Album: Parallel Lines
Heart of Glass is one of several songs on the album that I've loved as long as I can remember (and I only just recently found out it's a reference to the Werner Herzog film of the same name). This song is the perfect example of the band's innovative approach and there's few better examples in pop history of rock and dance music melding so perfectly. The drum machine that kicks off the track is soon joined by a groove of throbbing bass and Debbie Harry's wonderful, almost detached singing voice. Both this song and the more conventional pop single, Sunday Girl, would become No.1 UK hits and propel the album to bestseller status on both sides of the Atlantic. As well as Hanging On The Telephone and One Way Or Another, there are other gems on the album like Fade Away & Radiate (which sounds like a big influence on Madonna) and the punk energy of 11:59. There were other highlights to come for Blondie after Parallel Lines, like Call Me with Giorgio Moroder, but the decline of the the group and Debbie Harry was dramatic. In 1978/79, though, they ruled the pop universe.
Artist: Blondie
Born: New York City
Released: September 1978
Genre: Punk Pop
Influenced: The Go-Gos, Madonna, Sleater-Kinney, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Parallel Lines was an apt album title. In Bob Stanley's brilliant pop history Yeah Yeah Yeah, he makes the claim that Blondie were a rare example of two very separate musical strands meeting, the parallel lines of 70s classic rock > 80s college rock > grunge on the one hand, and disco > electro > house & techno on the other. Though other groups may have come close to creating this fusion, none pulled it off as successfully as Blondie. Parallel Lines is one of the great pop albums. Debbie Harry was exotic and glamorous, the self-assured leader of a tightly knit group, while Clem Burke was a wonderful drummer inspired by Keith Moon. Guitarist Chris Stein was another key member of the group, who wrote and co-wrote many of the key songs on this album and others. Until the release of Parallel Lines, Blondie had been a relatively low-profile new wave band, who had suffered an intolerable tour of the UK as support act to Television. Their breakthrough came when they hired Aussie producer Mike Chapman, who came to fame as the brains behind glam rocks hits such as Mud's Tiger Feet and Sweet's Block Buster! Chapman brought a new energy to Blondie's recording sessions, creating a match made in heaven and overseeing the band's innovative fusion of punk with disco.
Parallel Lines was an apt album title. In Bob Stanley's brilliant pop history Yeah Yeah Yeah, he makes the claim that Blondie were a rare example of two very separate musical strands meeting, the parallel lines of 70s classic rock > 80s college rock > grunge on the one hand, and disco > electro > house & techno on the other. Though other groups may have come close to creating this fusion, none pulled it off as successfully as Blondie. Parallel Lines is one of the great pop albums. Debbie Harry was exotic and glamorous, the self-assured leader of a tightly knit group, while Clem Burke was a wonderful drummer inspired by Keith Moon. Guitarist Chris Stein was another key member of the group, who wrote and co-wrote many of the key songs on this album and others. Until the release of Parallel Lines, Blondie had been a relatively low-profile new wave band, who had suffered an intolerable tour of the UK as support act to Television. Their breakthrough came when they hired Aussie producer Mike Chapman, who came to fame as the brains behind glam rocks hits such as Mud's Tiger Feet and Sweet's Block Buster! Chapman brought a new energy to Blondie's recording sessions, creating a match made in heaven and overseeing the band's innovative fusion of punk with disco.
Heart of Glass is one of several songs on the album that I've loved as long as I can remember (and I only just recently found out it's a reference to the Werner Herzog film of the same name). This song is the perfect example of the band's innovative approach and there's few better examples in pop history of rock and dance music melding so perfectly. The drum machine that kicks off the track is soon joined by a groove of throbbing bass and Debbie Harry's wonderful, almost detached singing voice. Both this song and the more conventional pop single, Sunday Girl, would become No.1 UK hits and propel the album to bestseller status on both sides of the Atlantic. As well as Hanging On The Telephone and One Way Or Another, there are other gems on the album like Fade Away & Radiate (which sounds like a big influence on Madonna) and the punk energy of 11:59. There were other highlights to come for Blondie after Parallel Lines, like Call Me with Giorgio Moroder, but the decline of the the group and Debbie Harry was dramatic. In 1978/79, though, they ruled the pop universe.
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