The 1976 Blondie song Debbie Harry called “so dirty”
Emerging as the beautiful figurehead of Blondie in the mid-1970s, Debbie Harry and her bandmates followed an early passion for punk rock into more stable realms as a pop act in New York’s burgeoning new wave scene. Although they embraced pop tones and even rap in ‘Rapture’, Blondie never lost contact with their roots.
That balance between accessibility and attitude became one of the band’s defining strengths. Even as Blondie embraced chart success, they retained enough of their punk sensibilities to distinguish themselves from their more conventional contemporaries.
Blondie’s punchy sound, defined by Chris Stein’s distinctive guitar style and Clem Burke’s deft beat-keeping, struck its most impactful chord in 1978 with the release of Parallel Lines, their third studio album, which included essential hits like ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ and ‘Sunday Girl’.
These elegant rock songs fit Harry’s stage presence like a glove. After all, she intended to cut a punk-infused Marilyn Monroe image from a young age. “As a child, she used to dream that her mother was Marilyn Monroe and once said her early goals were to be noticed and to be famous. Well, she did that,” Kirsty Young said, introducing the Blondie star during her 2011 appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs.
“She used to hang out with the Ramones, Talking Heads, David Bowie and Iggy Pop; she was painted by Andy Warhol and feted the world over,” the presenter added.
Indeed, Harry and her bandmates were very much affiliated with the vibrant New York punk scene and, in some ways, continued where The Velvet Underground left off. “I love Lou Reed and love The Velvet Underground,” Harry said after choosing ‘White Light/White Heat’ as one of her discs. “I think it was one of the first bands that I saw in New York.”
“I was completely flabbergasted and knocked out by it,” she added. “And actually, Nico was singing with them that night and Andy Warhol had designed the stage set and the colours, and I think he was responsible for the lights too. It was just an incredible show and just brings back good memories.”
With the smell of the Underground still fresh on their noses and rubbing shoulders with the Ramones, Blondie’s early sound was markedly dirty. Harry once picked out ‘Rip Her To Shreds’, a single from Blondie’s 1977 eponymous debut album, as one of the band’s punkiest moments.
“It’s so dirty and menacing,” she told Entertainment Weekly of the track. “It’s what we all do when we’re getting catty – that’s what the New York scene was like. There’s toughness but a lot of affection as well. It’s like being roasted.”
‘Rip Her To Shreds’ was one of Blondie’s earliest singles. When they performed it during early gigs on the New York underground circuit, Harry often wore a wedding dress and ripped it to shreds throughout the song. Although Harry describes the track as a general depiction of female musicians in the public eye, rumours have circulated over the years suggesting it was about Sid Vicious’ girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
Although Blondie would eventually become synonymous with polished pop hits, ‘Rip Her To Shreds’ remains an important reminder of where the band began. Its abrasive attitude, dark humour and punk aggression capture a moment when Debbie Harry and her bandmates were still establishing themselves in the fiercely competitive world of New York’s underground music scene.
Listen to Blondie’s ‘Rip Her To Shreds’ below.
