debbie harry Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Blondie “Autoamerican”

sfilzen — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 17:00:53 +0000

Blondie “Autoamerican” released 40 years ago today, November 19th, 1980. The LP was Blondie’s fifth and it went to #7 in the US and to #3 in the UK. It has two of Blondie’s biggest hit singles: “The Tide is High” (a cover of the reggae song originally performed by The Paragons in 1967) which went to #1 in the US and UK (I remember absolutely loving this song in 4th grade), and “Rapture” which also hit #1 in the US and went to #5 in the UK. “Rapture” was the first “rap” song to hit #1 – though it’s really more disco/funk with some rapping – and was the first “rap” song to be played on MTV. I like the track a lot but find it ironic and a bit historically distasteful that it took an all-white new wave band to get hip hop/rap onto the airwaves (in particular MTV resisted playing black artists until Michael Jackson’s popularity overwhelmed the network’s policy). Though consistently categorized as punk/new wave, Blondie and in particular Autoamerican does not neatly fit those genres. In fact, besides other funky disco infused tracks (like “Do the Dark” and “Live It Up”), a chunk of the record sounds like an accompanying soundtrack to a stage or film musical, especially the first few tracks: “Europa” and “Here’s Looking at You.” The album’s closer, “Follow Me,” actually is a Broadway tune, a cover from the 1960 musical Camelot.

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Blondie “Atomic”

sfilzen — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:03:42 +0000

Blondie “Atomic” 1980, 12″ single. Today, July 1st, is Debbie Harry’s 75th birthday (b. Angela Trimble, 1945). From Blondie’s 4th studio LP Eat to the Beat (1979), “Atomic” was the 3rd single (released April 1980). The new wavey/disco track went to #1 in the UK (the 12″ single from the UK) and to #39 in the US. The 12″ b-side has the laid-back reggae-ish beat “Die Young Stay Pretty” and a super-sultry live version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” from Blondie’s performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in January 1980 (prominently featuring Robert Fripp on guitar). “Atomic” will always remind me of the old WMSE radio station (Milwaukee) sponsor placement pieces from the now long-closed Atomic Records. I saw Debbie Harry perform on her 45th birthday at Summerfest in 1990 (along with the Ramones and Tom Tom Club, maybe another band, I cannot remember – that was 30 years ago). She was fabulous. Summerfest, like literally every single other concert/show, has been cancelled this year so spinning “Atomic” on 12″ vinyl will have to suffice.

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Blondie “Heart of Glass”

sfilzen — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 15:41:53 +0000

Blondie “Heart of Glass” went to #1 40 years ago this weekend, on April 28th, 1979. “Heart of Glass” was the third single from Blondie’s album Parallel Lines and is ranked on many best-of lists for best song of the 70′s, dance tracks and flat-out best songs of all-time. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein wrote the track way back in the mid-70′s (originally dubbing it “The Disco Song”) and included it on their wildly popular third record at the encouragement of producer Mike Chapman. With the track’s recording and then massive success, Blondie succeeded in bridging the divide between new wave and disco (they had dabbled in this crossover during concerts starting around ‘78 when they began covering Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” probably shocking their punk and art-rock fans and leading many of them to accuse Blondie of selling out).

This US version 12″ single copy has the regular single on the A side and an instrumental version on the flip. The UK 12″ release is the same but also includes “Rifle Range” on the B-side, a track that originally appeared on Blondie’s debut record Blondie from 1976.

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Blondie “Autoamerican”

sfilzen — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:41:47 +0000

Blondie “Autoamerican” 1980. This week (January 25-31) in 1981 the single “The Tide Is High” was #1 on the US charts and helped propel Blondie’s fifth studio album to #7 in the US and #3 in the UK.

Duke Reid from Jamaica wrote “The Tide Is High” in the 1930′s and it has been covered several times over the years, Blondie’s version the best-known of course. Its ska-reggae groove was somewhat of a departure for Blondie but marked the experimental vein of the entire album: orchestral arrangements, jazz and blues, showtunes (“Follow Me” from Camelot) and rap. The other hit single from Autoamerican “Rapture” became the first pop song featuring rap to hit #1 on the charts and the first rap video to be aired on MTV. Hip hop artist Fab Five Freddy and graffiti artists Lee Quinones and Jean-Michel Basquiat make cameo appearances. I really do like Blondie and think Debbie Harry is hellacool but I think it’s kinda awful that it took a pop/new wave group with a model-pretty blonde front woman to get rap and hip hop to the top of the pop culture stage for the first time.

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