"...the legacy is going to be the music for what it is and how it actually affects people, approaches them and maybe even seduces them. And that's the only legacy we really need to know about."--Jimmy Page's hopes for Led Zeppelin's legacy
(Jimmy Page AOL Chat Transcript: Nov. 30, 1999)
 
 
KooKoo, The Hunter and 'Videodrome' 

After Blondie's breakup in 1982, Deborah Harry's career in music continued, but not as a member of a band. Deborah Harry's solo work never achieved the level of success that she had found with the band; that special mix of talent and trouble that seemed to work magic. Deborah's image that is associated with her first solo effort, KooKoo, was an attempt to break away from the Blondie persona that had been associated with Harry since the success of Blondie. The KooKoo album cover was a grotesque H.R. Giger creation that showed a severe, dark-haired Deborah whose visage was impaled with long needles. The videos for the two singles from KooKoo were directed by Giger and in them Deborah is represented as she never had been in Blondie, with long black hair and an ethereal "witchiness" that seemed suited for a horror film. It's not surprising then that during 1981 Deborah did in fact make a horror movie, 'Videodrome,' with cult director David Cronenberg. In the film Deborah has dark red hair. It was obvious from 'Videodrome' and the image put across with KooKoo that Deborah Harry was trying to make a metamorphosis into a new creation and rid herself of the punk Monroe character of Blondie. Debbie was expressing herself artistically in new pathways, somewhat more disturbing than Blondie's path had been. In the 1979 film, 'Union City,' Debbie's character finally expresses her true self to her husband when she bleaches her mousy brown hair (a blond epiphany!). However, Nicki Brand in 'Videodrome' is different, her blood red hair symbolizes her masochistic obsessions. Nicki exists in a dark netherworld that the character of Blondie would never dare venture. 

   James Woods and Deborah Harry, as Nicki, in a scene from 'Videodrome' (source: Ridge Theatre Main Page)

Blondie reunited for their final album, The Hunter, in 1982. The Hunter album cover has a blond Debbie on it but it's obviously not a bleached Debbie; this time out Debbie Harry is wearing, quite obviously, a wig. Some of Debbie's TV appearances to support the album also had her sporting a long, white-blond wig. Why not make a TV appearance to sing a Blondie song with blood red 'Videodrome' hair? It seems preposterous that Debbie would feel it necessary to don a blond wig in order to promote a Blondie album, but it shows how deeply ingrained the public perception of Debbie as Blondie had become and how Debbie felt obliged to live up to their expectations. Deborah would feel that it was out of character to appear on the British 'Top of the Pops' program as a redhead or a brunette to sing a Blondie song. On a David Letterman appearance in 1982, Debbie did appear with her red hair and a man in the audience yells "I thought she was a blond!" Debbie slyly replies, "Oh, do you feel ripped off?" Again here, the character of Blondie is starting to become baggage. It's something that Debbie can't seem to throw off, at least not as a member of a band whose name was based upon that particular character. This identity problem, although on the surface it may be only one of hair color, had to do specifically with the character of Blondie as Deborah had created her. David Bowie created Ziggy Stardust and Deborah Harry gave us Blondie. Now the problem that Deborah would have to face as Blondie's breakup approached was how to continue the career without the character. 

Moroder, Jellybean and Rockbird 

Debbie's first solo single after Blondie's breakup was the song 'Rush Rush,' which appeared on the Scarface soundtrack in 1982. The cover of the single shows a very blond Deborah. In fact, the photo seems to have been taken around 1980, with Debbie wearing a revealing pink dress that she had appeared in on the Plastic Letters album cover. The song was co-written with Giorgio Moroder, in an attempt to follow up the success of 'Call Me.' Although the song is good, it's nothing to write home about. It's standard dance music that could be performed by anyone. In fact, it's quite similar to Berlin or Irene Cara songs from that same time period in which Moroder also produced. That special sound that had set Blondie apart from other bands was missing. Debbie is now a vocalist over a dance track and it's a disappointment musically. 

What happened next was a career setback for Deborah Harry, no doubt about it. What happened was the rise of New York-based dance music up-and-comer Madonna to pop music superstardom. Starting in 1983, Madonna's star began to rise and she did not look back. Madonna's sound, new wave meets club dance music, soon took over the airwaves and MTV. Pop music had a new reigning queen and it was not Deborah Harry. Deborah has mentioned that being on the same label as Madonna was not good for her career. Nobody was paying much attention to Harry's career in the mid-80's since all the focus was on Madonna. Debbie even tried the if you can't beat 'em, join 'em approach and had her single 'Feel the Spin' produced by Jellybean Benitez, Madonna's producer, in 1985, for the Krush Groove soundtrack. It's a catchy track, but harks back too closely to Madonna territory to do Harry's career any good. 

