If you have an hour to spare this holiday weekend, please allow us to suggest David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust, a wonderful recent BBC4 documentary on everyone’s favorite alter ego. Narrator Jarvis Cocker begins in appropriately heavy terms, booming out, “Forty years ago, in millions of living rooms across the British Isles, a strange alien creature was beamed onto our television screens. With bright red hair and multi-colored space suit, his unearthly appearance shocked the nation. But for many teenagers who experienced this televisual visitation, it would change their lives forever… Music on Planet Earth would never be the same again.” We can’t argue with that. Click through to watch the documentary, with talking head appearances by everyone from Elton John to the remaining Spiders from Mars.
[via @openculture]