Debbie Harry was at a career-high. In 1980-1981, her group Blondie had a 'hat-trick' of Transatlantic number-ones with Call Me, The Tide Is High, and Rapture in the USA, and Call Me, Atomic and The Tide is High in the UK.
Later that year, seeking control of her career, Debbie stepped boldly into the world of Downtown funk and rap music with her solo debut album "Koo Koo", and was never heard from again.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 119 | June 30, 2021 5:30 PM |
Debbie looks a little bit like Laura Branigan in that video. Cute, but obviously turning down the sex-symbol thing, which at her age (37) was understandable but perhaps not the best career move.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | October 14, 2020 11:58 AM |
Wow! I’ve never seen that video footage. Thanks OP! What a different time that was.
Actually your timeline is a bit inaccurate. “Eldergay” Blondie/Debbie fans of a certain age (myself included) will remember Koo Koo came out between Blondie’s fifth and sixth album.
It was never intended to be a Debbie solo album, not in the beginning at least.
It was intended to be a straight-up four way collaboration between Nile Rogers, Bernard Edwards (core members of Chic), Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, credited as such, and an experiment mixing r&b/funk with rock. The resulting album was marketed, perhaps wisely, by the record company as “Debbie Harry’s first solo album.” And titled and marketed as such. In the end, and ever since, all the members of the project were on board with this. Debbie and Chris’ new friendship with artist HR Giger was how the jarring cover image happened, which made the whole thing even weirder.
Blondie were still huge when this suddenly appeared almost out of nowhere. I remember seeing an ad in Creem magazine and suddenly it was in the stores the following week. I still love Koo Koo because it has such a strong groove, even if there are a few awkward moments.
It’s the other Debbie solo records released after Blondie broke up that I consider her “official” solo career, warts and all.
But this album has a special place in most old-school fans’ minds, and many of them consider it her best solo record, even if it isn’t *exactly* categorized as such.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | October 14, 2020 12:23 PM |
It’s interesting to read that interview. He seems love the album but he keeps mentioning how he really wishes to go back and re-think the record and re-imagine it as a proper solo album to promote Debbie better. He also seems to dislike the cover image! LOL!
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | October 14, 2020 12:35 PM |
The Koo Koo cover without pins.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 5 | October 14, 2020 12:52 PM |
I actually liked some of songs, like "The Jam was Moving", but agreed that the album cover was a turnoff. I also think the record company basically buried the album.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | October 14, 2020 12:58 PM |
I remember that when they completed Autoameican, Chrysalis did not like the sound of it, saying it had no hits. After it was a success they gave Harry/Stein pretty much an opportunity to do whatever they wanted with a splashy budget to match. Koo Koo was launched to grand parties around the world, but behind to scenes, execs were running for cover.
But that was nothing compared to The Hunter. That album was much closer to Debbie solo. Several members of Blondie did not participate at all, replaced by session musicians. Chris Stein was sick, Debbie hooked on heroin. The remaining members mostly isolated from each other. Mike Chapman was working to the point of suicide trying to keep everyone happy.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | October 14, 2020 1:12 PM |
R2 While the Koo Koo album was meant to be a “rock meets r&b” collaboration between Debbie, Nile, Bernard and Chris, I think it was always imagined by everyone as a Debbie solo album, even from the beginning.
Although in her own words, Debbie’s recent memoir does point more towards your concept. Sort of.
I think the truth lay somewhere in the middle.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 14, 2020 1:26 PM |
Blondie were so famous and successful during this period I think Debbie and Chris were reaching out in all kinds of directions artistically, and not afraid to take weird chances.
I’m sure if they’d know Blondie would be done and done within a year, they might have approached Debbie‘s “first solo album” differently.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | October 14, 2020 1:29 PM |
Is there a reason why Datalounge is going through every single female celebrity one by one with the "shitter" subject line?
Are we truly incapable of discussing celebrities without using ancient memes that weren't funny in the first place?
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | October 14, 2020 1:29 PM |
Meanwhile... a young, known nude model and rock band drummer in NYC named Madonna was paying close attention and noting all the mistakes Debbie was making.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | October 14, 2020 1:45 PM |
Love her Jersey accent. And she kept it!
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | October 14, 2020 1:48 PM |
I love how she said the censors claimed they can’t show the album cover on television, and then they keep showing it.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | October 14, 2020 2:08 PM |
I guess I can now appreciate Deborah's raw, unprocessed vocals in Koo Koo, and the slick, industrial feel but at the time it sounded jarring. Coming away from Mike Chapman, who had developed a processing style that accentuated the smoothness in Deborah's voice.
