Book Review: Under a Rock

Debbie Harry defined iconic band Blondie’s look. Her performing partner, lover, and lifelong friend Chris Steinwas its architect and defined its sound. Parallel Lines, their third album, catapulted to #1, sold 20 million copies, and launched singles like “Heart of Glass”, "Hangin' On the Telephone," and “One Way or Another”, providing the beat when Bianca Jagger and Halston danced at Studio 54 and the soundtrack to every 1970’s punk-soundtracked romance.

Chris Stein knows how to tell a story. Under A Rock is his nothing-spared autobiography. It's about the founding of the band, ascending to the heights of pop success, and the hazards of fortune. Famous names march through these pages: Warhol, Bowie, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more. But you can get famous names anywhere. What you can’t get anywhere else is a plunge into the moments that made a giant 1980's artistic sensation. Stein takes us there in this revelatory, propulsive, distinctive memoir.

American Gigolo (soundtrack) (35th anniversary)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

Today (February 8th) marks the thirty fifth anniversary of the release of soundtrack from American Gigolo. The accompanying movie starred Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton and told the tale of a self-centered, superficial male prostitute in Los Angeles. The soundtrack recording did fairly well too. The album went all the way to number 7 on the US Billboard 200 Album chart, spending twenty-five weeks total on the chart.

For more of my review of this album, click here.

Blondie - Eat To The Beat

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Sunday.

This month marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Eat To The Beat, the fourth studio album from Blondie. This 1979 release spent fifty-one weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 17. Around the world, it reached number 23 in Germany, number 19 in Austria, number 16 in the Netherlands, number 9 in Australia, number 6 in Canada and Norway, number 2 in Sweden, and number 1 in the UK.

Blondie - Parallel Lines (35th anniversary)

Today (September 23rd) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Blondie's Parallel Lines, an album that helped them crossover to a whole new audience.

Click here for the complete review of this 1978 album.

Blondie - The Hunter

Today June 5th is the 30th anniversary of the release of The Hunter, the sixth studio album by Blondie.

The record went to number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 49 in Germany, number 19 in Norway, number 18 in Sweden, number 15 in Australia, and number 9 in the UK. After three Platinum selling releases in a row, this one represented a drop-off in sales. It was also the last studio album the group would put out until they re-united seventeen years later in 1999.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Destri

Happy fifty-eighth birthday today (April 13th) to keyboardist and songwriter Jimmy Destri.

Destri came from a musical background. His uncle was the drummer in the 1950's band Joey Dee and the Starlighters. Destri's first group was Milk and Cookies. When the band relocated to the UK, he joined Blondie in 1975.

Blondie - Plastic Letters

Happy sixty-second birthday today (January 5th) to American guitarist Chris Stein.

Between Blondie’s self-titled debut album in 1977 and their third album Parallel Lines in the fall of 1978 (click here and here for each of those two reviews respectively) came their February 1978 sophomore release Plastic Letters. This album went to number 72 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 9 in Germany and number 10 in the UK (the later country it had reached Platinum status).

Happy Birthday, Clem Burke

Happy fifty-sixth birthday today (November 24th) to drummer Clem Burke.

When Chris Stein and Debbie Harry were forming the band Blondie in 1975, Burke was their choice as a drummer for the group. Though the band has broken up and reunited a few times, Burke has always been there to pick up the sticks again.

He has also played with other bands and artists like the Romantics, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan, the Eurythmics, Dramarama, the Fleshtones, Iggy Pop and Joan Jett.

For my review of Blondie's self-titled 1976 album Blondie, click here

For my review of Blondie's 1978 smash Parallel Lines, click here

The band also appeared on the 1980 soundtrack for American Gigilo which I reviewed here

American Gigolo (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

In 1980, Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton starred in a film about a self-centered, superficial male prostitute in Los Angeles. With a budget of around $4.8 million, American Gigolo returned a tidy domestic box-office of almost $23 million.

The soundtrack recording did fairly well too. The album went all the way to number 7 on the US Billboard 200 Album charts. The cuts also spent a number of weeks in the top positions on the disco/dance charts. That is no surprise since Italian dance maestro Giorgio Moroder had his hand in writing all the tracks on the album.

Blondie - Blondie

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

Guitarist Chris Stein had been playing in bands in New York City since 1973, which is when he met singer Debbie Harry, a former waitress and Playboy bunny. They went from the Stilettos to Angels and the Snakes. That later band eventually changed their name to Blondie in late 1975. Their self-titled debut album was released on an independent label in December of 1976 and enjoyed some moderate success in Australia (number 14 on the charts) and the UK (number 75). A year later, they signed with Chrysalis Records and Blondie was re-released.

Blondie - Parallel Lines

Welcome to another edition of “Seventies Saturday”.

September 23rd of 1978 saw the release of Parallel Lines, the third studio album from the American new wave band Blondie. While the album was a top-10 seller in the US (it peaked at number 6), it was over in the UK where the album would achieve its highest status - a number 1. Besides being one of the band’s best-selling albums (over 20 million copies sold worldwide), it was also a critical favorite as well. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 140 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.