Blondie turned
to British pop producer Mike Chapman for their third album, on which
they abandoned any pretensions to new wave legitimacy (just in time,
given the impending decline of the new wave) and emerged as a pure pop
band. But it wasn't just Chapman that made Parallel LinesBlondie's
best album; it was the band's own songwriting, including Deborah Harry,
Chris Stein, and James Destri's "Picture This," Harry and Stein's
"Heart Of Glass," and Harry and new
bass player Nigel Harrison's "One Way Or Another," plus two
contributions from non-band member Jack Lee, "Will Anything Happen?"
and "Hanging On The Telephone." That was enough to give Blondie a Number One single on both
sides of the Atlantic with "Heart Of Glass"
plus three more UK hits, but what impresses is the album's depth and
consistency -- album tracks like "Fade Away and Radiate" and "Just Go
Away" are as impressive as the songs pulled for singles. The
result is state-of-the-art pop/rock circa 1978, with Harry's tough girl
glamour setting the pattern that would be exploited over the next
decade by a host of successors, led by Madonna.
Indeed, Madonna has admitted that Debbie Harry gave her a
blueprint from which
to work. Is the admiration society mutual?
"Just in asking the question you have the answer," Harry
laughs. "Some of the fundamental things she used image-wise were
directly influenced by me, that's pretty obvious. In Madonna's
defense,
she has worked extremely hard in her career and she's done some
incredible things. Some of her music is really great, and anyone
who
achieves that kind of success has worked their ass off for it."
Does she have the same problem as Madge viz à viz not
being able to leave her New York apartment without six burly minders?
"When you go
around with six minders, you create problems rather than solve
them.
Madonna strikes me as somebody who wants to be noticed. I can
walk
anywhere I want in Manhattan up till what I call the 'witching hour',
which is one o'clock in the morning. That's when people have had
a few
beers and instead of just thinking 'Oh yeah, that's her' and walking
on, they come over for a chat. Most of them are quite sweet,
though."
Harry is equally benevolent toward the new wave (pun intended)
of Blondie
imitators populating the charts. "I applaud anyone who, having put a
band together, comes up from the bottom," she enthuses.
sources: William Ruhlmann,
The All-Music
Guide to Rock, 1995
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