Contextual Studies David Bowie - Rebel, Rebel
- by Melaguasta
- Apr 1, 2015
- 7 min read
David Bowie is a British rock personality, well renowned for his chameleon-like artistic transformations. Born in London on the 8th of January 1947 as David Jones, he subsequently changed his name to Bowie (inspired from the infamous Bowie knife), to avoid confusion with his namesake Davy Jones of the group The Monkees.
Bowie has always been an exclusively captivating performer, whose artistic career path has been marked by a constant dynamism that has made him one of the all time rocks’ music stalwarts. Because of his ever changing style and appearance, his music and approach to music have, many times, been met with a sort of wariness by some, whom often suggested he was borrowing other artists’ ideas. In his defence Bowie has always suggested that this practice is like having a new colour to draw with, leaving the artist to use it as he sees fit.
The song I have chosen for this project is David Bowie’s salutation to Glitter Rock (Glam Rock), “Rebel Rebel”, released on RCA, on the1974 album “Diamond Dogs”. This essay aims to give some observations into the phonic elements of the song and how these are pertinent to the social, economic and technological context in which it was produced and released, considering its connection with its musical genre.
The Album - Diamond Dogs
Since archiving his Ziggy Stardust alter ego and splitting from the “Spiders from Mars”, and guitarist Mick Ronson in 1973, “Diamond Dogs” was Bowie’s first solo album in which he entirely undertook the role of lead guitarist, giving the album its characteristic rough and raw sound.
“Diamond Dogs” was originally intended to be a theatre version of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four” but apparently his widow did not allow this to become a reality, therefore Bowie ended up assimilating it into his larger distorted version of a post apocalyptic world. The album was recorded in the United Kingdom and Holland in 1973/74 and it was fundamentally produced by David Bowie himself and by Tony Visconti, whom Bowie reunited to work with from this moment onwards for the next decade, for the 1974 release on RCA.
Songs as such as “1984” and “Rock’n’Roll with Me” and the album’s cover, which featured a David Bowie mutating into a strange half-dog\half-human being, gave an important scope into Bowie’s future artistic direction. Nevertheless, “Rebel Rebel” was still very much part of Ziggy’s persona with his outrageous outfits and trademark orange haircut. Mellotrons and Moogs synthesisers densely featured throughout the album, even though Bowie’s infamous guitar riff was conceived on a red Fender Stratocaster.
Rebel, Rebel
“Rebel Rebel” was released in February 1974 as a teaser for “Diamond Dogs”, which was out in April of that year, and may be considered somewhat different from the rest of the album, a one last goodbye from Bowie’s creation Ziggy Stardust. The song reached n.5 spot on the UK cart and made it into the top 100 in the United States, Mexico and Canada in May 1974.
The song’s structure is pretty simple and straight-forward. The up-tempo 4/4 stomping drum beat only variation happens at the very moment when it is briefly withdrawn to leave space for the main hook. The guitar riff is one of the kinds that sticks right into the listener’s mind never to leave again and consolidates the track as a swaggering and razor-sharp rock classic. According to guitarist Alan Parker, who was credited with the last three descending notes of the guitar loop (Ab, D and E),
Bowie apparently came up with the catchy Rolling Stones-style riff to upset Mick Jagger, whom he had an obsession with. Although Bowie is renowned for grabbing ideas from other artists, it seems somewhat implausible that the Stones came up with the original and held it for themselves, instead of unleashing it onto the world’s audience.
In the UK version of “Rebel Rebel”, fairly longer than its US counterpart, the guitar riff loops itself well over four minutes and it is dropped only in the two bridges, and at the end of every chorus. Bowie loves to recount a curious anecdote about the famous riff in a hotel where he was staying. He says that someone in a nearby room was ‘slaughtering’ the “Rebel Rebel” riff in a very amateurish style so much so that he felt compelled to knock on his neighbours’ door to teach him how to play it properly, only to discover that it was the famous tennis player John McEnroe.
With its simple and transgressive gender bender lyrics and a massive 40 bar chorus, David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” is about rebellion against the clichés of traditional society, the triumph of youth against the mundane of conventional life. Furthermore, the vague universality of the lyrics of "Rebel Rebel”, which was mainly aimed at the teenage audience, appeals to everyone -”you like me / And I like it all / We like dancing / And we look divine". The track is about the right of freedom from some sort of sexual repression and, with clever intent, Bowie leaves open questions about who he is singing about, in such a way, that anyone who listens to the track may relate to it.
Social, Economic and Technological Context
In the 1970s, Great Britain was struggling with rising football violence, IRA bombings, short working weeks, countless strikes, riots and ever rising inflation. Power cuts were very common during those years and people from any walks of life, rich or poor had to share the intimate experience of dining in the dark or studying with the help of candle lights. According to Nickell and Van Reenen, on the other hand, the United Kingdom’s 1970s were characterised by a low index of professional skills and substantial inefficiency in acquiring fresh technological innovations, underlining a radical difference in economic growth compared to that of the United States. Nonetheless, across the Atlantic, the States were also dealing with power cuts, rising crime figures and a grave social turmoil due to the Vietnam War, with people hitting the American’s streets in the form of riots and anti-war demonstrations .
