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mahatmakanejeeves

(58,392 posts)
Fri May 24, 2024, 07:15 AM May 24

On this day, May 24, 1974, RCA Records released "Diamond Dogs."

Hat tip, This Day in Music

What Happened Today In Music

May 24th

1974 - David Bowie

David Bowie released his eighth studio album Diamond Dogs. The cover art features Bowie as a striking half-man, half-dog grotesque painted by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert. It was controversial as the full painting clearly showed the hybrid's genitalia.

Diamond Dogs


Studio album by David Bowie

Released 24 May 1974
Recorded January–February 1974
Studios: Trident, London, UK; Olympic, London, UK; Ludolph, Nederhorst den Berg, Netherlands
Singles from Diamond Dogs:
"Rebel Rebel"
Released: 15 February 1974
"Diamond Dogs"
Released: 14 June 1974
"1984"
Released: July 1974 (US and Japan only)

Diamond Dogs is the eighth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 24 May 1974 through RCA Records. Bowie produced the album and recorded it in early 1974 in London and the Netherlands, following the disbanding of his backing band the Spiders from Mars and the departure of producer Ken Scott. Bowie played lead guitar on the record in the absence of Mick Ronson. Diamond Dogs featured the return of Tony Visconti, who had not worked with Bowie for four years; the two would collaborate for the rest of the decade. Musically, it was Bowie's final album in the glam rock genre, though some songs were influenced by funk and soul music, which Bowie embraced on his next album, Young Americans (1975).

Conceived during a period of uncertainty over where his career was headed, Diamond Dogs is the result of multiple projects Bowie envisioned at the time: a scrapped musical based on Ziggy Stardust (1972); an adaptation of George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949); and an urban apocalyptic scenario based on the writings of William S. Burroughs. The title track introduces a new persona named Halloween Jack. Belgian artist Guy Peellaert painted the controversial cover artwork depicting Bowie as a half-man, half-dog hybrid, based on photos taken by photographer Terry O'Neill.

Preceded by the lead single "Rebel Rebel", Diamond Dogs was a commercial success, peaking at number one in the UK and number five in the US. It has received mixed reviews since its release, many criticising its lack of cohesion; Bowie's biographers consider it one of his best works and, in 2013, NME ranked it one of the greatest albums of all time. Bowie supported the album on the Diamond Dogs Tour, which featured elaborate and expensive set-pieces. Retrospectively, Diamond Dogs has been cited as an influence on the punk revolution in the years following its release. It has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2016 for the Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) box set.

{snip}

Wed Apr 24, 2024: On this day, April 24, 1944, record producer Tony Visconti was born.

Fri Sep 22, 2023: On this day, September 22, 1943, Toni Basil was born.

She choreographed David Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour in 1974, his Glass Spider Tour in 1987, and his video for "Time Will Crawl" (1987).
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