How David Bowie ripped off Bo Diddley for a hit single
There is no disputing the invaluable influence Bo Diddley had on the development of rock ‘n’ roll. The guitarist played a key part in the development of the genre, acting as an unavoidable influence on a plethora of notable rock ‘n’ roll artists, including Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, to name a few. The legacy of Diddley was not limited exclusively to the world of rockabilly, however, as the guitarist continued to be an inspiration for rock acts in the decades that followed.
In addition to providing inspiration for the punk revolutionaries The Clash, Diddley also had a huge influence on the glam-rock star David Bowie. Of course, Bowie would go on to be hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, with a seemingly endless ability to reinvent himself and develop his sound to stay on top of musical trends. Bowie’s brilliance and enduring success cannot be overstated, but Bo Diddley’s influence provided the Brixton-born songwriter with one of his biggest tracks.
Providing Bowie with his highest-charting single up to that point, ‘The Jean Genie’ is one of the defining moments of his Ziggy Stardust period. The lead single from the seminal release Aladdin Sane, the track was inspired by Bowie’s close friend and confidant Iggy Pop, with Ziggy taking the title of the track from the French poet and novelist Jean Genet. In a musical sense, however, the track is forever linked to the signature guitar stylings of Bo Diddley.
Reportedly coming together as the result of an impromptu jam on a tour bus somewhere between Cleveland and Memphis, ‘The Jean Genie’ was built around a riff that guitarist Mick Ronson was working out on his new Gibson Les Paul. Revealing how the song came to be, Bowie said in 2005’s Moonage Daydream, “Starting out as a lightweight riff thing I had written one evening in NY for Cyrinda [Foxe]’s enjoyment, I developed the lyric to the otherwise wordless pumper, and it ultimately turned into a bit of a smorgasbord of imagined Americana”.
Comparable to the blues-heavy sound of groups like The Yardbirds, it seemed as though Bowie was not the only one taking notes from the book of Bo Diddley. Mere months after Bowie’s track dropped, fellow RCA glam rockers The Sweet released ‘Block Buster!’, featuring an eerily similar riff – though both parties deny any foul play. Perhaps both parties realised that were they to accuse one another of plagiarism, Bo Diddley could have a rightful claim over the origins of both tracks.
‘The Jean Genie’ was not even the only track on Aladdin Sane that featured a not-so-subtle overtone of Diddley. The track ‘Panic in Detroit’, another song based on Bowie’s appreciation for Stooges frontman Iggy Pop, the songwriter employs a ‘Bo Diddley beat’. The term refers to the unique Afro-Cuban clave rhythm that was coined and popularised by the early rock ‘n’ roll star. Over the years, it has been utilised by various artists, from Jefferson Airplane to Rhianna, speaking to the enduring legacy of Bo Diddley’s musical innovation.
Whether or not David Bowie ‘ripped off’ Bo Diddley for the iconic riff of ‘The Jean Genie’ is fairly irrelevant. If we were to cast asunder every song that has a lineage going back to the noted rock ‘n’ roll guitarist, rock music’s back catalogue would be a lot more bare-bones; the influence of the man is vast and incredibly lasting.
