Writer: David Bowie
Producer: David Bowie
Recorded: December 1973 at Olympic Studios, London
Released: February 1974
| Players: | David Bowie — vocals, guitar Herbie Flowers — bass Mike Garson — keyboards Tony Newman — drums Aynsley Dunbar — drums |
| Album: | Diamond Dogs (RCA, 1974) |
“Rebel Rebel” was the first single released from David Bowie's Diamond Dogs album in 1974.
The song hit Number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a popular rock radio track. It reached Number Five on the U.K. chart.
Diamond Dogs was one of Bowie's monumental releases — it was his first album after splitting up his band, the Spiders From Mars (though keyboardist Mike Garson and drummer Aynsley Dunbar appear on the album), and he also took on the role of playing lead guitar for the album.
With its hooky power chords and glam production, “Rebel Rebel” was a deliberate choice for the album's first single, a song that would display Bowie's guitar acumen as well as a crunching rocker to assure Bowie's fans that he could still kick it up even without the Spiders.
The song also forwards the gender blending Bowie was known for during the early '70s, with lyrics such as “You've got your mother in a whirl/She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl.”
The Diamond Dogs album cover also stirred some controversy. The Guy Peellaert painting depicting Bowie with a dog's hindquarters originally featured the animal's genitals. RCA had to recall the initial shipment of the album in order to airbrush the offending image.
Diamond Dogs hit Number Five on the Billboard 200 — his best showing in the U.S. to that point — and was certified gold. It was a Number One album in the U.K.