People were still listening to music on classic vinyl records but also, ever more increasingly, on low noise/quality-improved compact cassettes,
which used higher grade metal tapes and could double as recording mediums as well. Radio was also becoming more popular with the introduction of the new, modern and definitely more teenager oriented, BBC Radio One network. Moreover, nightclubs such the “Marquee Club” were taking over from 1950s dancehalls, contributing in launching the careers of Bowie and many of his peers.
However, despite all the austerity measures, everyone seemed to own a colour TV set. On the box, the United Kingdom national psyche was best summoned by the character “Basil” in the sitcom “Faulty Towers”. The hotel itself, with its decadent wallpaper and cold rooms, had only a few regular guests whom would often voice their concerned view about immigrants and labourers strikes. It was an exact analogy emblem of the state of Britain’s economy during that period, the Wilson and Heath years. Horror and devastation seemed to be the main themes in movies at cinemas all over the world with film such as “The towering Inferno”, “Earthquake” and “Hurricane” reaching great popularity.
Even so the disco parties in which black, gay and L
atin communities kept going in full swing, pornography was coming in fast from Europe and, thanks to the introduction of the credit card, lavish recklessness was happening all over the UK , with an ever increasing number of the English population undertaking more holidays abroad than ever before. Additionally, male homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967 and experienced unparalleled prominence during the 1970s, with the sexually unequivocal novel by Angus Wilson “As if by Magic” and the renowned British TV comedy “Are you being served?” by Humphrey’s, reaching the British public on a grand scale.
In 1974 Glam Rock, with its characteristic bright colours and glossiness, reached the height of its popularity, questioning the general public’s understanding of dress code and sexuality. This was a perfect setting for David Bowie’s visions of a doomed, post- apocalyptic.
It is during this era of social and economic unrest that David Bowie is widely regarded as a characterising cultural figure firstly for his ever changing sexual orientation and rebellious androgynous personas, and secondly for his great focus on the theatrical side of his character.
By 1973, David Bowie was the full embodiment of Glam Rock, with his acute sense of stage performance, densely drawing from his dubious sexuality and androgynous appearance. During the very same year, Bowie announced to the world that he was bisexual, giving him more freedom to jot down more outrageous artistic material for his stage performances. He was glancing at the future while stealing from the past. Mick Ronson, who had been Bowie guitarist until 1973, cautiously said that, being gay, or having a gay outlook, was the fashionable way to be during the days of Glam Rock.
Other bands, such as Marc Bolan’s T-Rex and Brian Ferry’s Roxy Music’s, fully embraced the Glam Rock dressing up style, even though the former’s music was mainly classic rock, and the latter’s was more avant-garde and urbane.
Although Bowie and his Glam Rock peers could easily get away with their scandalous Hollywood style clothing as performing artist, many of his fans who thought of coming out as gay by dressing in full dresses, glitter and make up, were not so widely accepted by the British society. For this reason, many gay man and women during that period, felt obliged to hide their true sexual orientations on the account that the public was still very much suspicious and not so ready to accept them into the fabric of ‘normal’ society. In a 1975 survey of about 2000 people from the British public, less than half accepted gay men and women to live as normal couples, whilst more than 60% made it clear that they were not so at ease in seeing homosexuals undertaking important society roles such as doctors or teachers.
Conclusion
The year 2014 was the 40th recurrence of David Bowie’s infamous song and, for the occasion, he released a 7th limited edition of the record, on a 7” photographic disc which portrays a David Bowie advertising “Rebel Rebel” in Holland ,back in 1974.
The world and British society have drastically changed since those days of Glam Rock, extreme austerity, widespread strikes, power cuts, social unrest and sexual rebellion. Countless social, economic and technological innovations have taken place, bringing the world to a new modern era of high-tech scientific and industrial discoveries. Even so, many of the old issues are still very much here: our broken society, the never ending teenage mutinous struggle, depictions of a doomed Earth and Glam Rock reincarnation as Glam Pop, with artists such as Lady Gaga. It is exactly for the aforementioned reasons that Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” still feels as fresh and timeless as ever, and surely, David’s Ziggy Stardust creation would feel right at home in our ever increasing narcissistic, glittery and self-destructive ill-fated society.
Discography
Album: Diamond Dogs
Artist: David Bowie
Recorded: October 1973/February 1974 at Olympic Studios and Island Studios, London. And at Ludolph Studios, Netherhorst den Berg
Genre: Art Rock, Glam Rock
Length: 38.25
Label: RCA
Produced by: David Bowie and Tony Visconti
Images
Peelaert, G. (1974). Rebel Rebel Original Sleeve Cover. [image] Available at: http://www.davidbowie.com/news/uncensored-diamond-dogs-sleeve-fetches-record-sum-27216 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2015].
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