David Bowie: “Rebel Rebel” (1974)

Bowie rocks an eyepatch and everyone and everything within earshot.

Kronomyth 7.8: Hey babe, let’s go out tonight.

March 30, 2004: The acolytes in white shuffle off the stage to polite applause, and the real ceremony begins. In the audience are aging hipsters, self-conscious of thinning hair and swelling bellies, waiting for the ageless one to arrive. Both sides know the score: he sings and everyone is young again. It was my first time at a magic show of this magnitude. Sure, my hair stood on end a little with Yes, Jethro Tull and Rush, but this was different. This was David Bowie. All that charisma, all that talent, all those memories wound tightly into a single persona like a firecracker ready to burst. And when he kicked off the night with Rebel Rebel, the one song I most wanted to hear from those heroic lips, I did. I was walking on air the rest of the night as he intertwined the old and the new, unfailingly interesting in any setting, stepping back from his own momentous opus to admire the work of local heroes Pixies (“Cactus”) and Modern Lovers’ “Pablo Picasso.” In closing, he opened the sacred sarcophagus of Ziggy, time having healed the old wounds. To think that I’d held off seeing my childhood hero for fear I’d be disappointed. Oh me of little faith! It was everything I could have asked for. When he waved goodbye at the end of the night, I felt my hand instinctively wave back—there was just that kind of connection with him all night. Thank you, Linda, for an evening I’ll never forget. As for the single “Rebel Rebel,” it’s actually a radically different version than the elpee offering we know and love, and seems to have slipped under Rykodisc’s repackaging radar. With a chorus of strange backing vocals, bongos and distorted guitar, this is not the “Rebel Rebel” I grew up with. In the US, the luxurious Lady Grinning Soul served as the B side. The US pressing I have incorrectly lists Lady’s track time as 3:19, leaving me to think I’d encountered yet another alternate version, but no; it’s the same 3:46/3:51 version from Aladdin Sane.

Original 7-inch single version

A1. Rebel Rebel (David Bowie) (4:22)
B1. Queen Bitch (David Bowie) (3:14)

Original 7-inch single version (US)
A1. Rebel Rebel (David Bowie) (2:58)
B1. Lady Grinning Soul (David Bowie) (3:19)

Re-issued picture disc 7-inch single
A1. Rebel Rebel (original single mix) (David Bowie)
B1. Rebel Rebel (US single version) (David Bowie)

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch single on February 15, 1974 in the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand (RCA, LPBO 5009), Germany (RCA, 74 16-398), Japan (RCA, SS-2355) and Yugoslavia (Jugoton, SRCA-88731) and in May 1974 in the US (RCA, APB0-0287) with regional picture sleeve. Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1974 in the US (RCA, DJHo-0209) feat. A stereo and mono versions. Reached #5 on the UK charts and #64 on the US charts (charted on June 1, 1974 for 8 weeks).

1. Re-issued on 7-inch single in June 1983 in the UK (RCA, BOW 514) with picture sleeve.
2. Re-issued on 7-inch single picture disc in 2014 in the EU (Parlophone, DBREBEL40).