Chic originally gave Diana Ross' DIANA album a downtown vibe, but she threw a fit and had the whole album re-engineered. Deborah loved working with Chic and had no hard feelings.
The mechanical feel of Koo Koo influenced the things that came later on, especially the records that Nile Rodgers did, like Bowie's Let's Dance, INXS' Original Sin, and Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | October 14, 2020 2:22 PM |
I always loved the album Koo Koo
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | October 15, 2020 12:21 AM |
Debbie filmed Videorome with the brown hair in late 1981, that film did not get a proper release in the UK until December 1983. Debbie was back to blonde by then and had put on some weight. In between, was the scary time when Chris Stein was gravely ill in hospital. You can see in the OP video he still looks really healthy then. They dropped most of their workloads and lined up projects, which lead to legal problems.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 17 | October 15, 2020 1:00 PM |
I don't think Chris Stein turned a corner with his health until at least the middle of 1984. First, he healed slowly, then became better quite rapidly. After that, Deborah took off most of 1984 to recuperate before they started to work together on projects again. She started an album with Jellybean in 1985, then recorded 'Rockbird' with Seth Justman in January 1986. Would love to hear the rest of that Jellybean material.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 18 | October 15, 2020 1:09 PM |
Her blond-or-brunette hair was still in question during the post-Koo Koo/Videodrome period and the initial The Hunter period.
Post-Koo Koo she often wore stylized black, green, blue and pink wigs during this time (she used to mention the designer of the wigs in old interviews, I wish I could remember the name... a female) and still seemed to be rebelling against the blond hair. BUT she also wore a similar blond wig during the press and videos for the initial release of The Hunter. One was quite long. There’s a UK interview where the interviewer asks if it’s a wig and she’s very coy. They weren’t even realistic wigs, they were stylized with heavy bangs and blunt cut ends.
This was around the time she was asked to play Pris in BLADE RUNNER. Which makes me curious what her hair would have been in that film if she’d done it (she regrets not, their record company forced her to go in tour instead) Maybe a wig too?
But by the time The Hunter tour started (that’s when Chris really began to get ill) she was back to her normal bleached hair with roots.
Am I a wig detective, or a Blondie obsessive?
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | October 15, 2020 2:31 PM |
Blue wig, time just leading up to The Hunter (note necklace)
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 20 | October 15, 2020 2:33 PM |
Green, same time period...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 21 | October 15, 2020 2:35 PM |
The ubiquitous long blond wig, performing a song from The Hunter on television...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 22 | October 15, 2020 2:42 PM |
[R7] I remember being quite stunned when Blondie bombed so spectacularly with The Hunter so soon after their huge success. What happened? I liked Island of Lost Souls a lot but radio was suddenly indifferent to them. Listening to some of Blondie’s demos a few years back I was struck by how raw and amateurish they sounded - they were not good musicians and definitely needed a A-list producer to make them sound good.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | October 15, 2020 3:12 PM |
I thought by the time it took to make The Hunter, the band wasn't really interested in being a band anymore and owed the label another record.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | October 15, 2020 3:40 PM |
I know there’s a long thread from a while back just on Blondie’s THE HUNTER, where everyone analyzes it and theorizes how it came to be.
But I can’t seem to find it! I swear the search function just doesn’t work for me.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | October 15, 2020 4:01 PM |
She's had a wonderful film and solo career.
Debbie and Blondie made a massively successful comeback in 1999 with new material that most pop/rock acts never achieve.
OP is the Auto-Aspie Misogynist Hater who denigrates every female entertainer and accuses them all of going "straight down the shitter."
Truth is, Blondie still makes good albums with new material, so ignore the OP and listen to Debbie and Joan Jett trash Trump in one of her new songs:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 26 | October 15, 2020 4:02 PM |
Or thank Debbie for supporting LGBT persons her entire life, as she did with a new anthem this summer:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 27 | October 15, 2020 4:04 PM |
Blondie has been so successful for so long, the backlash was just waiting to happen. They’d had five more or less great albums in a row up to that point. I think the criticisms of The Hunter went too far at the time, and still do. It isn’t great by any means (the band was at each other’s throats, and bitterly battling their record company at the time), and the bad songs on it do sound weak and unfinished, or something. But half the songs are as good as anything the band had ever done. If they’d just used those it would have made a great EP!
But that cover design! Ugh. In her memoir Face It even Debbie talks about how bad the cover ended up.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | October 15, 2020 4:07 PM |
Real artists typically burn out.
