] a household name and left a milestone on the highway of popular music, rewriting the terms of the performer's contract with his audience and ushering in a new approach to rock's relationship with artifice and theatre that permanently altered the cultural aesthetic of the twentieth century.

[108] Writing on Bowie's influence on the glam rock genre as a whole, Joe Lynch of Billboard called both Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane records that "ensured his long-term career and infamy".

[162] Before their formation, the members of the English gothic rock band Bauhaus watched Bowie's performance of "Starman" on Top of the Pops, recalling that it was "a significant and profound turning point in their lives".

[163] In 2004, the Brazilian singer Seu Jorge contributed five cover versions of Bowie songs, three of them from Ziggy Stardust, to the soundtrack for the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

[67][180][181] When reviewing the 30th anniversary edition of Ziggy Stardust in 2002, Daryl Easlea of Record Collector called the album "a monumental piece of work", praising the backing band of the Spiders and noting its cultural impact.

[157] Erlewine wrote for AllMusic: "Bowie succeeds not in spite of his pretensions but because of them, and Ziggy Stardust–familiar in structure, but alien in performance–is the first time his vision and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.

"[26] Greg Kot writing for Chicago Tribune, described the album as a "guitar-fueled song cycle", saying it "enacted the deaths of Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix, and the '60s" and that it "presaged the dread, decadence and eroticism of a new era.

[108][157][183] Reviewing its 40th anniversary, Jordan Blum of PopMatters writes: "It's easy to appreciate how Ziggy Stardust was a revolutionary record in 1972, and it's still as vibrant, significant, and enjoyably today.

[184] Reviewing in 2015, Douglas Wolk of Pitchfork commented that while it has an incoherent concept overall, it still remains a great collection of tracks, "overflowing with huge riffs and huger personae".

Obviously, contrarians will insist other albums have proven to carry greater cultural weight or defined his artistic legacy better, but revisit Ziggy today and its visceral and emotional impact remains undeniable.

[213] The same year, on 14 June 2024, Parlophone released a five-disc box set entitled Rock 'n' Roll Star!, chronicling Bowie's Ziggy Stardust period, featuring various unreleased tracks, including demos, outtakes and live performances.