Blondie (Official Thread)

[Soot and Stars]

I always got to say that it's already been posted but One Way Or Another is infectious and catchy as hell! This is one of those groups that I don't know enough to have made the thread myself but I was hoping someone would make so I could chime in on it. They definitely needed one! Props Foxhound!

[Lord Grendel]

Give it a rest Foxhound...list their greatest hits and almost all those songs are just rock music, plain and simple.

[Tiny Tim]

Originally Posted by Lord Grendel Give it a rest Foxhound...list their greatest hits and almost all those songs are just rock music, plain and simple.

I guess I take a middle path on this debate. I don't think there is any question that their early records were punk Rock records. In fact, if there was a "Mt. Rushmore" of punk, Debbie's head better be on it. By the same token, I don't think there is any question that, starting with Parallel Lines", they smoothed out their rough edges to become a more commercially viable "new wave" band later in their career.

[Soot and Stars]

I think Blondie's genre was good music! Debate over! You all can go home!

[Foxhound]

Originally Posted by Lord Grendel ... Foxhound...list their greatest hits and almost all those songs are just rock music, plain and simple.

But punk is supposed to be good catchy rock! The punk movement meant to reembrace the short, catchy hit single in opposition to the overproduced art rock of the early to mid seventies.

[Foxhound]

Originally Posted by METALPRIEST My claim to fame with this band was I met Clem Burke at a Roger Daltry concert and we chatted for a long time after the gig. I still have his autograph inside my autographed Who's Next album.

I love Clem's frantic drumwork in the "Dreaming" video!

[METALPRIEST]

Me too Foxhound!!!

[Lord Grendel]

This is hands down my fave Blondie album...I bought it on vinyl, then a Super Disc vinyl album, and now on CD, which sounds really good, unlike some other classic albums which have not been done properly.

[EzBro]

Absolutely LOVED Blondie!! Back in the 70's I was into some of that style, Blondie, The Cars, Billy Joel with the Glass Houses album!! Good Stuff!!!

My Fav album was Eat to the Beat!!!

[METALPRIEST]

[PinkFreud]

Never much cared for Blondie, but I will admit Heart of Glass is pretty catchy.

[Flower]

Blondie (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blondie is an American rock band founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes of the mid-1970s. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and is noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop, rap, and reggae, while retaining a basic style as a new wave band.

The band broke up after the release of their sixth studio album The Hunter in 1982. Debbie Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin.

The group reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold 40 million records worldwide and is still active today, with a new album, Panic of Girls, planned for release in June 2010.

History

Early career (1975–1978)

In the early 1970s, Chris Stein moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan. There, inspired by the burgeoning new music scene New York Dolls, et al., aimed to join a similar band. He joined The Stilettos in 1973 as their guitarist and formed a romantic relationship with the band's vocalist, Debbie Harry. A former waitress and Playboy Bunny, Harry had been a member of the folk-rock band, The Wind in the Willows, in the late 1960s. In 1974, Stein parted ways with The Stilettos and Elda Gentile, the band's originator. Stein and Harry formed a new band with drummer Billy O'Connor and bassist Fred Smith. By 1975, after some personnel turnover (other early members included sisters Tish Bellomo and Eileen Bellomo on backing vocals), Stein and Harry were joined by drummer Clem Burke, keyboard player Jimmy Destri and bass player Gary Valentine. Originally billed as Angel and the Snake, the band renamed themselves Blondie in late 1975. The name derived from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled "Hey, Blondie" to Harry as they drove by.Later, band members were bemused to learn that the name was shared by Adolf Hitler's dog 'Blondi', a fact acknowledged in parody when, in 1997, they semi-anonymously contributed a cover of "Ordinary Bummer" to the Iggy Pop tribute album We Will Fall under the pseudonym 'Adolph's Dog'.

Blondie became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB. They got their first record deal with Private Stock Records in early 1976 and released their debut single "X-Offender" on June 17, 1976.[citation needed] Their debut album Blondie (AUS #14, UK #75) was issued in December 1976. In September 1977, Blondie bought back its contract with Private Stock and then signed with Chrysalis Records. The first album was re-released on the new label in October 1977. Rolling Stone's review of the debut album observed the eclectic nature of the group's music, comparing it to Phil Spector and The Who, and commented that the album's two strengths were Richard Gottehrer's production and the persona of Deborah Harry, saying she performed with "utter aplomb and involvement throughout: even when she's portraying a character consummately obnoxious and spaced-out, there is a wink of awareness that is comforting and amusing yet never condescending." It also noted that Harry was the "possessor of a bombshell zombie's voice that can sound dreamily seductive and woodenly Mansonite within the same song".


Blondie, 1976. L-R: Gary Valentine, Clem Burke, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri.The band's first commercial success occurred in Australia in 1977, when the music television program Countdown mistakenly played their video "In the Flesh", which was the B-side of their current single "X-Offender". Jimmy Destri later credited the show's Molly Meldrum for their initial success, commenting that "we still thank him to this day" for playing the wrong song. In a 1998 interview, band member Clem Burke recalled seeing the episode in which the wrong song was played, but he and Chris Stein suggested that it may have been a deliberate subterfuge on the part of Meldrum. Stein asserted that "X-Offender" was "too crazy and aggressive [to become a hit]", while "In the Flesh" was "not representative of any punk sensibility. Over the years, I've thought they probably played both things but liked one better. That's all." In retrospect, Burke described "In the Flesh" as "a forerunner to the power ballad".