Madonna was a blank slate designed by others. So she didn’t burn out as easily.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | October 15, 2020 4:08 PM |
I saw Blondie on tour last year. She was looking and sounding pretty fine, considering.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | October 15, 2020 4:08 PM |
In the beginning they were terrible, besides Debbie, who had been in a hippy band, I think only Clem Burke had any real musiclal training.
Debbie had been working on variations of 'Blondie' as a character since the early 70s, even before they became a band, through various forms of live music, experimental film, and theater. She wrote the song Platinum Blonde as her contribution for a part she wanted to play in the musical Fame. She was tired of Blondie in 1982, and wanted new challenges.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | October 15, 2020 4:10 PM |
OP is very obviously trolling for attention with the claim that Debbie was never heard from after KOO KOO, which is blatantly false fuckery from an out-of-touch troll.
And her “bold step into the world of Downtown funk and rap music” began with Blondie and “Rapture” in 1980.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 32 | October 15, 2020 4:12 PM |
Maria is one of my favorite songs (1999), and was a big dance hit in the U.S. and pop hit in many other countries.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 33 | October 15, 2020 4:14 PM |
[quote]This was around the time she was asked to play Pris in BLADE RUNNER.
Apart from being the original choice in Blade Runner, there was a film called American Rhapsody being written for Debbie by a major studio in 1981 that got shelved. She was also set to play Princess Aura in Flash Gordon when Nicolas Roeg was set to direct.
David Lynch said he was inspired to write the role of Dorothy in Blue Velvet based on Harry.
Deborah auditioned for the Liza part in Arthur, the wife in Raging Bull. The female lead in TRON, a part in Cannery Row that went to Debra Winger.
Debbie Harry and Joan Jett were both considered for the role of Rachel Marron in some earlier versions of The Bodyguard.
Apart from not getting the roles, I think the storm of controversy around Videodrome killed off her passion to become a viable leading lady.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | October 15, 2020 4:19 PM |
R28 The good songs from The Hunter in my opinion are: “War Child,“ “Island of Lost Souls,” “Danceway,” “(Can I) Find the Right Words (To Say,)” and “English Boys.”
The weak ones might have worked but they needed to be beefed-up or re-recorded, particularly “Dragonfly.”
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | October 15, 2020 4:24 PM |
Dear r9,
Debbie and Chris have ALWAYS "reached out in all kinds of directions artistically, and been not afraid to take weird chances."
They did it before they were successful and famous. They still do it now, when hardly anyone is listening. You could say the same about many of the musicians from the CBGB scene.
Debbie was a hippie singer joining all kinds of acts before Blondie. She was in an all-girl group with Warhol proteges called The Stillettos — that's where she met Chris Stein. She collaborated with Iggy Pop, Giorgio Moroder, Talking Heads members, Dee Dee Ramone, gay musicians like Paul Zone and the Fast, all during, after and in-between Blondie. Her collabs are legion after 5 decades.
Real artists persist with or without the "fame" and "success" you're so desperate for, which is all that you value, sadly.
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | October 15, 2020 4:31 PM |
What's life like living on hate and envy alone, r11?
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | October 15, 2020 4:32 PM |
[R28] Just to clarify the timeline, their commercial breakthrough, PARALLEL LINES, came out in 1978. EAT TO THE BEAT came out in 1979 and AUTOAMERICAN in 1980. THE HUNTER was 1982. That means their big success lasted just 3 years. That's quite short for a superstar-level band - whose average span at the top would roughly be 5-7 years.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | October 15, 2020 4:36 PM |
That "raw and amateurish sound" rocks, r23. Your pettiness exposes you as a bougie basic bitch.
What you don't understand about bands like this is that sometimes toppling corrupt governments is more important than soft and flawless, corporate pop.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | October 15, 2020 4:43 PM |
[R39] Are you being satirical or are you just a nutjob? Your position is very punk-romantic, frozen-in-amber from 1978 and has nothing to do with music. Check for lice in your mohawk. You covet the bullshit idea that amateurs who haven't mastered their instruments are more "authentic" than those who have. Dumb.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | October 15, 2020 4:50 PM |
There has never been a "backlash" against Blondie. Doing a flop album isn't a "backlash." They are beloved.
The truth is, Chris' health problems, Chris and Debbie's problems with the I.R.S. and an accountant, manager and record label that screwed Blondie over is why the band stopped in the mid-80s.
Debbie went on to do some fabulous, hit solo work a film career, several collaborations until ultimately a popular comeback with Blondie in the 1990s.
