60 Minutes of Blondie's Best Songs

[TTL News 313]

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Led by the blondie herself—Debbie Harry—Blondie is now known for their subversive yet foundational takes as pioneers of new wave. It’s almost hard to believe that at the time of many of these releases, the group was thought of as kitschy, uncool, and pandering. However, their legacy has outlived any haters’ notions.

Blondie’s music is sensational in its melodramatic, yearning storytelling. Debbie Harry’s a class-act lyricist, bringing her own desires to life through an obsessive lens and bodying what the mania of love feels like. It’s what attracted this writer to her music as a young child, as her mother blasted 1981's Best Of Blondie through the speakers of their minivan in the early aughts. Harry clearly lays out her intentions in Blondie’s music, which sets their music alight. 

As we’ll see in this Power Hour, Blondie fearlessly traversed genres and influences to create an ever-evolving sound and establish themselves as vanguards in the early punk and new wave days. Starting with their self-titled debut, the band’s first run would span six studio albums, including 1980's Autoamerican and 1978's Parallel Lines. Today, this work has been immortalized in the all-encompassing box set, Against The Odds: 1974-1982, released via Numero Group, which features some of the band’s earliest demos and unreleased rarities.

 

 

Heart of Glass 

Right out of the gate, we have to start with the seminal classic, “Heart Of Glass.” Seen at the time as the cult band’s mainstream “sell-out” single, the disco-inspired track has become one of the most memorable and enduring songs from Parallel Lines. “Heart Of Glass” reflects Blondie’s unflinching methods of fusing genres and expanding their sound beyond what was considered acceptable for punk at the time. Featuring one of the best bass lines in music history, “Heart Of Glass” sparkles like its own mirrorball. Debbie Harry’s so right when she sings, “Once I had a love and it was a gas/Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass.”

Early iterations of the track (which have since been shared) deviate from the final product, leaning into a looser, more funky feel, and are definitely worth exploring.

 

 

See the rest of the selections here.

[Chris 2,194]

Many people may not know this, but I have always loved Blondie. Well, the music I like, I LOVE and listen to it all the time. A lot of their other stuff Is good, but I don't listen as much. 

And, I think Debbie Harry was my first boyhood crush.

[Chris 2,194]

Harry was 53 when this was released in 1999, their big comeback:

She sounded great, like time stood still for her vocal cords.