The single and album each reached the Australian top five in October 1977, and a subsequent double-A release of "X-Offender" and "Rip Her to Shreds" was also popular. A successful Australian tour followed in December, though it was marred by an incident in Brisbane when disappointed fans almost rioted after Harry canceled a performance due to illness.

In February 1978, Blondie released their second album, Plastic Letters (UK #10, US #78). The album was recorded as a four-piece band because Gary Valentine had left the band. Plastic Letters was promoted extensively throughout Europe and Asia by Chrysalis Records. The album's first single, "Denis", was a cover version of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 hit. It reached number two on the British singles charts, while both the album and its second single, "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear", reached the British top ten. That chart success, along with a successful 1978 UK tour including a gig at London's Roundhouse, made Blondie one of the first American new wave bands to achieve mainstream success in the United Kingdom.[6] By this time, Gary Valentine had been replaced by Frank Infante (guitar, bass guitar), and shortly after that Nigel Harrison (bass guitar) joined, expanding the band to a six-piece for the first time.

Allmusic later described Plastic Letters as inferior to its predecessor, saying that with the exception of the two singles, it appeared to have been constructed from "leftovers" from the Blondie album. It noted that Gottehrer's production could not compensate for the "pedestrian musical tracks" or save the album from "general mediocrity".

[Flower]

.........

Mainstream success (1978–1981)

Parallel Lines (UK #1, US #6) Blondie's third album, produced by Mike Chapman, became the group's most successful effort, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The album's first two singles were "Picture This" (UK #12) and "Hanging on the Telephone" (UK #5).

"Heart of Glass" was their first U.S. hit. The disco-infused track topped the U.S. charts in April 1979. It was a reworking of a rock- and reggae-infused song that the group had performed since its formation, updated with strong elements of disco music. Clem Burke later said the revamped version was inspired partly by Kraftwerk and partly by the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", whose drum beat Burke tried to emulate. He and Stein gave Jimmy Destri much of the credit for the final result, noting that Destri's appreciation of technology had led him to introduce synthesizers and to rework the keyboard sections. Although some members of the British music press condemned Blondie for "selling out", the song became a popular worldwide success. Selling more than one million copies and garnering major airplay, the single reached number one in many countries including the U.S., where, for the most part, Blondie had previously been considered an "underground" band. The song was accompanied by a music video that showcased Debbie Harry's hard-edged and playfully sexual persona, and she began to attain a celebrity status that set her apart from the other band members, who were largely ignored by the media.

Blondie's next single in the U.S. was a more aggressive rock song, "One Way or Another" (US #24), which became their second hit single in the United States. Meanwhile, in the UK, an alternate single choice, "Sunday Girl," became another #1 smash. Parallel Lines is ranked #140 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest albums of all time. In June 1979, Blondie, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Their fourth album, Eat to the Beat (UK #1, US #17), released in October 1979, was well-received by critics as a suitable follow-up to Parallel Lines, but in the U.S., its singles failed to achieve the same level of success[6] as in the UK, where "Atomic" (UK #1, US #39) reached number one, "Dreaming" (UK #2, US #27) reached number two, and "Union City Blue" (UK #13) charted in the top 20.

Blondie's next single, the Grammy-nominated "Call Me" was the result of Debbie Harry's collaboration with the Italian songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder, who had been responsible for Donna Summer's biggest hits. This track was not included on any Blondie studio album; rather, it was the title theme of the soundtrack for the film American Gigolo. Released in February 1980, "Call Me" spent six weeks at #1 in the U.S. and Canada, reached #1 in the U.K. and became a hit throughout the world. The song is the band's biggest selling single in the U.S.[citation needed] (over a million copies sold - gold status) and was Billboard magazine's #1 single of 1980.

In November 1980, Blondie's fifth studio album, Autoamerican (UK #3, US #7) was released and contained two more #1 US hits: the reggae-styled "The Tide Is High", a cover version of a 1967 song by The Paragons, and the rap-flavored "Rapture", which was one of the earliest songs containing elements of rap vocals to reach number one in the U.S.,[citation needed] sweeping the world by storm. "Rapture" would be the band's only single to achieve a higher chart position on the U.S. charts than in the UK, where it peaked at #5. Autoamerican was a departure from previous Blondie records, featuring less new wave and rock in favor of stylistic experiments, and was not generally well-received by critics.

In October 1981, Chrysalis Records released The Best of Blondie (UK #4, US #30), the group's first greatest hits compilation.

[Flower]

Perhaps both Blondie threads should be merged???

Edit: Both threads are now merged. Magic.

[METALPRIEST]

Oooops...sorry folks..I did a search for a Blondie thread last night and must have overlooked it. I thought we had one and thought I found it but it was the video Blondie thread...funny I posted it in too.

Oh well we call this the super bump!!