By 1986 Deborah was co-writing with Chris Stein again and on her Rockbird album she goes back to the rock sound that made her famous; producing was Seth Justman who had been in the J. Geils Band. The sound is very mid-80's pop, almost overproduced, and the Rolling Stone review described Deborah as sounding like "grandma Madonna." Rockbird is a pleasant pop album but not remarkable in the way that Blondie's albums had been. Fortunately, Deborah's acting during the late 1980's continued to blossom; her camp appearance in John Water's 'Hair Spray' is wonderful. Deborah also appeared on the cult TV show 'Wiseguy' in an almost too close to home role of a singer who had once been top of the charts, but was now struggling with personal fears in order to stage a comeback. In 'Wiseguy' Deborah sings the song 'Brite Side,' a moody ballad that made it on to her next album, Def, Dumb and Blonde, probably the best of Deborah'shttp://zappa.users.netlink.co.uk/cronen.html solo projects. First though, an album of remixes was released in 1988, comprising of Deborah's few solo hits and remixes of Blondie songs to appeal to the current dance music sound. The album title once again makes reference to that character that just won't go away--it was called Once More Into The Bleach. Making reference to that fun, funny, Blondie character was still Deborah's claim to fame whether she liked it or not. It must have been hard for Debbie to believe that a decade had already passed since Blondie became an international sensation. 

Def, Dumb and Blonde, Debravation, and The Jazz Passengers 
 

1989 was a good year for Deborah's career. Def, Dumb, and Blonde was produced by Mike Chapman. This album included songs written by the Thompson Twins, guest singing by The Cult's Ian Astbury, and even Gary Valentine made an appearance on backing vocals. It was as close to Blondie as Deborah had come since 1982. Although she had no big hits in the U.S., several songs were successful on the charts in England and Europe. Deborah seemed to have a new confidence, something that was missing from her few appearances to support Rockbird in 1986. The songs on the 1989 album are emotion-driven, very different from Blondie's detached music. 'Brite Side' is moody, 'Bike Boy' is very hard-driving rock, and some tracks are downright depressing, especially 'The End of the Run,' which is a funeral dirge mourning the passing of Blondie's early years. Deborah appeared on many talk shows and television programs to support her new album and she looked and sounded fantastic. She seemed to be enjoying life at the age of 44. 

Unfortunately, for whatever personal or professional reasons, Deborah was unable to follow up the success of Def, Dumb and Blonde. It took another four years before her next album, Debravation, came out. Debravation had some strong songs on it, but the eclecticism, with hard rock and disco, rap and ballads, did not gel as it should. It wasn't like the magic of Blondie. Deborah went back to red hair. Maybe she was finally tired of not being able to live up to her past; no more was she going to go back to the bleach. 

For several years Deborah quit doing rock music altogether and spent time with the Jazz Passengers, a nonconventional jazz band out of New York City. Deborah was able to expand on her vocal style through this period, but it was the kind of vacation that she could not stay on forever. There was something a little sad about Deborah hanging up her rock 'n' roll boots, to this fan anyway. Debbie seemed content to stay out of the limelight in the safety of a relatively obscure jazz band, not unlike the character she played on 'Wiseguy,' whose insecurities keep her from attempting a comeback. 

No Exit 

It was Chris Stein's idea to reform Blondie. Through the years Deborah and Chris have been each other's muses, inspiring themselves to amazing artistic heights. But it's their creativity when it's combined with the amazing talents of Jimmy Destri and Clem Burke that is Blondie. What a happy ending and an amazing success story that they came back to work with Debbie and Chris and produce such confident, new sounds that are pure Blondie! No other combination of people could create that special blend of music.There can be no doubt that certain bands are together because there's a special chemistry that comes out and creates the music. Clem Burke's drumming was as important to Blondie's sound as Charlie Watts is to the Rolling Stones or
John Bonham was to Led Zeppelin. Burke's pounding beats were the anchor for Blondie's songs. Jimmy Destri's return also was a great spark of creativity for the band. Destri had always been the most talented songwriter in Blondie. His songs were the trademark Blondie song structure, and, of course, his trash keyboard playing added something special to Blondie's sound that set them apart from other bands. 

