The song that saw branded Blondie as ‘sell-outs’
The airwaves of New York City during the 1970s were dominated by two distinct music scenes: disco and punk. For many, disco represented the glitz and glamour of the decade, rising from the city’s nightclub scene and building on the traditions of funk and soul. On the opposite end of the spectrum was punk, which sought to tear-down the conventions of mainstream music and offer an alternative to the phoney optimism of disco. Few groups would dare to cross the divide, but then Blondie weren’t like other bands.
Blondie certainly had their roots in the underground punk scene of Manhattan’s East Side. Rising from the sticky floors and constant stench of the CBGB club, the band regularly performed on the same bill as groups like The Ramones or Television, who came to define the sounds of early punk in New York. Unlike many of their CBGB contemporaries, though, Blondie quickly sought to diversify their sound away from the abrasive distortion of punk.
Pretty early on in the band’s recording career, Blondie began to lean more heavily into the emerging sounds of new wave. Part of the appeal of this new scene was its sonic diversity, and Blondie took full advantage of that fact. During their first few records, Blondie drew upon everything from reggae to hip-hop. On their third studio album, Parallel Lines, the CBGB regulars even bordered on disco music.
For a punk band to go disco was sacrilegious, or at least that is the way it was presented. So, when Blondie adopted the conventions of disco on their track ‘Heart of Glass’ many punk artists in New York and further afield viewed it as a betrayal of the scene. Given that disco tended to have more commercial appeal than punk, ‘Heart of Glass’ also saw Blondie branded as ‘sell-outs’, betraying their DIY punk roots for a shot at the pop charts.
Selling out is a contentious issue within punk rock. Seemingly, anything from singing to a major record label to using your music in advertising could see an artist reduced to sell-outs. The staunch set of ethical principles that came with punk were pretty restrictive, in a creative sense, which is perhaps why Blondie decided to break free and embrace their wide-reaching influences.
After all, disco was not created with the sole intention of mainstream commercial success. Just like styles of soul, funk, and R&B that had preceded it, the genre had its roots in defiance and rebellion – much like punk – but told in an optimistic, euphoric way. Disco helped to give an identity to many young Black people in America who were disenfranchised by mainstream society, just as punk provided a place for outcasts to feel a sense of belonging. You could certainly argue, therefore, that the anti-disco leanings of punk were incredibly misguided.
Blondie’s Chris Stein certainly seems to agree with that idea. While speaking to The New York Times years after ‘Heart of Glass’, he shared, “The whole anti-disco movement smacked of class war to me,” denouncing the restrictive and discriminatory nature of punk’s anti-disco attitude. “When I was a kid, my heroes were 60-year-old Black men,” he revealed, “Bukka White, Howlin’ Wolf. Disco was just an extension of R&B.”
So, while ‘Heart of Glass’ might have disgusted Blondie’s punk fanbase, it opened countless new avenues of expression for the New York band, as well as earning them a number one single in the process. The song would not be the only time that Blondie drew upon disco in their music, and the success of Parallel Lines helped them to escape the shackles of their punk roots to fully embrace the diversity of the new wave scene.
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