My first ever musical purchase was a cassette tape of "Parallel Lines" by Blondie. In the late 1970s they were just about as big as any band with both "Sunday Girl" and "Heart of Glass" selling a million copies on the UK singles charts when singles sales still counted for a lot.
As a 12 year old boy like most boys of that time Debbie Harry was the girl in the chart we were besotted with and posters of her were all over my bedroom walls. But musically Blondie played an important part in my musical journey as the post punk new-wave guitar sound is all over "Parallel Lines", which is the sound that became the basis for all the bands I liked back then. And yet as an album it contains classic pop / disco influences which also shaped my liking for strong melodies.
It's interesting that Blondie's continual experimentation with their sound and pushing the boundaries possibly contributed to their commercial downfall, but "Parallel Lines" and it's follow up "Eat To The Beat" remain all time favourites of mine. "Atomic" was just about the perfect guitar / pop / disco song of its time.
They have a new album out now "Panic of Girls" which has a couple of classic Blondie tracks "What I heard" and "Mother".
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