I'm sure Deborah Harry has moments when she wonders how far the Blondie character can travel considering the inherent ageism of the music business. But when I see Deborah Harry in 1999 playing with the boys in the band it's obvious that the character of Blondie has jumped back into the bleach and is having more fun than ever before; this time as interpreted by a 54 year old Deborah Harry. The defining Blondie sass, swagger and irony are all still there. The songs on No Exit are a mix of sounds, the Destri numbers are vintage Blondie, several tracks sound like post-Hunter songs, which is amazing since it took 16 years after The Hunter for Blondie to record together again. Blondie even tackles hip-hop (1999 style), country, and a remake of one of their own early covers, 'Out in the Streets.' Their sound is still new wave, or what was thought of as cutting edge in 1978, but there's nothing wrong with that. A Blondie song is a Blondie song, just like a Stones song is a Stones song. They're staying true to themselves while experimenting with new ground. Blondie toured the world in 1999 and were the comeback story of the year. Blondie's reunion has definitely been productive, and was the right choice for Deborah, Chris, Jimmy, and Clem. A creative team like that one is precious and will continue to enthrall their fans around the world. Their next album will likely be even better than No Exit. 

'Dreaming': Blondie's Legacy 

The character of Blondie was one that Deborah finally could not escape. Debbie created such a fantastic rock 'n' roll icon and it became so associated with her personally that eventually there literally was 'No Exit'--Deborah had to reclaim her own legacy. Ultimately, the reason that Deborah has been amazingly successful at slipping back into the high heeled shoes of Blondie is because the character was her alter ego and so much fun to embody on stage. Blondie is a smart, funny, brave character who lives every song as a great adventure. She's either getting tossed into jail in 'X-Offender,' snarling about a groupie supreme in 'Rip Her to Shreds,' telling a man she doesn't care about any more to 'Just Go Away,' mocking the live now die tomorrow culture of America in 'Die Young Stay Pretty,' or making her way through the war-torn tropical landscape of 'War Child' and 'Orchid Club.' Now she's continuing on, telling a story of a sorry vampire in 'No Exit,' much the same way she told us about the men from Mars in 'Rapture.' Blondie's greatest accomplishment was its impeccable combination of humor, irony, glamor, and detachment. Deborah Harry's lyrics broke new ground because they weren't concerned with broken hearts. Debbie had more fun talking about men from Mars, cruising the rifle range, and commenting about the absurdities of modern life. Each Blondie song is a mini-movie/music video. Blondie's music was once described as giving the listener the feeling of rotating under glass, and it's an aural pleasure to listen to the singular perfection of Blondie's albums. And Blondie energetically lived up to all that pop stars should be--their presentation of their art was complete, ranging from the attitude of Deborah Harry and the male band members on stage to their album covers. 

Blondie did everything that bands were expected to do after the advent of MTV, but they did it years before MTV even happened. Blondie was the first band to release an album in video format with Eat to the Beat in 1979. It is interesting to consider what kind of success Blondie might have had if they had stayed together and flourished during MTV's heyday in the mid-80's. What is for sure is that the pop bands that made it big during the 80's owed much to what they learned from Blondie. Blondie paved the way for other women-led rock bands like Pat Benatar and Joan Jett. Blondie also opened the doors for the women who would become the leading pop stars of the 1980's with their visual flair, colorful look, and humorous irony--the video music stars like Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. 

Blondie's complex mesh of image and sound was misinterpreted by many at the time (the press said Blondie used sex to sell records) and they'll probably never be given the due credit they deserve for their groundbreaking music. Deborah was the first rock 'n' roll cover girl. When Deborah was featured in fashion magazines circa 1980 that was a first. Today women in rock are constantly on the covers of fashion magazines. Debbie's sense of humor was one of her finest qualities; she was an ironic sex symbol. Today's young pop music singers, like Britney Spears and Christina Aquilera, are teenagers with very adult, sexy images. When Debbie became a sex symbol she was over 30. Harry was imitating the public's idea of a sexy blond and making fun of the idea at the same time she was embodying that conception. That sort of irony is missing from today's pop singers who work out their synchronized dancing with deadly earnest looks on their faces or very manufactured smiles. Much of today's music is based solely upon image, with music taking a back seat to generic sounds that provide merely a backbeat to the faces and bodies of the performer on the TV screen. This may be an unfortunate outcome of people misinterpreting Blondie's legacy. Blondie always put the music first; it was their incredibly unique style of music-- a music that fused the many diverse elements of surfer sounds, 60's girl groups, Doors' style keyboard, rap, reggae, and punk rock into a completely new musical form that celebrated the utter wackiness and fever of pop music better than any other band of their time. Blondie's success was not a result of Deborah's beauty but because of her talent, and this, hopefully, will be the legacy of Blondie that inspires people in the future. 

Proceed to Addendum to 'Forgive and Forget': From Breakup to Reunion: The Odyssey of  Deborah Harry and Blondie
 
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