By Martin Johannessen
The Spiders From Mars were history, and new musicians were in place in the studio. David Bowie played guitar, mellotron, Moog, and saxophone, Mike Garson played piano and keyboards, Herbie Flowers played bass, and Tony Newman and Aynsley Dunbar both played drums. Alan Parker played guitar on a couple of tracks.
However, even though the Spiders were no longer in the band, Bowie and Mick Ronson had already worked together on the arrangements for songs like "1984" and "Rebel Rebel."
1984
It was surprising for many that Bowie played guitar on the album. Surprising because Bowie is not known as a solid guitarist. Nevertheless, NME wrote that his guitars gave a: "Scratchy, raucous, semi-amateurish sound that gave the album much of its characteristic flavour."
Thematically, the album was a mix of George Orwell's dystopian future novel "1984" and his own glam-colored vision of a post-apocalyptic world.
Bowie had also started working on a theater version of his ideas, but Sonia Orwell, who held the rights to "1984," would not give him the blessing he needed to proceed. This was primarily because all previous attempts had been quite poor. The ideas ended up as songs on side 2 instead. Bowie explains:
“I found out that if I dared touch [Nineteen Eighty-Four], Mrs. George Orwell would sue or something. So I suddenly had to change about in midstream, in the middle of recording.”
“Mrs. Orwell refused to let us have the rights, point blank. For a person who married a socialist with communist leanings, she was the biggest upper-class snob I’ve ever met in my life,” said Bowie many years later.
He was also working on a film idea “set in a world ravaged by fuel shortages and populated by cyborgs.” It became neither a film nor a theater production, but a brilliant album.
It was surprising for many that Bowie played guitar on the album. Surprising because Bowie is not known as a solid guitarist. Nevertheless, NME wrote that his guitars gave a: "Scratchy, raucous, semi-amateurish sound that gave the album much of its characteristic flavour."
Thematically, the album was a mix of George Orwell's dystopian future novel "1984" and his own glam-colored vision of a post-apocalyptic world.
Bowie had also started working on a theater version of his ideas, but Sonia Orwell, who held the rights to "1984," would not give him the blessing he needed to proceed. This was primarily because all previous attempts had been quite poor. The ideas ended up as songs on side 2 instead. Bowie explains:
“I found out that if I dared touch [Nineteen Eighty-Four], Mrs. George Orwell would sue or something. So I suddenly had to change about in midstream, in the middle of recording.”
“Mrs. Orwell refused to let us have the rights, point blank. For a person who married a socialist with communist leanings, she was the biggest upper-class snob I’ve ever met in my life,” said Bowie many years later.
He was also working on a film idea “set in a world ravaged by fuel shortages and populated by cyborgs.” It became neither a film nor a theater production, but a brilliant album.
Another inspiration for Bowie was Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic, "Metropolis" from 1927. Bowie explains: “I know the impetus for ‘Diamond Dogs’ was both ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ - those were the two things that went into it.”
A good mix of glam rock, experimentation, beautiful melodies, and other twists. "Diamond Dogs" is both dark and light.
Tony Visconti brought a number of new digital effects and technology into the studio; flanger, phaser, noise gates. Quite common now, but still new and exciting back then.
When Visconti looks back on "Diamond Dogs," he sees a "very English, apocalyptic kind of view of our city life with obvious inspirations from the Orwellian holocaust trip. It was pretty despondent.”
Three songs were released as singles: "Rebel Rebel," "Diamond Dogs," and "1984." "Rebel Rebel" was released three months before the album hit the stores and reached number 5 in the UK, but only number 64 in the US. The other two did not make the charts in the US at all.
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"Rebel Rebel" is clearly inspired by the Rolling Stones, especially the "choppy" riff which brings to mind Keith Richards. The song has been covered countless times. It was recorded in two versions; one for the European market and one for the US with more backing vocals, percussion, and different arrangements.
The title track is also inspired by the Rolling Stones and marks a step away from glam rock into a musical landscape akin to that of The Stooges.
It reached number 21 in the UK and did not impress the critics at NME: "As a potential hit single, the title track from ‘Diamond Dogs’ was something of a non-event. Too long, too bleak in vision, too tough to dance to... you know the drill."
Hehe, it was apparently too difficult to dance to (!). "This ain't rock'n'roll, this is genocide."
Iconic
The cover art is as iconic as the album. In the interview below from The Dick Cavett Show in 1974, they talk about the story behind it.He is one of the very few artists who managed to reinvent himself throughout a nearly 50-year career. There are very few other artists who can boast that. The fact that he was always a step or two ahead of his contemporaries further confirms the claim that David Bowie is one of the most influential artists of all time. Period.
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