FEATURE:
No Exit?
What Is the Future of the Iconic Blondie?
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IT is always sad…
IN THIS PHOTO: Debbie Harry of Blondie in concert at the OVO Hydro, Glasgow/PHOTO CREDIT: Stuart Westwood/Shutterstock
when a legendary band calls time! A lot of them do so because they have been together for a while and have reached the end of the road. Blondie have been together for over forty-five years. Their most-recent album, Pollinator, was released in 2017. The band have been touring recently and proving just what a formidable force they are. Led by the sensational Debbie Harry, it has been a treat seeing the New York band reign and thrill the crowds. Before coming to my thoughts about their future, NME reviewed them earlier this month:
“Before singing Blondie’s imperious 2010 single ‘Mother’, frontwoman Debbie Harry – whose band took home the NME Godlike Genius gong in 2014 – surveys the baying Manchester AO Arena crowd. “Well, it’s a holiday weekend – you can really destroy yourself tonight if you like!,” she jokes, before wistfully adding: “We were just saying, ‘Wow… it’s really been two years since I’ve done any singing.’ That’s really weird.’”
The deity’s latest tour is, with characteristic wry humour, called Against The Odds – and it’s increasingly lived up to its name. Announced during COVID, dates were rescheduled due to pandemic restrictions, with original support act Garbage replaced by hometown hero Johnny Marr. Then co-founder and guitarist Chris Stein announced he couldn’t tour because of health reasons, with Andee Blacksugar filling in for him. With the pleasing addition of former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock on bass, the group more than make up for lost time.
Given that they share their name with a comic book character and are fronted by someone Iggy Pop once described as “Barbarella on speed”, it’s perhaps fitting the night begins with arresting graphic novel visuals of the band, as Harry delivers the impassive spoken-word opening of their 1976 bubblegum-punk debut single ‘X Offender’. At 76, she still looks (and sounds) every inch the exemplar of New York cool, like a living cartoon in a green leather outfit, shades and a halo of peroxide.
Marr expertly warms up the crowd with slam-dunk Smiths classics ‘Panic’, ‘This Charming Man’ and ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. And then Blondie arrive to pack in the future-nostalgic hits tighter than carbon molecules in a diamond: a hyper-aggressive ‘Hanging on the Telephone’, the irresistibly sweet ‘Sunday Girl’, the yearning ‘Picture This’ and a transcendent ‘Heart of Glass’ (the latter mixed in with a coda of Donna Summer’s disco touchstone ‘I Feel Love’). Having reformed in 1997, Blondie 2.0 have lasted longer than they did the first time around. Their more recent material duly shines: take 2017’s evocative ‘Long Time’ and the muscular ‘My Monster’, which featured on their last album ‘Pollinator’ and – fittingly – was written by Marr.
Clem Burke’s powerhouse drumming is always a thing of wonder, while guitarist Tommy Kessler is brought to the fore for showboating solos during ‘Atomic’. If the songs haven’t dated, neither has the band’s forward-thinking attitude. Introducing their 1999 comeback chart-topper ‘Maria’, Harry gives a subtle shout-out to trans rights: “I usually say that this is for the girls, but we’re living in a different world now, so anybody who feels like they want to be a girl – go right ahead.”
As the ominous organ music of Bach’s Toccata in D Minor kicks in, Blondie start the encore with the fan service curio ‘No Exit’, a one-woman version of their 1999 gangster-rap team-up with Coolio, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan. Then comes sprawling ‘Pollinator’ cut ‘Fragments’, before the classics ‘Call Me’ and ‘One Way Or Another’ elicit a predictably rowdy reaction. In 1979, Blondie’s first ever NME cover proclaimed “The revolution will be peroxide” – and tonight’s stellar performance showed a storied band unwilling to rest on their victory”.
I don’t think there has been any decision regarding Blondie’s future. I have been a fan since childhood, but I remember when they came back with 1999’s No Exit. Few would have expected the band to continue after 1982’s The Hunter (which is forty very soon). I have asked before whether we would get as Blondie biopic or one focused on Debbie Harry. Certainly, there is demand and a gap to fill. I realise there have been releases recently. A Sunday Girl E.P. came out, and I hear there are plans for a box-set soon enough. There are a lot of Blondie projects that could come about. In terms of books and documentaries, I think it is time to bring things up to date. I hope that there is another album. Maybe the band are thinking more in terms of gigs as opposed recording. Pollinator showed there is more than enough life left in the band. One of their very best, there is something evergreen and impressive about Blondie, as they surprise you. A big reason why I hope Blondie continue to make music is Debbie Harry. Although she is seventy-six, recent live performances show that she has this magnetism and vitality that has been there since the start! I am not sure whether Blondie have plans to slow down gigs, because the demand is there, and they have this amazing catalogue to get out there. Over forty-five years since they came onto the scene, the band are inspiring younger artists.
Their music remains hugely popular, and I know that we will be talking about the band for decades more. Not that it needs to be tied to an anniversary, but there is case for new Blondie love, in the form of books and documentaries. That biopic definitely needs to happen – if it is not already in the works -, and everyone hopes that we do get music in the future. Although Jimmy Destri is no longer in the fold, Harry, Clem Burke and Chris Stein remain from that classic line-up. Still holding a lot of love for each other, maybe only time itself will determine when Blondie stop. With a span of generations in their fanbase, it will be a sad day for so many people when Blondie stop! This year and next, it will be interesting to see what happens with them and where they go. I can imagine some songs have been bubbling, and Debbie Harry herself has said in the past how she would be open to a biopic – whether that is about her or Blondie. So inspiring to see a band like Blondie, who have been around for decades, still play big gigs and have that connection with the fans! There could also be a collection of Blondie deeper cut, as most of the collections concern the hits. Whatever is planned, nobody wants the phenomenal Blondie to call it quits. It seems evident that the band have…
SO much more to say.