“Heart of Glass” – Single by Blondie from the album Parallel Lines
B-side: “Rifle Range” (UK), “11:59” (US)
Released: January 1979
Recorded: June 1978
Studio: Record Plant, New York City
Label; Chrysalis
Songwriters: Debbie HarryChris Stein
Producer: Mike Chapman
Charted No.1 in US and No.1 in UK
“Heart of Glass” ranked at number 66 in the UK’s official list of biggest selling singles of all-time, with sales of 1.32 million copies, being the 9th best selling single of the 1970s in the UK.
The track was released as the third single from their 1978 album, Parallel Lines, and remains one of the outfit’s signature songs—despite any naysay from the punk stalwarts. It was as “disco” as it ever had been. What started out as a “novelty item” on the album that brought a whole new legion of fans to Blondie.
It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of “qualitative or historical significance” in 2015. Harry herself stated that “Heart of Glass” was, along with “Rapture,” the song she was proudest of having written.
The video for this song showed the band performing it in an empty discotheque, and was very popular, thanks to the many close-ups of Debbie Harry. Blondie was one of the few American bands that made videos in the years before MTV. They did so because they were very popular in Australia and Europe, and by producing videos, they could be featured on shows in those continents when they couldn’t travel there.
