The first time I heard this week's tune, I was driving my parents car to one of my college classes, and I was absolutely convinced it was a Neil Young song I'd never heard before because the guitars sounded exactly like Neil Young guitars. When I got home later that day I immediately went to check my three or four Neil Young albums and was extremely disappointed that it appeared on none of them. Some time later, I managed to get to a music store and checked the big music catalogs they used to have (whose name I have completely forgotten) and discovered it was by David Bowie. Oddly enough, as I did my half-assed research this week, the guitar work in the song was compared again and again to the Rolling Stones. After re-listening, I still think it sounds a lot more like Neil Young....
Man, I'm not even going to try a synopsis of David Bowie's career. Not only is it long, varied, and critically acclaimed, it is flat intimidating. He truly was one of the few geniuses pop music ever spawned, and his influence will be felt long after most of us have left this vale. Just to give you an idea, in the first week after his death, Bowie had 19 albums and 13 singles in the U.K. top one hundred albums and singles. He is obviously a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2016 Rolling Stone named him the greatest rock star ever (debatable, but I certainly didn't think "You've got to be fucking kidding!"). In the you don't know what you've got till it's gone category, Bowie won the bulk of his Grammy Awards and Brit Awards after his death in 2016. His discography is mammoth, having released 27 studio LPs and 128 singles over the course of his 54 year career. He will be remembered for his music, his lyricism, his artistic tendencies, and his showmanship. A once in a lifetime artist--enough said.
Fun Fact: I was actually going to make this post's fun fact the fact that I could have made an entire post of fun facts just about Bowie's career, but I decided to opt instead for what Bowie said after he listened to "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard for the first time: it was like he had "heard God."
"Rebel Rebel" was released as the first single from Bowie's seminal work Diamond Dogs in 1974. The single would hit #5 in his native U.K. and a somewhat disappointing #64 (with a bullet!) in the U.S. (possibly because his label released a shorter version here that most think pales in comparison to the original). The album went to #1 in the U.K. and was Bowie's first big hit in the States, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200.
"Rebel Rebel" is considered to be Bowie's goodbye to glam rock and his Ziggy Stardust persona, and if so, it's a hell of a parting. Needless to say, the amount of my life spent partaking in anything other than reading about glam would fit inside Donald Trump's pea brain. Nonetheless, when you hear Bowie's guitars (and yes, it's Bowie playing the guitar) and his fuck all vocals you are left captured by an incredible swan song. And the fact that you don't need to live the glam life to both feel and understand this paean to youth probably says all you need to know about it. It was the song that made me begin paying attention to David Bowie, and had I but world enough and time, I'm sure I would have explored every nook and cranny of his music. As is, a brilliant tune from a brilliant--and much missed--artist.
Lyric Sheet: "We like dancing and we look divine/You love bands when they're playing hard/You want more and you want it fast..."
Enjoy:
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Peace,
emaycee
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