Blondie Is a Group!
October 7, 2014 9:34 PM Subscribe
Dazed by the recent Blondie retrospective at the (former) Chelsea Hotel? Celebrate Blondie at 40 with some music videos : = Dreaming Union City Blues Hanging on the Telephone Rip Her to Shreds Heart Of Glass (modern retake) Denis X Offender Atomic Rapture The Tide Is High One Way Or Another
Here's a
posted by ob1quixote at 9:54 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
Dreamingthat works in the U.S.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:54 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
O the drumming.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:56 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:56 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
I would like whatever youth gene Debbie Harry and Helen Mirren share, please.
posted by maxwelton at 10:10 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 10:10 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
One of my ex-roommates was an A&R person and she took me to a secret Blondie show/ rehearsal, pre-tour with maybe 30 other people in the studios that used to be on 25th or 26th St. in maybe 1997 or 98. The highlight was hanging out in the hallway and the fact that Lynyrd Skynyrd were rehearsing next door and when they started playing Give Me Three Steps someone yelled Freebird and the security guy threw them out.
Part of me was vibratiing with excitement but, at some point during maybe One Way Or Another, the band members were introduced from onstage, mid-song: "and on the bass … ba do do do do do do do do do", "on the drums" etc. it was when the guitar solo kicked in with maybe hammer-ons ( i could be imagining that part) and full-on post-80's metal effects i had to cringe and go out to smoke. How far the mighty etc.
Also, once maybe a year earlier i was walking west on 22nd and saw a woman with big sunglasses walking her dog. I did a momentary, mental "do i know her?" which she must have seen. It was only when she raised her eyebrows and scowled that i realized it was Debbie Harry. I laughed as much at her reaction as at the fact that her dog was shitting and she had to pick it up.
Still, even on American Bandstand, they look so tough and cool in these videos.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 10:18 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Part of me was vibratiing with excitement but, at some point during maybe One Way Or Another, the band members were introduced from onstage, mid-song: "and on the bass … ba do do do do do do do do do", "on the drums" etc. it was when the guitar solo kicked in with maybe hammer-ons ( i could be imagining that part) and full-on post-80's metal effects i had to cringe and go out to smoke. How far the mighty etc.
Also, once maybe a year earlier i was walking west on 22nd and saw a woman with big sunglasses walking her dog. I did a momentary, mental "do i know her?" which she must have seen. It was only when she raised her eyebrows and scowled that i realized it was Debbie Harry. I laughed as much at her reaction as at the fact that her dog was shitting and she had to pick it up.
Still, even on American Bandstand, they look so tough and cool in these videos.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 10:18 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
but there is also them singing We Three Kings in a clearing g
posted by The Whelk at 10:23 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 10:23 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
How about Debbie Harry and Arcade Fire earlier this year, performing Heart of Glass and then the Arcade Fire song pretty obviously inspired by it, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)?
posted by malapropist at 10:30 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by malapropist at 10:30 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
"Is there a really decent American pop music group since Blondie? I don't think so." -- Iggy Pop, from the excellent BBC documentary One Way Or Another.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:35 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Room 641-A at 10:35 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]
This conjures three semi-specific memories:
On a musical note my mom was a band manager and I was a fan of Led Zeppelin and Rush and I wore the uniform and acted the part. At home one night with a bass player friend in a band my mom managed I, all of 14, remarked on how lame the musicians that played for Blondie were. I was quite promptly told that I was wrong.
---
This is great. I think I have Parallel Lines somewhere near my Techincs sl 220 turntable in the basement. It's also possible I stole the album from my Mom.
---
Turns out I miss snorting coke sort of. Not enough to start after all these decades though. It's fun but not worth it. I love Blondie and every interview Debbie Harry that I've ever seen is perfectly honest - not in a rock star way but like you are talking to your cool aunt at 1 AM and the rest of the family is asleep.
posted by vapidave at 11:12 PM on October 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
On a musical note my mom was a band manager and I was a fan of Led Zeppelin and Rush and I wore the uniform and acted the part. At home one night with a bass player friend in a band my mom managed I, all of 14, remarked on how lame the musicians that played for Blondie were. I was quite promptly told that I was wrong.
---
This is great. I think I have Parallel Lines somewhere near my Techincs sl 220 turntable in the basement. It's also possible I stole the album from my Mom.
---
Turns out I miss snorting coke sort of. Not enough to start after all these decades though. It's fun but not worth it. I love Blondie and every interview Debbie Harry that I've ever seen is perfectly honest - not in a rock star way but like you are talking to your cool aunt at 1 AM and the rest of the family is asleep.
posted by vapidave at 11:12 PM on October 7, 2014 [4 favorites]
When I was a kid I sort of had a nascent crush on Olivia Newton John (I was young don't judge me man) until I encountered Debbie Harry. She was powerful and her music had these jagged edges and she was definitely not the safe girl next door. She seemed like she could kick my ass. That was cool and exciting in a way my pre-teen brain could neither process nor escape.
I'm not sure what the point of that paragraph was. Time to listen to more Blondie. I didn't really need to get any work done this morning anyway.
posted by digitalprimate at 11:25 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure what the point of that paragraph was. Time to listen to more Blondie. I didn't really need to get any work done this morning anyway.
posted by digitalprimate at 11:25 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like Blondie fine, but time was when they came on the radio or Pandora station, they inevitably started the toddler crying. Several different songs, same effect. No idea why.
posted by Scattercat at 11:45 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Scattercat at 11:45 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
They were a highlight of Riot Fest Chicago 2013. And such terrific songwriters.