Blondie's hiatus had nothing to do with their musical talent.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 41 | October 15, 2020 4:53 PM |
Debbie had lots of musical training and experience, r31, including playing the mandolin. Chris Stein had lots of guitar training and experience.
STFU
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | October 15, 2020 4:56 PM |
Those aren't the only years Blondie enjoyed success, r38, let alone Debbie Harry's solo career, so you can quit lying now.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | October 15, 2020 4:59 PM |
A great tribute to her from the b-52'S. Wonder if they ever toured together.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 44 | October 15, 2020 5:02 PM |
And you're a bougie, basic bitch, r40.
1978 isn't the only year in which passion and point of view are more important than inoffensive formalities and mainstream acceptance.
Every year values revolutionary artwork. I'm sure you'd lecture Picasso, Van Gogh, Pollack, Dali, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones or Chuck Berry on the need for an "A-list producer," as well, until the entire world accepted them by your petty measure of success.
You don't get art. You always have to go with the flow, even though the flow is wrong half the time and you have no business lecturing anyone about it.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | October 15, 2020 5:05 PM |
Well, R37, I thought R11 was funny. I think it was meant as a joke!
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | October 15, 2020 5:10 PM |
[R45] Project away. Your demented accusations are amusing. Blondie was as corporate and mainstream as they come. Your banging Downtown Heroin New York troglodyte bands didn't have multiple #1 singles. You think in hyperventilating music journalism cliches that were popular in the early '80's. You are a fossil.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | October 15, 2020 5:11 PM |
R35 You forgot their cover of “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game!” That’s one of the best things on that album.
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | October 15, 2020 5:12 PM |
"Every year values revolutionary artwork" - huh? Take your meds.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | October 15, 2020 5:13 PM |
"Heart of Glass" was 1978 and "Island of Lost Souls" was in 1982. That's FIVE consecutive years in Blondie's heyday, for the retarded hater @ r38 who can't count.
And that doesn't even include Debbie's solo career and Blondie's comeback that produced hits through 1999.
So we're going to have a Deborah Harry playlist now for all the hits created after lying r38's selective memory, starting with this #57 single from 1986:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 50 | October 15, 2020 5:14 PM |
[R30] THE HUNTER and ISLAND OF LOST SOULS bombed. BOMBED. Which means 1978-81 was the window of success. 1982 was the year it went to shit.
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | October 15, 2020 5:16 PM |
You have lost the argument, r49.
You have been exposed as a liar who wants to ignore over a decade more of Debbie's hits. You've also exposed yourself as a petty, basic bitch who values nothing but mainstream acceptance in a world where the mainstream flows off a cliff half the time.
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | October 15, 2020 5:16 PM |
Blondie were also very successful and famous in Europe, Japan and Australia for their first two albums, before Parallel Lines which broke them big in their home country thanks to “Heart of Glass.”
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | October 15, 2020 5:17 PM |
Blondie didn't have "hits" after 1981. Only superfans would qualify their later output as "hits." They did respectable work that sold respectably. That's it.
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | October 15, 2020 5:19 PM |
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS CHARTED.
CHARTED!!!! No. 37 on the U.S. Top 40!!!!
You could never accomplish anything like that, you basic cunt!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 55 | October 15, 2020 5:19 PM |
You are objectively mistaken and lying in the face of the evidence, r54.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | October 15, 2020 5:20 PM |
#1 on the U.S. Dance Chart, 1987.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 57 | October 15, 2020 5:21 PM |
[R55] #37 equates to a major bomb as the lead single from a band who recently had multiple #1 hits. Whatever they put out would have made the Top 40 based on airplay alone. Then the airplay vanished.....
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | October 15, 2020 5:24 PM |
[quote]Madonna was a blank slate designed by others.
Please. Madonna was always in charge of her image and music. She's been lauded for this many times.
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | October 15, 2020 5:24 PM |
#12 U.K. Top Singles, 1989:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 60 | October 15, 2020 5:24 PM |
By the way, I owned and loved ROCKBIRD - but it wasn't a hit. FRENCH KISSIN' limped to #57 in the U.S..
| by Anonymous | reply 61 | October 15, 2020 5:25 PM |
#2 in the U.S. Dance chart. #23 in the U.K. 1993:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 62 | October 15, 2020 5:26 PM |
U.K. singles # 46 in 1993:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 63 | October 15, 2020 5:27 PM |
Grasping at straws with the Dance Chart and U.K. charts. These were not the major worldwide hits they'd enjoyed with HEART OF GLASS, CALL ME, THE TIDE IS HIGH, etc. They were decent showings by a legacy act.
