Blondie emerged as a New Wave powerhouse when they debuted in 1976 with a self-titled album. But it soon became apparent that this band was far too ambitious to be contained in one musical category.
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The band churned out four chart-topping singles in America over a short stretch between 1979 and 1981. These songs display just how varied their approach could be without losing the essence of what made them so special as a group.
“Heart Of Glass”
Blondie’s first two albums wowed critics but did little on pop radio, at least not in America. (The UK was ahead of the game in realizing the band’s excellence.) “Heart Of Glass” was a song that they had lying around for a few years before they recorded it. When they played it for producer Mike Chapman, he quickly heard a potential hit. That didn’t happen until the band sprinkled a glossy coating of disco dust all over the proceedings. Debbie Harry’s performance managed to be cool but not unfeeling. Her character shrugs her shoulders at the loss of her lover as a survival mechanism. From her vulnerable falsetto to her insinuating lower register, she doesn’t miss an emotive beat.
“Call Me”
One wonders what might have happened had Giorgio Moroder, who composed the music for “Call Me”, received a yes from Stevie Nicks, his first choice to sing the song. Contractual restrictions prevented Nicks from taking part. Considering her subtler writing style, it’s hard to imagine she would have delivered something as bold and brassy as what Harry delivered. The other members of Blondie tried to record their parts to the track Moroder lent them, but he decided against using them. Instead, he turned to Harold Faltermeyer to provide a swirling synth solo that defined the music. Meanwhile, Harry belts out the lyrics with a defiance that suggests that she’ll be fine whether anybody calls or not.
“The Tide Is High”
The story goes that executives at Chrysalis balked at what they considered an uncommercial album the first time they heard Autoamerican, Blondie’s 1980 LP. Two No. 1 hit singles later, they were happily eating their words. Perhaps the reason that they panicked was that they heard the group going way outside their danceable New Wave comfort zone on a few tracks. “The Tide Is High” was first recorded by a group called The Paragons back in 1967. Blondie guitarist Chris Stein had a feeling that it would be a good fit for the band. They enlisted some ace outside percussionists to accentuate Clem Burke’s reggae beat. And then they just cut Harry loose to luxuriate over the bouncy grooves.
“Rapture”
It’s hard to imagine now what a bold move it was for Harry to incorporate a rap part in the middle of this huge hit. And groundbreaking as well, as it soon became standard for hip-hop verses to pop up in the middle of pop-rock tracks. The charm in her performance is that she knows she’s no ace as a rhymer. But she goes for it anyway in the spirit of the genre. Harry’s rap part garnered so much attention that the brilliance found throughout the rest of the song almost went unnoticed. The band locked into that sultry groove in swaggering fashion. And Harry’s dreamy vocal approach is transportive. Blondie released “Rapture” on the radio in early 1981. At decade’s end, it still stood tall as one of the coolest songs of the 80s.
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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