I would’ve chalked her up at being around 5-10 years younger but there was her birthday on my Simpsons calendar stating 1945 as to when Ms. Harry was born. Pretty impressive that the First Lady of New Wave (a title I think she deserves) was already in her early thirties when Blondie took off. This definitely explains the comment about age not being a barrier to success when Alison Goldfrapp interviewed her in Spin magazine this Spring; a very neat 25th anniversary issue too, contemporary stars interviewing their idols.
Like most people my age, I found out about the NY band in 1979 with their hit single “Heart of Glass” which was a rather atypical song for them. I still enjoyed what followed though, namely “One Way or Another.” Deborah’s appearance on the Muppet Show was another great memory. Certainly better than the weak cameo she and the rest of Blondie made in the movie Roadie.
During this Summer 25 years ago, I become more acquainted with a wider range of Blondie’s material through a greatest hits cassette a friend gave me as a going away present (bailing from North Dakota was probably less spontaneous than I remembered earlier). The 12 tracks contained the obvious songs everybody knew but it also made me more familiar with some better, less-popular titles played on cooler stations such as KROQ, 91-X and (possibly) WXRT: “Atomic,” “Sunday Girl,” “Hangin’ on the Telephone,” and the mean-spirited “Rip Her to Shreds.”
I certainly played this cassette to death to pass the hours in Bloomington, IL while writing letters or doodling geeky ideas for the ultimate Traveller campaign.