I sought out everything that New York had to offer, everything underground and forbidden and everything aboveground, and threw myself into it.” These experiments she writes about included music and Harry joined a folk group, the Wind in the Willows, appearing on the self-titled debut, even soloing on a song. She noted that she “experimented with everything imaginable, attempting to figure out who I was as an artist – or if I even was one. “I had come to to be an artist,” Harry writes in her memoir, Face It. The story of rags to riches practically writes itself. Unsure of just what kind of stardom she was going to seek, she paid her dues like every superstar, waiting tables, and answering phones.
Debbie Harry, the enigmatic and gorgeous face of the group, was a Jersey girl who, like many, made her way to New York City. Blondie’s lore has the hallmarks of a great story: a cracking band with a goddess for a lead singer that creates their legend by building on the Downtown New York art and punk scene, putting in performances at iconic venues like Max’s Kansas City and CBGB. The greatest pop music narratives are those of struggling musicians who come from humble backgrounds, toiling away at nightclubs and bars before making it big. But more than that, it also ignores the trajectory of pop music. It ignores the hard work and good art that they produced at their commercial height. “Heart of Glass” gave the band pop superstardom that seemed incongruous with their punk roots.īut simply damning Blondie as a commercial band that ‘sold out’ is reductive and superficial. Eventually, the song grew and evolved into the cool, sleek synth-banger that adorned the band’s classic album Parallel Lines. Before the band’s superstardom, frontwoman Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein wrote the song as a midtempo, funk number, inspired by the soulful urban dance music of the time.
But like everything that captures mainstream success, disco for the masses meant tacky, cringy ephemera like The Ethel Merman Disco Album or Donny Osmond’s Disco Train.īut Blondie’s step into dance music wasn’t a crass cash grab. It was an art form created and nurtured by Black and queer creatives who would often center Black female voices. Though by the late 1970s, disco had become mainstream, its roots were far from Middle America. It perfectly encapsulates their long thesis: They wanted to be commercial and punk at once. But the success – and brilliance – of “Heart of Glass” is the story of Blondie, the band. Because of their punk roots, Blondie’s foray into disco was derided as “selling out” or “pandering” to gain a wider audience, in much the same way that other mainstream acts who “went disco” would be accused. Though the band was a creative resultant of the punk movement of the 1970s, “Heart of Glass” was a song of a different genre, one just as identified by its decade: disco. While the charity song trend eventually died down (even being parodied on 30 Rock) this particular endeavour resulted in a 90-minute documentary and $3.2 million in donations for relief projects in Africa.In the winter of 1978, Blondie released “Heart of Glass”, which would become the band’s first number one hit single in the United States. The 1985 single featured artists like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, the Guess Who, Anne Murray and Bryan Adams, who co-wrote the tune. In the grand tradition of charity singles like “We Are the World,” and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” a Canadian supergroup banded together to record “Tears Are Not Enough” to raise awareness of the Ethiopian famine. While the charity song trend eventually died down (even being parodied on 30 Rock) this particular endeavour resulted in a 90-minute documentary and $3.2 million in donations for relief projects in Africa.& amp amp amp amp amp amp lt /p& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt & amp amp amp amp amp amp lt /div& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt & amp amp amp amp amp amp lt p& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt & amp amp amp amp amp amp lt br /& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt In the grand tradition of charity singles like & amp amp amp amp amp amp amp ldquo We Are the World,& amp amp amp amp amp amp amp rdquo and & amp amp amp amp amp amp amp ldquo Do They Know It& amp amp amp amp amp amp amp rsquo s Christmas?& amp amp amp amp amp amp amp rdquo a Canadian supergroup banded together to record & amp amp amp amp amp amp amp ldquo Tears Are Not Enough& amp amp amp amp amp amp amp rdquo to raise awareness of the Ethiopian famine.
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