Song:Rebel Rebel
Album:The Best Of David Bowie 1969/1974
There is something to be said for David Bowie's ability to reinvent himself. You have to be able to do that if you're going to have longevity in the music business. I'm not crazy about a lot of his music but I find his early 70s music holds up very well so I'm going to concentrate on that. He was born David Jones Jan. 8, 1947 in Brixton, England. He was punched in the eye at age 15 resulting in permanent blindness. He changed his name to David Bowie in 1966 to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees. In 1967, he recorded for Deram. That stuff bombed and Bowie took a couple of years to figure out who he wanted to be. He resurfaced in 1969 with Space Oddity. It was a big hit in England and Bowie formed a band with bassist and producer Tony Visconti, Mick Ronson on guitar and Woody Woodmansey on drums. His 1971 album Hunky Dory got him a lot of attention in the US. Then he created this Ziggy Stardust character and that became the template for the many reinventions of David Bowie. Space Oddity became a big hit in the US and Bowie followed up with Aladdin Sane and then Diamond Dogs. Rebel Rebel is from Diamond Dogs which is not a great album but Rebel Rebel is a great song. You can get his early hits on this comp. Bowie got burned out from touring in 1974 and announced his retirement from live performing. Of course as we all know, Bowie became obsessed with soul music and successfully reinvented himself as a soul singer with Young Americans in 1975. It was a shock to fans but they got used to it. Here's David Bowie performing Rebel Rebel in Top Of The Pops 1974.
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