12 January 2021
Band: BLONDIE
Active: 1974–1982, 1997–present
Single: RAPTURE
B-side: Walk Like Me
Released: 12 January 1981 – 40 years ago today
Score: #1 in the US, #5 in the UK
Album: Autoamerican – 5th LP
Rap it up, Debbie…
BLONDIE: Facebook
These 5 classic LP’s turn 45 in 2021…
– BLONDIE – BLONDIE
Released: 10 December 1976 – debut LP
Rolling Stone wrote: “Everything is sung by Deborah Harry, possessor of a bombshell zombie’s voice that can sound dreamily seductive and woodenly Mansonite within the same song. It’s an interesting combination and forces all the songs on Blondie to work on at least two levels: as peppy but rough pop, and as distanced, artless avant-rock.”
Stream here…
.
– RAMONES – RAMONES
Released: 23 April 1976 – debut LP
AllMusic wrote: “With the three-chord assault of “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Ramones begins at a blinding speed and never once over the course of its 14 songs does it let up. The Ramones is all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity. The songs are imaginative reductions of early rock & roll, girl-group pop, and surf rock.”
Bop here…
.
– STUPIDITY – DR. FEELGOOD
Released: 15 September 1976 – third LP
AllMusic wrote: “Comprised of recordings taken from 1975 tours, the live Stupidity finally captures the relentless, hard-driving energy of Dr. Feelgood at their peak. All the music on Stupidity is presented raw and without overdubs, making it clear that the dynamic friction between guitarist Wilko Johnson and vocalist Lee Brilleaux could propel the band toward greatness.”
Go nuts here…
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– DESIRE – BOB DYLAN
Released: 5 January 1976 – 17th LP
Rolling Stone said: “In typical Dylan style, the follow-up to Blood on the Tracks was mostly bashed out in one all-night New York session, fueled by tequila. “Sara,” his account of his crumbling marriage, and the politically charged “Hurricane” highlight the last great album
he’d make for many years.”
Here comes the hurricane…
.
– HOTEL CALIFORNIA – EAGLES
Released: 8 December 1976 – fifth LP
Billboard said: “The casually beautiful, quietly-intense multileveled vocal harmonies
and brilliant original songs that meld solid emotional words with lovely melody lines
are all back in force, keeping the Eagles at the acme of acoustic electric soft rock.”
You can check out any time you like,
but you can never leave!…
.
– THE BLITZKRIEG BOP – RAMONES
Released: February 1976
Album: Ramones
They’re formin’ in a straight line
They’re goin’ through a tight wind
The kids are losin’ their minds
The Blitzkrieg Bop
– ANARCHY IN THE UK – SEX PISTOLS
Released: 26 November 1976
Album: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
I am an anti-Christ
I am an anarchist
Don’t know what I want
But I know how to get it
I want to destroy the passerby
– X-OFFENDER – BLONDIE
Released: 17 June 1976
Album: Blondie
I saw you standing on the corner, you looked so big and fine.
I really wanted to go out with you, so when you smiled,
I laid my heart on the line
– CHERRY BOMB – THE RUNAWAYS
Released: June 1976
Album: The Runaways
Hello, daddy, hello, mom
I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Hello world I’m your wild girl
I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
– THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN – THIN LIZZY
Released: 17 April 1976
Album: Jailbreak
Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that’d been away
Haven’t changed, had much to say
But man, I still think them cats are crazy
20 November 2020
Band: BLONDIE
Album: AUTOAMERICAN – fifth LP
Released: 19 November 1980 – 40 years ago
Score: #3 in the UK and #7 in the US
AllMusic said: “Autoamerican, on which they continued to expand their stylistic range, with greater success, at least on certain tracks… Autoamerican was memorable only for its hits, which would be better heard when placed on a hits compilation.”
Full review here. Score: 3/5.
Turn Up The Volume says: Blondie on autopilot.
Singles/clips: The Tide Is High / Rapture
– THE TIDE IS HIGH –
– RAPTURE –
Full album…
.
BLONDIE: Facebook
Sisters in crime Debbie Harry and Shirley Manson together on tour in the UK in 2021
DEBBIE: “We’ve toured with Garbage before and I adore them. We met Shirley early on when she was in the band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie. Back in those days, we were managed by Gary Kurfirst at the same time, so our paths have crossed over the years. She inducted Blondie into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. So total respect and admiration for Garbage and for Shirley, and I love the music. We have a great show – I think it’s the dark side and the light side, and it makes for an interesting contrast. We tend to be a little more poppy and Garbage is more on the heavy street-rock side.”
SHIRLEY: “We are thrilled to be joining Blondie on this tour of the UK. They have been an enormous influence and inspiration to all of us in Garbage and it is always an honour to share the stage with such trailblazers.”
Veteran riot grrls Debbie Harry and Shirley Manson on tour in 2021
1 March 2020
This day 40 years ago, on 1 March 1980 iconic band BLONDIE topped the UK Singles
Chart with disco gem ‘ATOMIC’ from their fourth LP Eat To The Beat. The track was written by Debbie Harry and keyboardist Jimmy Destri, one of Blondie‘s main songwriters and produced by Australian glam rock (The Sweet, Mud, Suzi Quatro and more) songwriter and producer Mike Chapman.
Hit the dance floor right here…
BLONDIE: Facebook
Top singles from the past…
26 February 2020
Band: Blondie
Single: Rip Her To Shreds
B-sides: In The Flesh and X-Offender,
both previously issued as A-side singles
by Private Stock Records,
Album: Blondie their self-titled debut LP
Here’s the studio recording…
And here a live version, sounding totally punk…
BLONDIE: Facebook
Great magazine covers from the past…
DEBBIE HARRY
Blondie
May 1978
New York Rocker
And that is a fact!…
