Few of today’s ‘artists’ seem fit to survive their own fame, let alone the test of time.
Aural Fixation: Legacy, Legend and the Curse of Blondie
By Robert J. Ricci
In 1974, art-student-by-day, guitarist-by-night Chris Stein met former Playboy bunny and vocalist Debbie Harry. The two were fast friends, sharing dreams fueled by the promise of a burgeoning New York scene. Within a year, their auras drew drummer Clem Burke and keyboardist Jimmy Destri – and Blondie was born.
Dismiss Blondie’s place as one of the great pop bands to emerge from New York’s New Wave/Punk scene and you may as well cast aside the amazing talents of her downtown peers: New York Dolls, Television, Talking Heads, and the Ramones. These were the bands that defied categorization. They played the music they loved, and they played it with a vengeance.
In remaining true to their roots, Blondie forged a unique path of their own. They scored the first major cross-over hits: reggae, rock, disco, hip-hop – there was hardly a genre they didn’t make their own. Their ironic lyrics were wrapped around catchy hooks. They had the hippest clothes and the coolest hair. Their front-woman rose from fanzines to just about every magazine in the world. In a moment of trademark glibness, Andy Warhol once proclaimed that everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. Twenty-eight years after their eponymous debut, Debbie and her boys are still proving him wrong.
Released earlier this year, The Curse of Blondie is a monster brought to life through fourteen power tracks. Flirting with the noir world of Vincent Price, it’s a tongue-in-cheek romp that took nearly four years to complete. But is there something to the title?
Fact: the band took sixteen years off between their sixth and seventh albums. Fact: dissension broke up the group at the peak of their enormous success. Fact: founder Chris, the group’s guitarist and hit writer, almost died of a rare and mysterious disease. Fact: many of the group’s musical peers are now deceased or living in Florida.
For Harry “the curse” has been a standing joke for years. For the more philosophical Stein, the title refers to their trials to complete the album and their tribulations as a band. Taken among several “hits” and live discs, The Curse of Blondie marks the band’s eighth studio release and proves that the band hasn’t lost a step. But will it prove to be a good luck charm? One thing’s for certain: as a band, they’ve been through Hell and back and the journey has refined their chops. As a unit, they play better than ever and perhaps more importantly, have worked hard to keep current.
So is The Curse of Blondie their best record yet? Well, Debbie Harry seems to think so – and with convictions like hers we should at least give it a whirl.
