“Rebel Rebel” by David Bowie

"Rebel Rebel" was the song David Bowie sent out ahead of Diamond Dogs in 1974, the album's lead single on RCA, and it struts in on one of the great riffs of its day: a chunky, sneering guitar figure that owes the Rolling Stones a debt and never once apologizes for it. Bowie wrote it, arranged it, produced it and played guitar on it himself, then mixed it with engineer Keith Harwood.

The credits read like a glam-era hit squad: Herbie Flowers on bass, Aynsley Dunbar and Tony Newman sharing the drum credits, Alan Parker adding guitar and Mike Garson's keyboards lurking in the corners. The result swaggers and sleazes in all the right ways. It's Bowie waving goodbye to the glitter scene he'd helped spark, while the riff itself points straight ahead to punk.

American ears got a different animal: a shorter single, rearranged, with extra backing vocals and added percussion. In Britain it went top five; in the States it stalled at 64 on the Hot 100. No matter. It became the Bowie song other artists cover more than any other, and he kept hauling it out on tour after tour.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.