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | October 15, 2020 5:29 PM |
1999:
#1 in the U.K., #82 in the U.S., #14 in the U.S. Adult Top 40, #9 in the U.S. Dance Club Songs, #3 U.S. .Hot Dance Singles.
#3 U.K. Albums, #18 U.S. Albums
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 65 | October 15, 2020 5:33 PM |
[R65] Again - respectable showings by a legacy act. But not hits.
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | October 15, 2020 5:35 PM |
#5 U.S. Hot Dance Club hit 2007:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 67 | October 15, 2020 5:36 PM |
"Legacy Act" means OLD MATERIAL, shitfuck!
"Maria" and NO EXIT were new songs that generated new hits for a new generation!
YOU CAN'T SAVE FACE.
YOU HAVE BEEN PROVEN WRONG AND NO AMOUNT OF LIES IS GOING TO MAKE DEBORAH HARRY A FAILURE AND YOU SUCCESSFUL.
SHE IS BELOVED.
YOU ARE A BASIC HATER.
| by Anonymous | reply 68 | October 15, 2020 5:39 PM |
No, it doesn't r58.
Not in the industry and not in life. You could never reach #57 on the Billboard charts. You are a jealous bitch and a hater whose only joy in life is tearing beloved artists down in order for you to believe they're in your miserable company.
You have failed.
| by Anonymous | reply 69 | October 15, 2020 5:41 PM |
It's time for the OP to slink straight back down the shitter!
F&F
| by Anonymous | reply 70 | October 15, 2020 5:42 PM |
[R69] You are a legacy act.
| by Anonymous | reply 71 | October 15, 2020 5:42 PM |
RR69] Ha ha - "In the industry, as in LIFE" - you are a fruit loop. Debby doesn't give a shit about you, although you'd eat her boogers. On the bright side, you are an amusingly demented sycophant.
| by Anonymous | reply 72 | October 15, 2020 5:44 PM |
Awwww now come on...Debbie Harry is not without talent and definitely successful across mediums, and shockingly versatile in her willingness and ability to perform all genres of music. Her film career is unevenly successful but she got away with some very effective performances (and was edited out of some film projects). I’d consider her a really game broad who had (has) beauty, talent and some luck, too. No Exit is a damned good album and a really inspiring comeback. She may not actually remember much about some periods of her career. She’s generally a bit spacey. She socializes with a narrow band of creative and counter-cultural types, and she is generous and discreetly protective of some marginalized individuals . She is pretty awesome, not perfect, but a game broad. She’s aloof and has earned the right to be that way. I have always liked her since I was a kid. There is a streak of meanness and gullibility to her that fucked up some pretty meaningful collaborations, and that’s too bad. She is a lot less pretentious and self-interested than some of her peers. She is a great gal.
| by Anonymous | reply 73 | October 15, 2020 5:46 PM |
I never maintained that Debby was "a failure" - that's all in your koo koo head. I think I'm beginning to understand your mental condition - Debby is your spirit animal - the vision of the success and power you never had but covet to the point where you become insensible - and so you must exalt and "defend" her against imagined attack. Debby thinks you suck. She told me.
| by Anonymous | reply 74 | October 15, 2020 5:49 PM |
[R73] I agree that Debby is talented but, like Madonna, she must be taken as a whole package to be appreciated. She isn't great at one thing. She can sing some and act some but she isn't the best. She certainly can't sing Jazz like a real Jazz singer. But she's beautiful and alluring and a riveting pop singer/performer when produced with imagination and placed in the right visual setting (HEART OF GLASS, CALL ME). Her success is commensurate with her talent. She might have lasted longer if she wasn't on heroin but the same can be said for many artists - heroin seems to be an occupational hazard among a certain type of musician. She had her time and seems content to be who she is - nothing tragic about that.
| by Anonymous | reply 75 | October 15, 2020 5:56 PM |
Any recommendations post No Exit? I know they released several more albums on mostly independent labels. My favorite albums of theirs are Parallel Lines and Eat the Beat.
