Released: 1974
Winning formulas were once upon a time everything when it came to music fame and success. Pop’s architecture after the Beatles – with exceptions – became about creating something familiar which radio station heads especially could sell as part of a scene for buying into; if the listening public could recognise you from your next single because it sounded like the last, then that for the suits that was a till-rattlingly good thing.
Like all true innovators however David Bowie made and broke the rules before he’d earned the right to do so. Later he would create a new paradigm for artists so that many would both expect and embrace frequent sound and image change. But by 1972 as the most recent previous guises (twinkle eyed folkie, art school astronaut) failed to resonate with a sceptical public, chameleon-like he then emerged as Ziggy Stardust, an avatar through which he would create the trashy, cross-cultural fusion which became known as glam rock.
To do this successfully he’d given birth to Ziggy Stardust, a character in which he became so invested in that despite the success it brought he was forced to kill off by way of a ceremonial finale in mid-1973. Rebel Rebel came later, but boy it sounded like the deceased alter ego kicking it from beyond the grave, the song an adjunct from a proposed musical which had never been. It was some kiss off, the raw boned guitar intro out rolling The Rolling Stones (With for the first Bowie himself – not Mick Ronson – laying down the riffs) and the turning vocal flick when the singer oozed “hot tramp” was enough to make boys and girls feel sleazily possessed. Despite it’s commercial triumph, even as it stormed the charts the artist formerly known as Ziggy was already in the throes of reinventing himself again, because as he’d find out over time winning formulas always come with a hefty price tag.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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