The Story Behind The Song: How Blondie create the explosive new wave anthem ‘Atomic’
Even though so many of the new wave power players we all know and love began to really blow up in the late 1970s and into the 80s, the American rock band Blondie, formed by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, cut their teeth on their own twist of the synth and post-punk characteristics of the genre as soon as they started jamming in 1974.
Even with their early tracks and the success of their first album, the self-titled Blondie that carried them onto tours with David Bowie and Iggy Pop, it was their third album, Parallel Lines, that broke the band into the mainstream with some of their prevailing hits that linger in the cultural consciousness year after year.
Songs such as ‘Hanging On the Telephone’ and ‘Heart of Glass‘ were born of this era, bumping an electric yet bassy sound built to stand out among the often minor-key boys’ club of their new wave contemporaries. Their slight disco aftertaste even had some critics accusing them of selling out. Still, among the landscape of their overall sound, this quality simply served to bring on yet another unique puzzle piece. Nobody is going to confuse the glittering intros and angelic vocals of ‘Heart of Glass’ for an OMD or Depeche Mode track.
When the time came to step into the studio for album number four, the band – and Debbie Harry specifically – had already experienced an avalanche of success and notoriety. Chart-topping singles, a Rolling Stone cover, and countless other accolades were tossed into the mix.
Following the band’s previous marketing methodology of splitting their singles, when Eat To The Beat dropped in 1979, they led with ‘Atomic’ both in the UK and the US. Like a few of their other singles, it reached drastically different heights. The UK saw ‘Atomic’ hit number one where it remained for two weeks, while the US made a deeper cut of it, topping out at number 39. However, even in the US, ‘Atomic’ is a can’t-miss staple of their greatest hits.
With minimal, simple lyrics that feel made for road-trip karaoke backed by Blondie’s signature quick beat, it’s no wonder why this song is a favourite of many. The song was composed by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri. According to Harry, “He was trying to do something like ‘Heart of Glass’, and then somehow or another we gave it the Spaghetti Western treatment”.
The beat and melodic quality definitely follow the formula of ‘Heart of Glass’ and other Blondie songs like it — ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Sunday Girl’ come to mind. However, the twang and minor inflexions of the guitar and bass do ring true on the spaghetti western soundscape. Something about this song sounds like it could easily fall in line with a Tarantino soundtrack or one of his contemporaries.
As for the lyrics, Debbie Harry had this to say: “The lyrics, well, a lot of the time I would write while the band were just playing the song and trying to figure it out. I would just be scatting along with them and I would just start going, ‘Ooooooh, your hair is beautiful”.
There’s no doubt about the simplicity of the lyrics, and although people have spent lots of time trying to assign meaning to them – we’re talking everything from sex to the Cold War – Harry herself maintains that part of her careful lyrical selection was about the meaninglessness of the word ‘Atomic’ in the song itself. She simply wanted to write something that sounded good, and that’s exactly what this song achieved.
The track sits at a unique intersection of the classic new wave character quality that we’ve come to expect of the era, a danceable disco flair, and of course, a bit twang that makes it stand out — not unlike the band itself.