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | October 15, 2020 6:00 PM |
Once again, another thread goes to shit.
| by Anonymous | reply 77 | October 15, 2020 6:44 PM |
I love her first solo album Koo Koo from 1981. Her 2nd solo album Rockbird in 1986 featured the UK hit song “French Kissin’ In The USA.” Her 3rd solo album - Def, Dumb & Blonde in 1989 features “I Want That Man.” Her 4th solo album in 1993 , Debravation. Her 5th solo album in 2007 - Necessary Evil.
| by Anonymous | reply 78 | October 15, 2020 7:23 PM |
I’m amazed at the amount of media that keeps turning up online from Blondie’s 70’s/80’s heyday (like OP’s video). Endless tv interviews and appearances. They just keep popping up. Looking on YouTube for Blondie and Debbie Harry is an endless rabbit hole.
| by Anonymous | reply 79 | October 15, 2020 7:25 PM |
Debbie got fat.
In the Andy Warhol Diaries, Warhol talks about how fat she got circa 1982.
| by Anonymous | reply 80 | October 15, 2020 7:26 PM |
Well, in the Warhol diaries he also praises her multiple times, and a few times reports on hanging out with her during that day.
| by Anonymous | reply 81 | October 15, 2020 7:34 PM |
I think that line being popular was from when Spy magazine published, “The Index to the Andy Warhol Diaries” because it hadn’t included an index, infamously. They’d highlight little phrases associated with each celebrity, and of course they highlighted those three words for Debbie.
| by Anonymous | reply 82 | October 15, 2020 7:37 PM |
DLers, please vote to settle this debate once and for all:
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 83 | October 15, 2020 8:28 PM |
Debbie and Blondie symbolize a New York which was edgy and fascinating and real before Giuliani turned it into something resembling a shopping mall in New Jersey.
| by Anonymous | reply 84 | October 15, 2020 8:33 PM |
I saw Debbie perform once at Squeezebox (at Don Hill’s NYC) around the time she was touring with The Jazz Passengers. I think the late 90’s. She was dressed in a bright green sort of pantsuit and blazer and had green frame “nerd” eyeglasses to match. Her hair was quite long. She looked fabulous! She performed with some of the Jazz Passengers a freeform set with her sometimes singing, sometimes speaking over the bleating horns and percussion. At one point she recited the famous monologue from TAXI DRIVER, “One day a real rain will come, etc.” It was a remarkable and vibrant performance I never forgot. I saw her in a whole new light after that. At the time I think she was actually living with her friend the creator of Squeezebox, Michael Schmidt, in London Terrace.
| by Anonymous | reply 85 | October 15, 2020 8:34 PM |
Come on. “Maria” is a great hill or stairclimber hit with great asides and a good swing.
Although I have the musical taste of a thirteen year-old squirrel, I don’t think her career is in the shitter. Whenever she puts out product, I pay for it and enjoy it. I’m hazy on her personal life and I keep it that way.
| by Anonymous | reply 86 | October 15, 2020 9:18 PM |
R87 I think he’s based in LA now
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 88 | October 15, 2020 10:13 PM |
She just wasn't very talented. So she couldn't pivot when she was no longer the cute, young thing.
| by Anonymous | reply 89 | October 15, 2020 10:15 PM |
Thanks so he did the jewels on top of the Mugler? cool
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 90 | October 15, 2020 10:16 PM |
Jimmy Destri is the most unacknowledged member of the Blondie. He was a real musician and wrote a number of their hits. Later, Chris and Debbie dumped him because of his (irony of ironies) drug problem.
| by Anonymous | reply 91 | October 15, 2020 11:17 PM |
[quote]Any recommendations post No Exit? I know they released several more albums on mostly independent labels. My favorite albums of theirs are Parallel Lines and Eat the Beat.
The Curse of Blondie and the much more recent Pollinator. Both are pretty solid albums. Broad but not excessive.
Curse of Blondie is avant garde disco-rock, Jimmy Destri wrote his fairwell tracks for that album. Pollinator gave them some of the critical acclaim that even their classic albums never got, it's a very solid rock album with some nostalga thrown in.
Panic of Girls is good. More juxtaposed, a mix of modern sounding and world beats. The stand out tracks were the bonus songs like Sleeping Giant.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 92 | October 16, 2020 2:28 AM |
Debbie Harry was getting old and was replaced by Madonna.
| by Anonymous | reply 93 | October 16, 2020 2:35 AM |
Love Debbie, just love her. But I have to say that by the time Island Of Lost Souls came around it was odd seeing the video on MTV, as the music industry had clearly moved on. The Hunter album, which I got in a cut-out bin shortly after its release, seemed after the fact. Radio had moved quickly to new acts. Funny how Blondie is largely considered an 80s act, always being lumped into 80s comps, when in reality the band was at the end of their glory days before the decade got off the ground. And I agree, "Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" is one of the best things Debbie recorded. The listener gets the impression she's actually lurking in the brush about to pounce.
