Rebel Rebel

It was the lead single from Diamond Dogs, released in the UK on 15 February 1974 with Queen Bitch on the B-side. Bowie played the guitar himself, without Mick Ronson. He began recording it at Trident Studios in the week after Christmas 1973, his last known visit there, and finished it in January 1974 at Ludolph Studios in the Netherlands. He told the bassist Herbie Flowers and the guest guitarist Alan Parker that he wanted it to sound like the Stones, then picked up Parker's Les Paul and played them the riff. Parker completed it.

It reached number five in the UK and number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. A shorter, denser US mix with percussion by Geoff MacCormack came out in May 1974 with Lady Grinning Soul on the B-side. Cash Box called it Bowie's best single ever. Nicholas Pegg calls it his most-covered song, and a version by Dead or Alive, released as International Crysis, reached number 76 in the UK in 1994.

Live

Bowie lip-synced it for the Dutch programme Top Pop on 14 February 1974, wearing an eye-patch, and the clip became its semi-official video. He played a saxophone-heavy version at Live Aid in 1985 and recorded a new version with an arrangement by Mark Plati in 2003.