- Call Me - EP · 1980
- Parallel Lines · 1978
- Parallel Lines · 1978
- Autoamerican (Remastered 2001) · 1980
- Autoamerican (Remastered 2001) · 1980
- The Best of Blondie · 1978
- Dreaming (Remastered) - Single · 1979
- The Best of Blondie · 1981
- Heart of Glass - EP · 1978
- Parallel Lines · 1978
- Blondie 4(0)-Ever: Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux / Ghosts of Download · 1999
- Eat to the Beat (Bonus Tracks Edition) · 1979
- Heart of Glass - EP · 1978
Essential Albums
- In 1975, Blondie graced the stage nearly every weekend at Manhattan’s grimy CBGB club, trading sets with the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Patti Smith. Uptown, swanky nightclubs like Studio 54 pumped out flashy and flamboyant disco grooves 24/7. By 1978, Blondie brought these two disparate worlds together, landing at the top of the charts for the first time the following year with their euphoric disco romp “Heart of Glass.” While this was the single that established the band’s prowess as pristine pop architects, it only offered a taste of the edgy, playful sounds stretched across their third full-length album, Parallel Lines. During the recording process, Australian producer Mike Chapman’s perfectionist drive reportedly left Debbie Harry in tears and the rest of the members at each other’s throats, but it ultimately tightened up their loose and lively retro-pop and made it forward-thinking—all the way down to their choice covers. Lead track “Hanging on the Telephone” reinterprets LA band The Nerves’ jittery rock song as a sleek, fiery come-on, while Buddy Holly’s “I’m Gonna Love You Too” becomes a cheeky bubblegum-pop gem spliced with jagged bass and punk attitude. Their originals are just as sharp, even doomy art-rock cut “Fade Away and Radiate,” which comes gently shaped by King Crimson founder Robert Fripp’s serpentine guitar lines. Every step of the way, the band’s versatility underscores Harry’s multidimensional appeal—as a woman who hunts (“One Way or Another”) as hard as she hurts (“Picture This”)—and she delivers it all with the same intimidating air she holds on the album’s now-iconic cover.
Albums
- 2017
- 2017
- 2003
- 1999
- 1978
- 2022
- 2017
- 2017
Artist Playlists
- The NYC punks glam up, go pop, and rock the disco.
- Which artists radiated from the atomic group's influence?
- Inspirations that helped take Debbie Harry and the boys to the top of the charts.
- Vintage vistas filtered through a New Wave lens.
Live Albums
Compilations
Appears On
- The Gregory Brothers
- Just Loud
More To Hear
- Shining a spotlight on Blondie’s third studio album.
- The stories behind Blondie’s biggest hits.
About Blondie
Blondie achieved massive success in the late ’70s and early ’80s, doing as much to take New Wave into the mainstream as anybody, while enabling hip-hop and reggae to reach the top of the U.S. charts. But they started out as an underground phenomenon, forming in New York City in 1974 and quickly becoming a fixture of the burgeoning punk scene centred at CBGB. In their early years, Blondie’s passion for kitsch made them something of a northern B-52’s, as they incorporated B-movie imagery, pulp themes, ’60s pop, and Jimmy Destri’s gloriously trashy combo organ into their postmodern smorgasbord. Though they scored big in England with 1978’s “Denis,” Blondie made little stateside impact with their first two albums. Their big North American breakthrough came later that year with the more streamlined Parallel Lines and the disco-styled smash “Heart of Glass,” followed by the more New Wave-tinged hit “One Way or Another.” As soon as the spotlight found Blondie, singer Debbie Harry’s glamorous, photogenic presence got all the media attention, causing a rift between her and her bandmates that would soon widen. In the meantime, they soared to the top of the charts with the Giorgio Moroder-produced Eurodisco of “Call Me,” a cover of The Paragons’ ’60s reggae tune “The Tide Is High,” and “Rapture,” the first song with rapping to reach No. 1 in the U.S. By the time they released their wildly eclectic album The Hunter in 1982, the interpersonal dynamics were close to implosion, and the band split soon after. They reformed in 1997 and released No Exit two years later, scoring an international hit with “Maria.” The revivified Blondie, with cofounders Harry, guitarist Chris Stein, and drummer Clem Burke all remaining on board, continued touring and recording for decades.
- ORIGIN
- Miami, FL, United States
- GENRE
- Rock