Anyone have more info about this alleged album with Jellybean that was abandoned? Feel The Spin is ace. How I'd love to hear entire album of similar tracks.
| by Anonymous | reply 94 | October 16, 2020 3:37 AM |
They became irrelevant very quickly. But tastes, in general, changed abruptly after Reagan came into power. It was as though all of America made a conscious break with the 70s.
| by Anonymous | reply 95 | October 16, 2020 3:51 AM |
Deb had a pretty good career, considering she was practically middle-aged when she got her big break.
| by Anonymous | reply 96 | October 16, 2020 3:53 AM |
Blondie is considered an '80s band because "Call Me" was the #1 song of 1980, and the rock-disco fusion set the pace for the electronic acts that were to come. Listen to it now and there's nothing about that track that reads '70s—Duran Duran, the Clash and New Order cleaned up doing guitar-heavy dance-rock like this in the '80s.
"Rapture" was the first rap song to hit #1, and that was in 1981, a few years before the hip-hop floodgates opened.
So yeah, they shot most of their wad in the '70s, but there are solid reasons why they're considered an '80s act. They were done by '82, but they accomplished a lot in two years.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 97 | October 16, 2020 3:56 AM |
Debbie is a talented songwriter.
Imagine being handed this instrumental track and coming up with the lyrics and melody for a song that went to #1 for six weeks.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 98 | October 16, 2020 4:10 AM |
Amazing that their run only lasted 3-4 years, since they were so famous and are still so iconic. Like the above posters said, at the beginning of the Reagan era people seemed to want to forget the 70s. Most 70s acts had career trouble in the new decade. Even 70s superstars like Elton John and Donna Summer were on shaky ground for awhile.
Also, Blondie for some odd reason just didn't seem to "fit" with the MTV aesthetic. I can't really explain it. God knows MTV became all-important for success in the 80s.
| by Anonymous | reply 99 | October 16, 2020 4:28 AM |
Culture used to change radically, and so much faster.
What people wore in 1975 was radically different from what people wore in 1980, which was radically different from what people wore in 1985.
Now we've been wearing the same basic styles and listening to the same kind of music and watching the same kind of TV for decades.
| by Anonymous | reply 100 | October 16, 2020 4:32 AM |
The Mamas and the Papas were the same way — their career lasted just a little more than two years.
But they're the epitome of the '60s.
| by Anonymous | reply 101 | October 16, 2020 4:35 AM |
French Kissin’ is a great track, I wish it were in rotation on radio stations that play that kind of crap. It was written by Chuck Lorre who created Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory lol
| by Anonymous | reply 102 | October 16, 2020 8:45 AM |
French Kissin' is a shitty, embarrassing song.
Debbie should have hooked up with New Order, the Smiths, Pet Shop Boys, or any number of associated producers for projects in the '80s.
It seemed like she was either too smacked out, too bored, or just too lazy to care about her career after 1982. Everything was very tossed-off and ad hoc; she had no strategy.
| by Anonymous | reply 103 | October 16, 2020 9:02 AM |
Should wound't suck cock.
| by Anonymous | reply 104 | October 16, 2020 9:13 AM |
Blondie's initial string of hits, their "classics" are still heard and recognized widely today, used in commercials, etc.
Images of the band and their first 5 album covers are used all the time in articles about the "punk/new wave" era, and that era of NYC. Articles about the era always feature them heavily.
Debbie is still referenced as a major style icon of the time in fasion, and a ground-breaker for women in popular music.
If you can accomplish THAT, you've won.
| by Anonymous | reply 105 | October 16, 2020 12:06 PM |
R98 That is fascinating. Where did you find it?
| by Anonymous | reply 106 | October 16, 2020 1:59 PM |
R76 Yes, No Exit was/is a great album. The Curse of Blondie has some very good songs on it. My tastes may not be yours, but I enjoyed Hello Joe (music like a samba, beautiful lyrics), Goldenrod, Diamond Bridge, even The Tingler.
I haven’t bought much of Blondie’s material after The Curse of Blondie, but I did enjoy a throw-away called Sugar on the Side, for the combination of cheeky lyrics and the odd but amazing spaghetti Western “hook”. Also “Mother in The Night” from Panic of girls, but not necessarily the album track. I preferred a “live” version that sounded more like Harry’s real voice. They overwork some vocals on the album tracks, possibly chasing an earlier sound that she can’t actually replicate live. Bad idea.
