Blondie
The most commercially successful band to come out of the CBGB scene, and the one least interested in staying in it. Formed in New York City in 1974 by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, Blondie spent two albums as a downtown punk act that American radio would not touch, then broke worldwide with Parallel Lines in 1978 by folding disco, reggae, and rap into a sound that arrived from the same clubs as the Ramones and Talking Heads. Eat to the Beat, Autoamerican, and The Hunter followed before the band stopped in 1982, and the video album made for Eat to the Beat was the first of its kind released by a major act.
Four singles reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1979 and 1981, and "Rapture" was the first of them to carry rap vocals to the top of an American chart. The band reformed in 1997 and reached UK No. 1 again with "Maria" in 1999, twenty years after "Heart of Glass" had done it first. Blondie were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, have sold more than 40 million records, and saw Parallel Lines added to the National Recording Registry in 2024. Drummer Clem Burke, who joined in 1975 and stayed for fifty years, died in April 2025; a twelfth album recorded with him, High Noon, was announced the following August.
Articles on Blondie
Blondie – Call me
Written In Hours After Stevie Nicks Said No
Debbie Harry – French Kissin’ In The USA
Blondie – Sunday Girl (1978)
Blondie – The Tide Is High
Blondie almost never covered anyone — but they heard a forgotten Jamaican rocksteady record on a cassette in London, tried to get a famous ska band to cut it with them, and turned it into a global No. 1 when that fell through.
Blondie – Dreaming
The Song That Refused To Slow Down
Blondie – Union City Blue (Official Music Video)
Blondie – Denis
Blondie – Rapture
Blondie – Heart Of Glass
Blondie started this song in 1974 as a slow reggae experiment they nicknamed "The Disco Song" — and spent four years failing to make it work before a drum machine and a doubtful producer turned it into a global No. 1.