Diamond Dogs was Bowie's first misstep since becoming famous, but his aura was so powerful that most people hadn't noticed. As far as the media was concerned, the photo of Bowie as a post-apocalyptic half man/half dog mutant provided more than enough fodder for their copy. The album's hit single "Rebel Rebel" helped to disguise the paucity of continuity on this album, but the fact remains that Diamond Dogs catches Bowie at a fairly uncertain moment in his career. Fed up with Ziggy Stardust, but unable to entirely throw that persona off, Bowie dabbles in various modifications of his image with this album. Unfortunately, none are anywhere near as convincing as his previous incarnations. The main reason this happens is simply because the material is lacking. Bowie was certainly an artist who was capable of pushing his image before his material, but he was always imaginative as a songwriter, too, so the material always seemed to come from some rarefied place.