I never really enjoyed Harry’s solo material, and only a tiny bit of Blondie’s recent material (although Pollinator’s “Fun” is damned good, and Monster, too).
I did admire Blondie and Harry, too, for a long, long time. It’s hard to be honest about the Band and Harry without triggering some very mean devotees (“bitchdontyouever!”). Their unusual chart history and their versatility as a band is truly impressive. Their cohesiveness, business acumen, and loyalty to each other...not so much. Harry and Stein practiced some real bitchcraft over the Band’s history, and gave away things they couldn’t recover. That’s a shame but probably common among creative types.
| by Anonymous | reply 107 | October 16, 2020 2:20 PM |
Although Harry's solo career has been spotty, I love some of her material.
Koo Koo has some strong songs. Love "Rush, Rush" from the Scarface soundtrack. "In Love with Love" is fun '80s pop.
Her best solo album, for me, is Def, Dumb and Blonde. Great title (which would never be used today). " I Want That Man" was a pretty big hit in Europe. I remember she guest starred on Wiseguy in the late '80s and sang some songs from the album, including the majestic "Brite Side".
My favourite solo Harry song is her cover of "Liar, Liar" for the Married to the Mob soundtrack.
| by Anonymous | reply 108 | October 16, 2020 5:57 PM |
[quote] Real artists persist with or without the "fame" and "success" you're so desperate for, which is all that you value, sadly.
100%. The person shitting on Debbie Harry/Blondie in this thread is a clown who only cares about popularity. Who the hell cares what the unwashed masses care about? Why does that matter? Chart hits? Who gives a fuck? This is simple-minded, extremely shallow, Jan-bot type of shit.
Not sure if OP is the same person, but OP is a tool, too. I’m not even a Blondie fan, but I’m blocking any vapid twat in this thread who judged Harry/Blondie’s success in such silly terms.
| by Anonymous | reply 109 | October 16, 2020 6:21 PM |
And oddly, blocking the “they needed A-list producers” idiot made all the annoying, vapid replies in this thread disappear. Good riddance.
| by Anonymous | reply 110 | October 16, 2020 6:27 PM |
R95.... I like the DL because people spout off their opinions as truths whether they are or not. 😝
| by Anonymous | reply 111 | October 16, 2020 6:43 PM |
[R109] Blondie has a lot of fans with working class/junior high school notions of who and what an artist is.
| by Anonymous | reply 112 | October 16, 2020 6:50 PM |
R108 Yes, Harry’s cover of “Liar Liar” really is excellent. She’s also covered several other songs pretty masterfully. She was featured on a CD of Italian cinema classics and she sings beautifully on her two tracks. She really is a musical omnivore and I always liked that about her. That’s what I meant when I called her a game broad above. She also got better with age, and was very smart and cool during the Band’s No Exit era, and their live content at that time was really, really good (released on a CD titled Livid).
“Liar Liar” is on the soundtrack to Married to the Mob, with some other really neat tracks.
| by Anonymous | reply 113 | October 16, 2020 11:21 PM |
Debbie the suburban cannibal.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 114 | October 17, 2020 1:16 PM |
I remember all the hype for the Blondie comeback in 1999. Complete with a promised performance with Wu tang at American Music Awards. But the performance was not good for Blondie as Wu tang hi jacked the show. And it seemed enthusiasm for Blondie comeback just died.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 115 | October 17, 2020 2:55 PM |
R115 Ugh I remember that night. I almost didn’t even buy No Exit because that appearance was so chaotic and just bad. I had just moved to NYC at that time, and a few weeks later I was picking through CD’s at a record shop called HMV, and heard “Maria” playing in the store, so bought the CD and a blue single edit (actually for the cool artwork). I’m glad I did.
| by Anonymous | reply 116 | October 17, 2020 4:55 PM |
Harry's career was badly managed. And the band signed shitty contracts that were impossible to adhere to.
In 1981 alone she appeared on SNL, co-wrote and recorded Koo Koo, filmed Videodrome, then quickly co-wrote and recorded The Hunter in December 1981. All while Stein was getting sick and their drug consumption became problematic. Something had to give.
| by Anonymous | reply 117 | January 28, 2021 2:41 PM |
[quote]Madonna was a blank slate designed by others. So she didn’t burn out as easily.
Madonna was one of the few female artists who was completely in control of her career. She always called the shots.
| by Anonymous | reply 118 | January 28, 2021 4:01 PM |
R118 But she had to suck a lot of cock to get anywhere. Unlike Debbie Harry.
| by Anonymous | reply 119 | June 30, 2021 5:30 PM |
