Written and produced by Bowie, the song is based around a distinctive guitar riff reminiscent of the Rolling Stones.

[7][8] It was also his first hit since 1969 not to feature lead guitarist Mick Ronson; Bowie played guitar himself on this and almost all the other tracks on Diamond Dogs, producing what NME critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray called "a rocking dirty noise that owed as much to Keith Richards as it did to the departed Ronno".

According to author Peter Doggett, in the context of Diamond Dogs, the song serves as a "musical continuation" between the "Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)" medley: it begins with a D to E chord change that was prefigured with a bass guitar slide that constructed the medley's final "chaotic" moments.

[16] The song's distinctive guitar riff is described by rock journalist Kris Needs as "a classic stick-in-the-head like the Stones' 'Satisfaction'".

[17] The riff's chords are D, E, and A and were created by Bowie and enhanced by Parker, who, according to Doggett, added the "downward trail" at the end of each line.

[21] The single quickly became a glam anthem, the female equivalent of Bowie's earlier hit for Mott the Hoople, "All the Young Dudes".

[28] The US mix is shorter (2:58) and more uptempo, dense and camp than the UK single, featuring "sine waves" of percussion[28] by Geoff MacCormack, an original backing vocal line that is preceded by a "rush of backward echo", acoustic guitar and a new arrangement that buries the signature riff beneath phasing.

[30] He also described the song as Bowie's most "pure and lasting rocker" when mentioning the artist's early 2000s re-recorded version for his 2003 album Reality.

"[31] Record World said that Bowie "integrates the aura of the American disco-right on down to castinets into his multi-sensual sound.

[33] Dave Thompson, also of AllMusic, described "Rebel Rebel" as one of Bowie's most "playful" numbers and considered it a fitting farewell to the artist's glam rock era and, in a way, to "the entire glam movement which Bowie created", as well as indicating the direction his career was taking.

[34] Barry Walters of Pitchfork, in a review of Diamond Dogs following Bowie's death, praised the song's "glorious" guitar riff, its "stomping beat", the "hot tramp" lyric pause between both and their "return".

[35] Walters continued, "If Bowie often drifted above listeners' heads, here he shoots straight at their solar plexus and scores with what ranks among the greatest, most insistent riffs of the '70s.

[39] Jon Savage of The Guardian, in his list of the 20 best glam-rock songs of all time, ranked the US version of the single at number 18.

Broadcast two days later, it featured Bowie superimposed over flashing disco lights "by the miracle of chromakey" and donning what Pegg called his short-lived "pirate image" – a spotted neckerchief and a black eye-patch.

It was a bottle-green bolero jacket that Freddi [Burretti] made for me and he got an artist to paint, using the appliqué technique, this supergirl from a Russian comic on the back.

Anyway, I did a press conference and performed 'Rebel Rebel' on Dutch television with a bright red Fender Stratocaster.

I was really pissed off.Following the performance, the pirate look, along with the Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, was ditched in favour of the "swept-back parting and double-breasted suits" of the Diamond Dogs Tour.

[25] The rare US single version was included on Sound + Vision, the bonus disc of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Diamond Dogs, and Re:Call 2.