I've been listening to Jeff Tweedy's cover of "Dreaming" all week.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:53 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
I've been listening to Jeff Tweedy's cover of "Dreaming" all week.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:53 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
I love Blondie. Unabashedly. I loved Blondie at the beginning (in the 80's) because they made cool music and we would speak/sing "Rapture" at the roller-rink. Then I loved Blondie because Debbie Harry is sex in ways that MileyCyrus/Gaga/Madonna did not even know was possible; in ways that I always thought Chrissey Hynde was, too. In ways that are personal and real. And lastly I love Blondie because they made great great great pop music.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:04 AM on October 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by From Bklyn at 1:04 AM on October 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
The g/f's fav Blondie song, French Kissin', complete with an appearance by another woman who doesn't seem to age, Katey Sagal.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 3:12 AM on October 8, 2014
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 3:12 AM on October 8, 2014
That Arcade Fire/Debbie Harry Coachella video absolutely made my morning. I'm in awe if the fact that she can still hit many of those high notes. I guess her vocal chords don't age either.
posted by lunasol at 4:00 AM on October 8, 2014
posted by lunasol at 4:00 AM on October 8, 2014
The g/f's fav Blondie song, French Kissin', complete with an appearance by another woman who doesn't seem to age, Katey Sagal.
Technically, French Kissin' in the USA is a Debbie Harry solo number. The weird part is that the song was written by Chuck Lorre, the TV producer responsible for Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, and the Big Bang Theory.
posted by jonp72 at 7:15 AM on October 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Technically, French Kissin' in the USA is a Debbie Harry solo number. The weird part is that the song was written by Chuck Lorre, the TV producer responsible for Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, and the Big Bang Theory.
posted by jonp72 at 7:15 AM on October 8, 2014 [2 favorites]
Mrs. Jerkwater, growing up in the hinterlands, had her life changed by Blondie. "I heard 'Heart of Glass' on the radio, and it was like...I saw there was this whole other world out there. A bigger world. And I made sense there. I wanted to be a part of it."
And she did reach the larger world, where she makes sense and is a part of it. We owe Blondie a big one.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 7:17 AM on October 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
And she did reach the larger world, where she makes sense and is a part of it. We owe Blondie a big one.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 7:17 AM on October 8, 2014 [4 favorites]
This is great and takes me back to my early NYC days. Funny, I must have heard "The Tide Is High" a million times (I particularly remember an occasion drinking beer in a long-gone bar in Grand Central before a company party when it was somehow perfect and kept me in good humor through the party, in the course of which one of the lowlife friends I had smuggled in got unmasked and ejected while another of them was chatting up women in the next room), but I don't remember ever seeing the video before—or maybe it was so weird my memory suppressed it. It is a very strange video. Some great NYC shots, though.
posted by languagehat at 8:05 AM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by languagehat at 8:05 AM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Madonna gets all (or most) of the credit, such that it is, but Blondie and Chrissie Hynde were my heroes and lodestars. The first time I saw the video for "Heart of Glass" (also the first time I heard the song) it was like being transported to a completely different plane, one where Debbie Harry was singing "Mucho mistrust/love's gone behind" in a whirl of lip gloss and disco lights just to me ..... and I'm incapable of picturing what her effect on me would've been if I'd been a straight boy, because her magic was enough to wake this gay kid up like a punch in the face from years of slumber and indifference to the world of music around me. And don't get me started on "Rapture." Holy shit, what an awesome track and even more awesomely cheesy video, even all these years later. (And none is this is even mentioning how fine Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri were ...... )
posted by blucevalo at 9:12 AM on October 8, 2014
posted by blucevalo at 9:12 AM on October 8, 2014
This is great. I think I have Parallel Lines somewhere near my Techincs sl 220 turntable in the basement. It's also possible I stole the album from my Mom.
Parallel Lines (along with Cheap Trick's "Live at Budokan" on the same trip to Sam Goody) were the first "records" I ever bought. "Records" is in quotes because they were actually 8-tracks (what can I say, our Heathkit turntable my Dad built wasn't working at that juncture in time).
posted by jalexei at 1:09 PM on October 8, 2014
Parallel Lines (along with Cheap Trick's "Live at Budokan" on the same trip to Sam Goody) were the first "records" I ever bought. "Records" is in quotes because they were actually 8-tracks (what can I say, our Heathkit turntable my Dad built wasn't working at that juncture in time).
posted by jalexei at 1:09 PM on October 8, 2014
Shameless Relative Promotion: My nephew Matt Katz-Bohen became Blondie's keyboard player a few years ago. And Debbie and I both attended his mother's Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Debbie is very quiet and nice in person.
Here's my nephew showing how he programs some stuff for Blondie using Ableton. (SLYT, not very long).
posted by DMelanogaster at 1:41 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Here's my nephew showing how he programs some stuff for Blondie using Ableton. (SLYT, not very long).
posted by DMelanogaster at 1:41 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
It is a very strange video.
I couldn't help but think "Number One -- that's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!"
posted by dhartung at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
I couldn't help but think "Number One -- that's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!"
posted by dhartung at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
My mom was like, directly adjacent to the rock music world in L.A around the early 80s and she loved Blondie cause they where "SO COOL".
posted by The Whelk at 11:45 PM on October 8, 2014
posted by The Whelk at 11:45 PM on October 8, 2014
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posted by kjs3 at 9:46 PM on October 7, 2014 [3 favorites]