Rebl_Rebl

from the LP Diamond Dogs, RCA Records, 1974



The opening riff on this track is one of the catchiest damn hooks ever, and it commands me to choose this song from among the forty-or-so other Bowie tracks I have on the old computer here. Although it is the glitter god himself handling the guitar-playing duties on this recording, I suspect he wasn’t the original author of that riff; this song was written a couple years before its release, during the Ziggy Stardust sessions, so it was probably another winner from his underrated pal Mick Ronson. At any rate, the moment this song starts playing in any public setting (bar, restaurant, ballgame, etc…), the driving guitar and notorious cowbell literally force people to tap their feet & bob their heads. The lyrics roll out like some musical m/documentary of the entire glam rock scene, a frenzy which was akin to Beatlemania in the UK but made only a small stir across the pond here; I always wonder if our American version of masculinity just wouldn’t allow for such a scene to take off, as compared to England, where eccentricity and effeminate men are almost celebrated, in popular culture anyways. “You’ve got your mother in a whirl, ‘cause she’s, not sure if you’re a boy or a girl; hey babe, your hair’s alright; hey babe, let’s go out tonight…” If you were walking around the streets of London from around 1970-1976 you were sure to see hordes of teenage boys wearing eyeliner and glitter smeared all over them. “…we like dancing and we look divine; you love bands when they’re playin’ hard, you want more and you want it fast…” I have this theory, which is solely my own half-cracked presupposition, that the vast majority of aspiring guitar players during the late ‘60s basically saw and heard what Jimi Hendrix was doing, and said to themselves, “Well self, that’s basically it then, we’re just gonna have to dress up something simpler, ‘cause there ain’t no fucking way I’m gonna get there…” In any case, glam musicians really stripped rock music down to the bare elements that had been explored more in the ‘50s than the ‘60s: no endless noodling, no acid-washed guitar solos, and no more album sides taken up by only one long song. Much has been written about the integral part glam rock plays in the milieu which became the impetus for punk rock, and you can certainly hear that in this song. I must confess, I’m also partial to his line, “…you got your, queue lines & a handful of ‘ludes…” Ahhhhh, what I wouldn’t give for a handful of Quaaludes sometimes…hell, gimmie a whole damn freezer full, the way the world is going anymore…