The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is a concept album that made David Bowie not only a famous singer but also a cult figure. Its title track examines the story’s antihero, an alien rock star who’s come to save the human spirit in the face of Earth’s imminent destruction. But Ziggy got so sidetracked by fame and so blindsided by excess that it eventually led to his own destruction. “I couldn’t decide whether I was writing the characters, or whether the characters were writing me, or whether we were all one and the same,” says David Bowie, who embraced Ziggy as his alter ego at the time.