ABCs of My Vinyl Collection (Letter B, Part 8)

Blondie's heyday was a little bit before my time, but I feel like Debbie Harry has been in my consciousness forever. I have three vivid memories of seeing Blondie on television when I was a pup. The first time was on a Saturday afternoon in 1979 when Harry lip-synced to "Heart of Glass" on "American Bandstand." I was a completely smitten nine year old. A couple of years later, I remember her moving her mouth to "The Tide is High" (without a musical instrument in sight but with an army of dancers) one Saturday evening on a horrible show called "Solid Gold." My parents were out, and there was a babysitter in the house named Patti. She had a good laugh watching the back of my head because my face was about six inches from the screen. Not long after that I saw the clip for "Rapture" on a show called "Video Jukebox." My town didn't get MTV until 1983, and that HBO program was one of my saviors, but that's a story for another day. Point is, I can remember each of these moments so well 35 years later because once you see Blondie it's impossible to forget.

Blondie was so cool that they were one of those rare bands that could be a unifier. That babysitter Patti was kind of a bad girl from the wrong side of the tracks, but she liked Blondie. I had an older cousin that was into metal, but he liked Blondie. Those vapid dancing Valley kids on "American Bandstand" went wild for Blondie. If I had been into Blondie at CBGB in 1976, perhaps I wouldn't have been happy for Blondie and their success, but it seemed like most walks of life were into Blondie.

When I have a few minutes or I'm making a mix tape, I will usually go for one of the older songs, such as "X Offender" or "Denis." I like the Spector-like girl-group vibe mixed with new wave. If I have time to put on the headphones and listen to an album, I almost always go with 'Parallel Lines.' There were some monster hits after that, but I have always seen that album as Blondie's peak. By followup 'Eat to the Beat,' producer Mike Chapman tells tales of drugs and fighting in the studio, but great singles were spawned anyway, and today's pick was a nearly perfect piece of pop. I love the line "dreaming is free." Drummer Clem Burke must have had a blast with this one. It has a live sound because that's how it was recorded in the studio. Chris Stein has said he ripped off ABBA's "Dancing Queen." Perhaps I should give those Swedes a go because "Dreaming" remains a big smile to this day.

"Dreaming"